Develop Reference

HttpClient GetAsync not working as expected

When testing my web API with Postman my API get executes fine!
When it comes to running the code with HttpClient in my client application the code executes without error but without the expected result on the server.
What could be happening?
From my client application:
private string GetResponseFromURI(Uri u)
{
var response = "";
HttpResponseMessage result;
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
Task task = Task.Run(async () =>
{
result = await client.GetAsync(u);
if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
response = await result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
});
task.Wait();
}
return response;
}
Here is the API controller:
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class CartsController : Controller
{
private readonly ICartRepository _cartRepo;
public CartsController(ICartRepository cartRepo)
{
_cartRepo = cartRepo;
}
[HttpGet]
public string GetTodays()
{
return _cartRepo.GetTodaysCarts();
}
[HttpGet]
[Route("Add")]
public string GetIncrement()
{
var cart = new CountedCarts();
_cartRepo.Add(cart);
return _cartRepo.GetTodaysCarts();
}
[HttpGet]
[Route("Remove")]
public string GetDecrement()
{
_cartRepo.RemoveLast();
return _cartRepo.GetTodaysCarts();
}
}
Note these API calls work as expected when called from Postman.

You shouldn't use await with client.GetAsync, It's managed by .Net platform, because you can only send one request at the time.
just use it like this
var response = client.GetAsync("URL").Result; // Blocking call!
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
// Parse the response body. Blocking!
var dataObjects = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<object>().Result;
}
else
{
var result = $"{(int)response.StatusCode} ({response.ReasonPhrase})";
// logger.WriteEntry(result, EventLogEntryType.Error, 40);
}

You are doing fire-and-forget approach. In your case, you need to wait for the result.
For example,
static async Task<string> GetResponseFromURI(Uri u)
{
var response = "";
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
HttpResponseMessage result = await client.GetAsync(u);
if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
response = await result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
}
return response;
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var t = Task.Run(() => GetResponseFromURI(new Uri("http://www.google.com")));
t.Wait();
Console.WriteLine(t.Result);
Console.ReadLine();
}

Simple sample used to get page data.
public string GetPage(string url)
{
HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync(url).Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
string page = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
return "Successfully load page";
}
else
{
return "Invalid Page url requested";
}
}

I've had a problem with chace control when using httpclient.
HttpBaseProtocalFilter^ filter = ref new HttpBaseProtocolFilter();
filter->CacheControl->ReadBehavior = Windows::Web::Http::Filters::HttpCacheReadBehavior::MostRecent;
HttpClient^ httpClient = ref new HttpClient(filter);
I'm not really sure what the expected results are or what results your getting at all so this is really just a guessing game right now.
When I POST something using HttpClient I found adding headers by hand seemed to work more often than using default headers.
auto httpClient = ref new HttpClient();
Windows::Web::Http::Headers::HttpMediaTypeHeaderValue^ type = ref new Windows::Web::http::Headers::HttpMediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json");
content->Headers->ContentType = type;
If I don't do these 2 things I found, for me anyways, that half the time my web requests were either not actually being sent or the headers were all messed up and the other half of the time it worked perfectly.
I just read a comment where you said it would only fire once, that makes me think it is the cachecontrol. I think what happens is something (Windows?) sees 2 requests being sent that are the exact same, so to speed things up it just assumes the same answer and never actually sends the request a 2nd time

How can I get JSON data from Google API and store it in a variable?

I am trying to send an Http Get message to the Google location Api which is supposed to have Json data such as this
https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Los%20Angeles,CA=AIzaSyDABt
as you noticed the response is in Json. I want to give a a Http Call to that URL and save the Json content in a variable or string. My code does not give out any errors but it is also not returning anything
public async System.Threading.Tasks.Task<ActionResult> GetRequest()
{
var client = new HttpClient();
HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Los%20Angeles,CA=AIzaSyDABt");
string data = response.Content.ToString();
return data;
}
I want to send out a Get Request using HttpClient() or anything that will send out the URL request and then save that content into a string variable . Any suggestions would be appreciated, again my code gives no errors but it is not returning anything.

Use ReadAsStringAsync to get the json response...
static void Main(string[] args)
{
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
Task.Run(async () =>
{
HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Los%20Angeles,CA=AIzaSyDABt");
string responseString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
Console.WriteLine(responseString);
});
Console.ReadLine();
}
If you use response.Content.ToString() it is actually converting the datatype of the Content to string so you will get System.Net.Http.StreamContent

Try this.
var client = new HttpClient();
HttpResponseMessage httpResponse = await client.GetAsync("https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Los%20Angeles,CA=AIzaSyDABt");
string data = await httpResponse.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

How about using the Json framework for .NET powered by Newtonsoft ?
You can try to parse your content to a string with this.

Well, your code can be simplified:
public async Task<ActionResult> GetRequest()
{
var client = new HttpClient();
return await client.GetStringAsync("https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Los%20Angeles,CA=AIzaSyDABt");
}
However...
My code does not give out any errors but it is also not returning anything
This is almost certainly due to using Result or Wait further up the call stack. Blocking on asynchronous code like that causes a deadlock that I explain in full on my blog. The short version is that there is an ASP.NET request context that only permits one thread at a time; await by default will capture the current context and resume in that context; and since Wait/Result is blocking a thread in the request context, the await cannot resume executing.

Try this
public async static Task<string> Something()
{
var http = new HttpClient();
var url = "https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=Los%20Angeles,CA=AIzaSyDABt";
var response = await http.GetAsync(url);
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
var result = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<string>(result);
return result;
}
return "";
}
var result = Task.Run(() => Something()).Result;

Correct way to make async web request

Hi I need to write a proper async web request function in C# to get some data in JSON format and deserialize it in strongly typed object. I came up with this solution:
public async Task<TReturnType> MakeAsyncRequest<TReturnType>(string url) where TReturnType : class
{
try
{
var request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
var response = await request.GetResponseAsync();
var json = await Task.Run(() => ReadStreamFromResponse(response));
var deserializedObject = await Task.Run(() => JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<TReturnType>(json));
return deserializedObject;
}
catch (Exception)
{
// TODO: Handle exception here
throw;
}
}
private string ReadStreamFromResponse(WebResponse response)
{
using (var responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
using (var sr = new StreamReader(responseStream))
{
return sr.ReadToEnd();
}
}
And usage would be like this:
var myData = await MakeAsyncRequest<IEnumerable<SomeObject>>(http://example.com/api/?getdata=all);
The issue I'm facing is that sometimes my web request fires and never returns, is there a proper way to handle that? Maybe playing with timers is an option but I don't like to go there.
Also I would be thankful if you could improve on my function, maybe there is a better way to do things and I just don't see it.

Implementing a synchronous method with calling the <asyncmethod>.Result

I have this async method:
public async Task<RES> PostAsync<RES>(string url, string content) where RES : new()
{
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
HttpResponseMessage message = await client.PostAsync(url, new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json"));
var readAsStringAsync = await message.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
return await readAsStringAsync.FromJsonAsync<RES>(mySerializerSettings);
}
}
Where FromJsonAsync is implemented as an extension method:
public async static Task<T> FromJsonAsync<T>(this string data, JsonSerializerSettings settings) where T : new()
{
return (T)(await JsonConvert.DeserializeObjectAsync<T>(data, settings));
}
Now I want to add a regular synchronous Post method and I thought the implementation would be:
public RES Post<RES>(string url, string content) where RES : new()
{
return PostAsync<RES>(url, content).Result;
}
But this doesn't really work. I see that the request is sent via a Http sniffer and I get a response back, but I get stuck when debugging and can't continue.
BTW, this does work (with Result instead of await):
public RES Post<RES>(string url, string content) where RES : new()
{
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
HttpResponseMessage message = client.PostAsync(url, new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json")).Result;
var readAsStringAsync = message.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
return readAsStringAsync.FromJson<RES>(mySerializerSettings);
}
}
Where FromJson is implemented as an extension method:
public static T FromJson<T>(this string data, JsonSerializerSettings settings) where T : new()
{
return (T)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(data, settings);
}
The application is a web backend (WebApi).
What am I doing wrong?

You probably have a deadlock on your hands.
Asp.net uses a SynchronizationContext to post continuations back to the request context. If the context is blocked (like it is in your case on PostAsync<RES>(url, content).Result) then the continuation can't be executed and so the async method can't complete and you have a deadlock.
You can avoid it by using ConfigureAwait(false):
public async Task<RES> PostAsync<RES>(string url, string content) where RES : new()
{
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
HttpResponseMessage message = await client.PostAsync(url, new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json"));
var readAsStringAsync = await message.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
return await readAsStringAsync.FromJsonAsync<RES>(mySerializerSettings).ConfigureAwait(false);
}
}
But it's better to just avoid blocking synchronously on async code to begin with and having two different versions for sync and async.

Although possible, I wouldn't use the answer provided by #i3arnon. Generally, you shouldn't block on async code. Although ConfigureAwait(false) does work, it can lead to confusion in your code-base where other developers may also end up blocking using .Result, without using ConfigureAwait or understanding the implications of that.
Instead, expose synchronous methods which are really synchronous:
public RES Post<RES>(string url, string content) where RES : new()
{
using (var client = new WebClient())
{
client.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.ContentType] = "application/json";
var result = client.UploadString(url, content);
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RES>(result, jsonSerializerSettings);
}
}

It seems you have a non-async function and you want to start a task that will call PostAsync and wait for this task to finish and return the result of the Task. Is this your problem?
To start a Task, use Task.Run( () => ...);
To wait for the Task use Task.Wait(...);
To see if the task stopped because of an exception: Task.IsFaulted
The result of the task is in Task.Result
Your code could be:
public async Task<RES> PostAsync<RES>(string url, string content) where RES : new()
{
// start the task that will call PostAsync:
var postTask = Task.Run( () => PostAsync(url, content));
// while this task is running you can do other things
// once you need the result: wait for the task to finish:
postTask.Wait();
// If needed check Task.IsFaulted / Task.IsCanceled etc. to check for errors
// the returned value is in Task.Result:
return postTask.Result;
}

Using async/await and returning Task<HttpResponseMessage> From ASP.NET Web API Methods

I have a Portable Class Library (PCL) method like this:
public async Task<string> GetLineStatuses()
{
HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(Url);
using (HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)await request.GetResponseAsync())
{
return response.GetResponseStream().ReadAllText();
}
}
My ASP.NET Web Api method looks like this:
public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> Get()
{
HttpResponseMessage response = new HttpResponseMessage();
string statuses = await service.GetStatuses();
response.Content = new StringContent(statuses);
return response;
}
What are the implications of returning a Task in Web API. Is this allowed? The only reason I want to use await is so I can use a Portable Class Library (PCL). What is the best practice? Should I have a syncronous version of my method and an asyncronous version? What are the performance and code readability and maintainability implications?
Also would I have the same effect if I returned Task<string> rather than Task<HttpResponseMessage>?

Async and await are perfectly acceptable in ASP.NET. Here's a Scott Handselman video demoing it: http://www.asp.net/vnext/overview/aspnet/async-and-await
"Also would I have the same effect if I returned Task<string> rather than Task<HttpResponseMessage>?"
Not really sure what you mean by this. The Task is like a container for the object, so a Task<string> would contain your string result and a Task<HttpResponseMessage> would contain your HttpResponseMessage result... Is that what you mean? I think either method is perfectly acceptable. If you just need the string, then go with that. No point in returning more than you need.

as alternative:
public static async Task<string> CallGET(string requestUri, string id = "")
{
string responseData;
using (var client = new HttpClient(new HttpClientHandler() { UseDefaultCredentials = true }))
{
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
Uri.TryCreate(new Uri(baseURI), $"{requestUri}{(string.IsNullOrEmpty(id) ? string.Empty : $"/{id}")}", out Uri fullRequestUri);
using (var response = await client.GetAsync(fullRequestUri))
{
responseData = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
return responseData;
}
}
and call would be:
var getListUsersResult = Utils.CallGET($"/v1/users").Result;
var resultset= JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(getListUsersResult, typeof(List<UsersDTO>)) as List<UsersDTO>;
UserDTO r = users.Where(d => d.Name.ToLower().Contains("test")).FirstOrDefault();
and another call for one item:
var getUser = Utils.CallGET($"/v1/users", $"{USER_ID}").Result;
var getUserResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(getUser, typeof(UserDTO)) as UserDTO;