Develop Reference

Unable to resolve service for type 'System.Net.Http.HttpClient' using DI

I writing phone verification functional via Twilio and using System.Net.Http.HttpClient
I inject it in AppService like this
public class TwilioVerifyClientAppService: IVerifyPhone
{
private readonly HttpClient _client;
public TwilioVerifyClientAppService(HttpClient client)
{
_client = client;
}
public async Task<TwilioSendVerificationCodeResponse> StartVerification(int countryCode, string phoneNumber)
{
var requestContent = new FormUrlEncodedContent(new[]
{
new KeyValuePair<string, string>("via", "sms"),
new KeyValuePair<string, string>("country_code", countryCode.ToString()),
new KeyValuePair<string, string>("phone_number", phoneNumber),
});
var response = await _client.PostAsync("protected/json/phones/verification/start", requestContent);
var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
// this will throw if the response is not valid
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<TwilioSendVerificationCodeResponse>(content);
}
public async Task<TwilioCheckCodeResponse> CheckVerificationCode(int countryCode, string phoneNumber,
string verificationCode)
{
var queryParams = new Dictionary<string, string>()
{
{"country_code", countryCode.ToString()},
{"phone_number", phoneNumber},
{"verification_code", verificationCode},
};
var url = QueryHelpers.AddQueryString("protected/json/phones/verification/check", queryParams);
var response = await _client.GetAsync(url);
var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
// this will throw if the response is not valid
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<TwilioCheckCodeResponse>(content);
}
}
}
When I try to run method, I get this error
Here is how I call this method in controller
[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]/[action]")]
public class ProfileController : ControllerBase
{
private readonly IUserProfile _profileAppService;
private readonly UserManager<AppUser> _userManager;
private readonly IFileUpload _fileUpload;
private readonly IVerifyPhone _verifyPhone;
public ProfileController(IUserProfile profileAppService,
UserManager<AppUser> userManager, IFileUpload fileUpload, IVerifyPhone verifyPhone)
{
_profileAppService = profileAppService;
_userManager = userManager;
_fileUpload = fileUpload;
_verifyPhone = verifyPhone;
}
[Authorize]
[HttpPost]
public async Task<IActionResult> ConfirmCodeSend([FromForm] PhoneInputDto input)
{
var result = await _verifyPhone.StartVerification(input.DialingCode, input.PhoneNumber);
if (result.Success)
{
return Ok("Code sent");
}
return BadRequest();
}
[Authorize]
[HttpPost]
public async Task<IActionResult> ConfirmCodeCheck([FromForm] PhoneInputDto input)
{
var result =
await _verifyPhone.CheckVerificationCode(input.DialingCode, input.PhoneNumber, input.VerificationCode);
if (result.Success)
{
return Ok("Phone verified");
}
return BadRequest();
}
}
}
An unhandled exception occurred while processing the request. InvalidOperationException: Unable to resolve service for type
'System.Net.Http.HttpClient' while attempting to activate
'TooSeeWeb.Infrastructure.AppServices.UserProfile.TwilioVerifyClientAppService'.
In Startup.cs
I register my interface like this
services.AddScoped<IVerifyPhone, TwilioVerifyClientAppService>();
I tried to write this in Startup.cs
services.AddHttpClient<TwilioVerifyClientAppService>();
But I still see this error.
How I can solve this?

You registered the class as a typed client but not the interface, yet try to inject the interface as a dependency into the controller.
Update the typed client registration to include the interface
services.AddHttpClient<IVerifyPhone, TwilioVerifyClientAppService>();
provided TwilioVerifyClientAppService is derived from IVerifyPhone
public class TwilioVerifyClientAppService: IVerifyPhone {
//...
}
and remove the scoped registration
services.AddScoped<IVerifyPhone, TwilioVerifyClientAppService>();

Refactoring code to allow for unit testing of HttpClient

I am dealing with a piece of code that looks like this:
public class Uploader : IUploader
{
public Uploader()
{
// assign member variables to dependency injected interface implementations
}
public async Task<string> Upload(string url, string data)
{
HttpResponseMessage result;
try
{
var handler = new HttpClientHandler();
var client = new HttpClient(handler);
result = await client.PostAsync(url, new FormUrlEncodedContent(data));
if (result.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
return "Some Error Message";
}
else
{
return null; // Success!
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// do some fancy stuff here
}
}
}
I am trying to unit test the Upload function. In particular, I need to mock the HttpClient. After reading the other answers on here and these two articles, I know that one of the better ways to solve this is to mock the HttpMessageHandler instead and pass that to HttpClient and have it return whatever I want.
So, I started along that path by first passing in HttpClient in the constructor as a dependency:
public class Uploader : IUploader
{
private readonly HttpClient m_httpClient; // made this a member variable
public Uploader(HttpClient httpClient) // dependency inject this
{
m_httpClient = httpClient;
}
public async Task<string> Upload(string url, string data)
{
HttpResponseMessage result;
try
{
var handler = new HttpClientHandler();
result = await m_httpClient.PostAsync(url, new FormUrlEncodedContent(data));
if (result.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
return "Some Error Message";
}
else
{
return null; // Success!
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// do some fancy stuff here
}
}
}
and adding: services.AddSingleton<HttpClient>(); to the ConfigureServices method of Startup.cs.
But now I face a slight issue where the original code specifically creates a HttpClientHandler to pass in. How then do I refactor that to take in a mockable handler?

I find the simplest way is to continue using HttpClient, but pass in a mocking HttpClientHandler such as https://github.com/richardszalay/mockhttp
Code sample from the link above:
var mockHttp = new MockHttpMessageHandler();
mockHttp.When("http://localhost/api/user/*")
.Respond("application/json", "{'name' : 'Test McGee'}");
// Inject the handler or client into your application code
var client = mockHttp.ToHttpClient();
var response = await client.GetAsync("http://localhost/api/user/1234");
var json = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.Write(json); // {'name' : 'Test McGee'}
The Dependency Injection framework built into .NET Core ignores internal constructors, so it will call the parameter-less constructor in this scenario.
public sealed class Uploader : IUploader
{
private readonly HttpClient m_httpClient;
public Uploader() : this(new HttpClientHandler())
{
}
internal Uploader(HttpClientHandler handler)
{
m_httpClient = new HttpClient(handler);
}
// regular methods
}
In your unit tests, you can use the constructor accepting the HttpClientHandler:
[Fact]
public async Task ShouldDoSomethingAsync()
{
var mockHttp = new MockHttpMessageHandler();
mockHttp.When("http://myserver.com/upload")
.Respond("application/json", "{'status' : 'Success'}");
var uploader = new Uploader(mockHttp);
var result = await uploader.UploadAsync();
Assert.Equal("Success", result.Status);
}
Normally I'm not a big fan of having an internal constructor to facilitate testing, however, I find this more obvious and self-contained than registering a shared HttpClient.
HttpClientFactory might be another good option, but I haven't played around with that too much, so I'll just give info on what I've found useful myself.

One way would be to abstract your HTTP functionality into a service i.e. HttpService which implements an interface of IHttpService:
IHttpService
public interface IHttpService
{
Task<HttpResponseMessage> Post(Uri url, string payload, Dictionary<string, string> headers = null);
}
HttpService
public class HttpService : IHttpService
{
private static HttpClient _httpClient;
private const string MimeTypeApplicationJson = "application/json";
public HttpService()
{
_httpClient = new HttpClient();
}
private static async Task<HttpResponseMessage> HttpSendAsync(HttpMethod method, Uri url, string payload,
Dictionary<string, string> headers = null)
{
var request = new HttpRequestMessage(method, url);
request.Headers.Add("Accept", MimeTypeApplicationJson);
if (headers != null)
{
foreach (var header in headers)
{
request.Headers.Add(header.Key, header.Value);
}
}
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(payload))
request.Content = new StringContent(payload, Encoding.UTF8, MimeTypeApplicationJson);
return await _httpClient.SendAsync(request);
}
public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> Post(Uri url, string payload, Dictionary<string, string> headers = null)
{
return await HttpSendAsync(HttpMethod.Post, url, payload, headers);
}
}
Add to your services:
services.AddSingleton<IHttpService, HttpService>();
In your class you would then inject IHttpService as a dependency:
public class Uploader : IUploader
{
private readonly IHttpService _httpService; // made this a member variable
public Uploader(IHttpService httpService) // dependency inject this
{
_httpService = httpService;
}
public async Task<string> Upload(string url, string data)
{
HttpResponseMessage result;
try
{
result = await _httpService.PostAsync(new Uri(url), data);
if (result.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
return "Some Error Message";
}
else
{
return null; // Success!
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// do some fancy stuff here
}
}
}
You could then use Moq to mock HttpService in your unit test:
[TestClass]
public class UploaderTests
{
private Mock<IHttpService> _mockHttpService = new Mock<IHttpService>();
[TestMethod]
public async Task WhenStatusCodeIsNot200Ok_ThenErrorMessageReturned()
{
// arrange
var uploader = new Uploader(_mockHttpService.Object);
var url = "someurl.co.uk";
var data = "data";
// need to setup your mock to return the response you want to test
_mockHttpService
.Setup(s => s.PostAsync(url, data))
.ReturnsAsync(new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError));
// act
var result = await uploader.Upload(new Uri(url), data);
// assert
Assert.AreEqual("Some Error Message", result);
}
[TestMethod]
public async Task WhenStatusCodeIs200Ok_ThenNullReturned()
{
// arrange
var uploader = new Uploader(_mockHttpService.Object);
var url = "someurl.co.uk";
var data = "data";
// need to setup your mock to return the response you want to test
_mockHttpService
.Setup(s => s.PostAsync(new Uri(url), data))
.ReturnsAsync(new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK));
// act
var result = await uploader.Upload(url, data);
// assert
Assert.AreEqual(null, result);
}
}

Add multiple tokens into DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization in HttpClient

The API I'm calling from my ASP.NET Web API app requires two tokens i.e. accessToken and userToken.
The following code is not working because it takes only the second token, not both. Looks like the second line is over-writing the first one.
How do I add multiple tokens to my request header?
_client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("APIAccessToken", "token1");
_client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("UserToken", "token2");
UPDATE:
Here's the way I set this up and it's not working. Basically, my API calls seem to go nowhere. I get no errors. Just no response.
First, I have the HttpClientAccessor that looks like this:
public static class HttpClientAccessor
{
private static Lazy<HttpClient> client = new Lazy<HttpClient>(() => new HttpClient());
public static HttpClient HttpClient
{
get
{
client.Value.BaseAddress = new Uri("https://api.someurl.com");
client.Value.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
client.Value.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
client.Value.DefaultRequestHeaders.TryAddWithoutValidation("APIAccessToken", "token1");
client.Value.DefaultRequestHeaders.TryAddWithoutValidation("UserToken", "token2");
return client.Value;
}
}
}
I then have my ApiClient that will perform my API calls which looks like this:
public class MyApiClient
{
HttpClient _client;
public MyApiClient()
{
_client = HttpClientAccessor.HttpClient;
}
public async Task Get()
{
try
{
HttpResponseMessage response = await _client.GetAsync("/myendpoint"); // This is where it gets lost
var data = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
catch(Exception e)
{
var error = e.Message;
}
}
}
This is my controller action:
public class MyController : Controller
{
private readonly MyApiClient _client;
public MyController()
{
_client = new MyApiClient();
}
public IActionResult SomeAction()
{
_client.Get().Wait();
}
}

You are confusing the standard authorization header with custom headers
According to the linked documentation
Request Header
Add the generated tokens to the request headers "APIAccessToken" and "UserToken"
Example Request
APIAccessToken: zjhVgRIvcZItU8sCNjLn+0V56bJR8UOKOTDYeLTa43eQX9eynX90QntWtINDjLaRjAyOPgrWdrGK12xPaOdDZQ==
UserToken: 5sb8Wf94B0g3n4RGOqkBdPfX+wr2pmBTegIK73S3h7uL8EzU6cjsnJ0+B6vt5iqn0q+jkZgN+gMRU4Y5+2AaXw==
To get headers like above, add them to the client like below
_client.DefaultRequestHeaders.TryAddWithoutValidation("APIAccessToken", "token1");
_client.DefaultRequestHeaders.TryAddWithoutValidation("UserToken", "token2");
Based on shown update, the client is adding the headers every time the client is called. This should be in the value factory of the lazy client.
public static class HttpClientAccessor {
public static Func<HttpClient> ValueFactory = () => {
var client = new HttpClient();
client.BaseAddress = new Uri("https://someApiUrl");
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.TryAddWithoutValidation("APIAccessToken", "token1");
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.TryAddWithoutValidation("UserToken", "token2");
return client;
};
private static Lazy<HttpClient> client = new Lazy<HttpClient>(ValueFactory);
public static HttpClient HttpClient {
get {
return client.Value;
}
}
}
The controller action also needs to be refactored to avoid deadlocks because of the mixing of async and blocking calls like .Wait() or .Result.
public class MyController : Controller {
private readonly MyApiClient _client;
public MyController() {
_client = new MyApiClient();
}
public async Task<IActionResult> SomeAction() {
await _client.Get();
//... code removed for brevity
}
}

HttpClient.SendAsync doesn't use DelegatingHandler when testing

We have a few classes in our C# project that make calls out to 3rd party APIs. We're using HttpClient objects for the calls. We've set up our classes where we do these calls to accept an HttpClient so that when testing, we can use a custom/fake DelegatingHandler with the client.
We've set up our classes like this:
public class CallingService : ApiService
{
private readonly ISomeOtherService _someOtherService;
public CallingService (ILogger logger,
IConfigurationManager configurationManager,
ISomeOtherService someOtherService) : base(logger, configurationManager)
{
_someOtherService = someOtherService;
}
public CallingService (ILogger logger,
HttpClient client,
IConfigurationManager configurationManager,
ISomeOtherService someOtherService) : base(logger, configurationManager, client)
{
_someOtherService = someOtherService;
}
private async Task<XmlNodeList> TransmitToApi(string xml_string)
{
ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Ssl3 | SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;
//..
string type = "application/xml";
var content = new StreamContent(new MemoryStream(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(xml_string)));
var targetUri = new Uri(ConfigurationManager.GetAppSetting("ApiUrl"));
var message = new HttpRequestMessage
{
RequestUri = targetUri ,
Method = HttpMethod.Post,
Content = content
};
message.Headers.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("*/*"));
message.Content.Headers.Add("Content-Type", type);
message.Headers.Add("someHeader", someData);
HttpResponseMessage response = null;
try
{
// Define the cancellation token.
CancellationTokenSource source = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken token = source.Token;
response = await Client.SendAsync(message, token);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
//...
return someData;
}
The base ApiService class defines a generic HttpClient object if one is not provided.
We're currently using SendAsync so we can define the message headers. (We have more headers than are listed here.)
The test defines the DelegatingHandler like this:
public class FakeResponseHandler : DelegatingHandler
{
private readonly Dictionary<Uri, HttpResponseMessage> _fakeResponses = new Dictionary<Uri, HttpResponseMessage>();
public void AddFakeResponse(Uri uri, HttpResponseMessage responseMessage, string content = "", bool asXml = false)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(content))
{
if (asXml)
{
responseMessage.Content = new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/xml");
}
else
{
responseMessage.Content = new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
}
}
_fakeResponses.Add(uri, responseMessage);
}
protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
if (_fakeResponses.ContainsKey(request.RequestUri))
{
return _fakeResponses[request.RequestUri];
}
return new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NotFound) { RequestMessage = request };
}
}
And then:
[Fact]
public async Task ItWillDoStuffAndCallApi()
{
using (var mock = AutoMock.GetLoose())
{
mock.Mock<IConfigurationManager>()
.Setup(cm => cm.GetAppSetting("ApiUrl"))
.Returns("http://example.org/test/");
string testReturnData = GetFileContents("IntegrationTests.SampleData.SampleApiResponseXML.txt");
FakeResponseHandler fakeResponseHandler = new FakeResponseHandler();
fakeResponseHandler.AddFakeResponse(new Uri("http://example.org/test/"),
new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK),
testReturnData,
true);
//HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient(fakeResponseHandler);
HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientFactory.Create(fakeResponseHandler);
mock.Provide(httpClient);
var ourService = new CallingService();
ourService.TransmitToApi(someXmlString);
}
}
When we run the test, we receive the message:
Handler did not return a response message.
And we never seem to get into DelegatingHandler.SendAsync method.
We have other classes calling APIs using HttpClient.PostAsync or GetAsync, and these do call the DelegatingHandler.SendAsync method and work as expected.
We've tried:
HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient(fakeResponseHandler);
and
HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientFactory.Create(fakeResponseHandler);
We've also tried Client.SendAsync with and without the cancellation token.
Why is this not working?
Should we re-write this to use PostAsync?

I'd need to see the implementation of HttpClientFactory.Create and what Client.SendAsync actually does internally but nevertheless I was able to use the sample code you provide and fill in the blanks where I could to get the following to work:
public class FakeResponseHandler : DelegatingHandler
{
private readonly Dictionary<Uri, HttpResponseMessage> _fakeResponses = new Dictionary<Uri, HttpResponseMessage>();
public void AddFakeResponse(Uri uri, HttpResponseMessage responseMessage, string content = "", bool asXml = false)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(content))
{
if (asXml)
{
responseMessage.Content = new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/xml");
}
else
{
responseMessage.Content = new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
}
}
_fakeResponses.Add(uri, responseMessage);
}
protected override Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var emptyContent = string.Empty;
if (request.Content.Headers.ContentType.MediaType == "application/xml")
emptyContent = "<empty />";
return Task.FromResult(_fakeResponses.ContainsKey(request.RequestUri) ?
_fakeResponses[request.RequestUri] :
new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.NotFound)
{
RequestMessage = request,
Content = new StringContent(emptyContent)
});
}
}
Just to make things clean use Task.FromResult to return a task in SendAsync and also provide an empty content to avoid null reference exceptions.
public class CallingService
{
private readonly HttpClient _httpClient;
private readonly IConfigurationManager _configurationManager;
public CallingService(HttpClient httpClient,
IConfigurationManager configurationManager)
{
_httpClient = httpClient;
_configurationManager = configurationManager;
}
public async Task<XmlNodeList> TransmitToApi(string xml_string)
{
ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Ssl3 | SecurityProtocolType.Tls12;
//..
string type = "application/xml";
var content = new StreamContent(new MemoryStream(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(xml_string)));
var targetUri = new Uri(_configurationManager.GetAppSetting("ApiUrl"));
var message = new HttpRequestMessage
{
RequestUri = targetUri,
Method = HttpMethod.Post,
Content = content
};
message.Headers.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("*/*"));
message.Content.Headers.Add("Content-Type", type);
string somedata;
try
{
// Define the cancellation token.
CancellationTokenSource source = new CancellationTokenSource();
CancellationToken token = source.Token;
var response = await _httpClient.SendAsync(message, token);
somedata = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
//...
var xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.LoadXml(somedata);
return xmlDoc.SelectNodes("*");
}
}
And then the test passes the instance of HttpClient to CallingService:
[TestMethod]
public async Task TestMethod1()
{
const string content = #"<root><test>1243</test></root>";
const string httpExample = "http://example.org/test/";
var configurationManager = new Mock<IConfigurationManager>();
configurationManager
.Setup(cm => cm.GetAppSetting("ApiUrl"))
.Returns(httpExample);
var fakeResponseHandler = new FakeResponseHandler();
fakeResponseHandler.AddFakeResponse(new Uri(httpExample),
new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK), content, true);
using (var httpClient = new HttpClient(fakeResponseHandler))
{
var ourService = new CallingService(httpClient, configurationManager.Object);
var result = await ourService.TransmitToApi(content);
Assert.AreEqual(content, result.Item(0)?.OuterXml);
}
}
This all works so if I had to guess - the issue would be somewhere in your HttpClientFacotry.
Hope that helps!! Cheers, :)

C# async doesn't await

The app I'm working on is supposed to retrieve a json string with the http client after which it gets deserialised and used in the app.
Everything works, except for the await functionality. I'm doing something wrong and I can't seem to figure out what. How can I make sure that my DataService class waits untill I have my json and it has been deserialized?
The DataService class:
class DataService : IDataService
{
private IEnumerable<Concert> _concerts;
public DataService()
{
_concerts = new DataFromAPI()._concerts;
Debug.WriteLine("____Deserialization should be done before continuing____");
**other tasks that need the json**
}
}
My http client class:
class DataFromAPI
{
public IEnumerable<Concert> _concerts { get; set; }
public DataFromAPI()
{
Retrieve();
}
public async Task Retrieve()
{
try
{
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage();
var result = await client.GetAsync(new Uri("http://url-of-my-api"), HttpCompletionOption.ResponseContentRead);
string jsonstring = await result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
DownloadCompleted(jsonstring);
}
catch {}
}
void DownloadCompleted(string response)
{
try
{
_concerts = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IEnumerable<Concert>>(response.ToString());
}
catch {}
}
}
solution
After a lot of trial and error I realised that for this particular thingy it didn't have to be async, so I just recreated is on the main thread, with success:
The DataService class:
class DataService : IDataService
{
private IEnumerable<Concert> _concerts;
public DataService()
{
_concerts = new DataFromAPI()._concerts;
}
}
My http client class:
public static class DataFromAPI
{
public void Retrieve()
{
try
{
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage();
var result = client.GetAsync("http://url-of-my-api").Result;
if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
var responseContent = result.Content;
}
DownloadCompleted(result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);
}
catch {}
}
}

You are calling Retrieve() without await in the DataFromAPI constructor, That's why your method isn't awaited.
You should better call this methods outside the constructor, with the await keyword like this :
await Retrieve();
You have to refactor your code a little. Here's an example :
public class DataService : IDataService
{
private IEnumerable<Concert> _concerts;
public async Task LoadData()
{
_concerts = await DataFromAPI.Retrieve();
**other tasks that need the json**
}
}
public static class DataFromAPI
{
public static async Task<IEnumerable<Concert>> Retrieve()
{
try
{
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage();
var result = await client.GetAsync(new Uri("http://url-of-my-api"), HttpCompletionOption.ResponseContentRead);
string jsonstring = await result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IEnumerable<Concert>>(response.ToString());
}
catch(Exception)
{
}
return Enumerable.Empty<Concert>();
}
}
Then, when you create your DataService instance, just after you have to call it's LoadData() method.
DataService ds = new DataService();
await ds.LoadData();
And of course, these two lines of code must also be called from an async method. (async / await all the way)

After a lot of trial and error I realised that for this particular thingy it didn't have to be async, so I just recreated is on the main thread, with success:
The DataService class:
class DataService : IDataService
{
private IEnumerable<Concert> _concerts;
public DataService()
{
_concerts = new DataFromAPI()._concerts;
}
}
My http client class:
public static class DataFromAPI
{
public void Retrieve()
{
try
{
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage();
var result = client.GetAsync("http://url-of-my-api").Result;
if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
var responseContent = result.Content;
}
DownloadCompleted(result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);
}
catch {}
}
}