How do you do a call to a WCF REST POST method?

Question

Hi!

I'm trying to find out how to call a POST method in a WCF REST webservice... where do I have to put the body?

I've declared a method like this:

        [WebInvoke(UriTemplate = "/{communityId}/Login", Method = "POST")]
        [OperationContract]
        Boolean Login(String communityId, UserLogin login);

 

But... how do I call it now? :D

I've tried several things, but I always get a bad request :(

 

            Guid g = Guid.NewGuid();
            String user = "<UserLogin><Name>vt</Name><Password>lalala</Password></UserLogin>";

            XmlSerializer s = new XmlSerializer(typeof(UserLogin), "ConsoleApplication1");
            UserLogin ul = new UserLogin() { Name = "vt", Password = "lalala" };

            WebRequest req = WebRequest.Create("http://localhost/RESTfulService/Service1.svc/" + g.ToString() + "/Login");
            req.Method = "POST";
            req.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
           
           
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
            s.Serialize(ms, ul);
            Byte[] array = ms.ToArray();

            req.ContentLength = array.Length;
            Stream reqStream = req.GetRequestStream();
            reqStream.Write(array, 0, array.Length);
            reqStream.Close();

            //StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(reqStream,Encoding.UTF8);
            //sw.WriteLine(user);
            //sw.Dispose();
           
            Stream responseStream = req.GetResponse().GetResponseStream();

 

Cheers.

---

.: Valeriano Tórtola MCTS WPF :.: http://www.vtortola.net :.

Answer 1

hi,

 Are your sure your URL is correct?

can you open  "http://localhost/RESTfulService/Service1.svc/" + g.ToString() + "/Login" in  IE?

additionally, Whatis the bad request data?

 

---

Frank Xu Lei--谦卑若愚，好学若饥
专注于.NET平台下分布式应用系统开发和企业应用系统集成
Focus on Distributed Applications Development and EAI based on .NET
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Answer 2

Yes, the url is correct because I have other methods with a similar uritemplate.

I get a "400 Bad Request" when I post this: "<UserLogin><Name>vt</Name><Password>lalala</Password></UserLogin>" or I serialize the class with a XmlSerializer.

How would you call this method?:

        [WebInvoke(UriTemplate = "/{communityId}/Login", Method = "POST")]
        [OperationContract]
        Boolean Login(String communityId, UserLogin login);

Considering:

    public class UserLogin
    {
        public String Name { get; set; }
        public String Password { get; set; }
    }

Cheers.

---

.: Valeriano Tórtola MCTS WPF :.: http://www.vtortola.net :.

Answer 3

Yes, the url is correct because I have other methods with a similar uritemplate.

I get a "400 Bad Request" when I post this: "<UserLogin><Name>vt</Name><Password>lalala</Password></UserLogin>" or I serialize the class with a XmlSerializer.

How would you call this method?:

        [WebInvoke(UriTemplate = "/{communityId}/Login", Method = "POST")]
        [OperationContract]
        Boolean Login(String communityId, UserLogin login);

Considering:

    public class UserLogin
    {
        public String Name { get; set; }
        public String Password { get; set; }
    }

Cheers.

---

.: Valeriano Tórtola MCTS WPF :.: http://www.vtortola.net :.

Answer 4

Hi vtortola,

The problem you encounter is probably due the default serialization behavior of WCF.

* WCF by default use DataContractSerializer to serialize object into XML, for the UserLogin class you provided, you can try define a WebGet operation and let it return a UserLogin object. e.g.

    [OperationContract]
    [WebGet]
    UserLogin GetUserLogin();

 You will find that it returns the following xml:

<UserLogin xmlns="http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><Name>user1</Name><Password>password1</Password></UserLogin>

the default output will use the http://schemas.datacontract.org/2004/07/  as a root namespace for your object. And if you do not add this namespace when using webrequest client, it will mismatch the server-side expected xml format. If you want to make the WCF service use XML serialization, you can add the "XmlSerializerFormatAttribute" on the serviceContract like below:

[ServiceContract]
[XmlSerializerFormat]
public interface IRESTService
{

    [OperationContract]
    [WebInvoke]
    string SendUserLogin(UserLogin ul);
}

Then, it will generate XmlSerializer compatible xml content from object. Here is the test client code I used:

private static void WebRequestClient()
        {
            var httpwebrequest = WebRequest.Create("http://localhost:8388/testapp/RESTService.svc/SendUserLogin");
            httpwebrequest.Method = "POST";
            httpwebrequest.ContentType = "application/xml";

            //generated xml object
            XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(UserLogin));

            UserLogin ul = new UserLogin() { Name = "user1", Password = "password1" };
            MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
            serializer.Serialize(ms, ul);
            var bytes = ms.ToArray();
            ms.Close();

            //write xml into request stream
            var requestStream = httpwebrequest.GetRequestStream();
            requestStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
            requestStream.Close();

            //extract resposne result
            var responseStream = httpwebrequest.GetResponse().GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(responseStream);

            Console.WriteLine(sr.ReadToEnd());
            sr.Close();
            responseStream.Close();
            

        }

 

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 5

Hi,

Something is not working (at least in my computer :P)

 

I've done this:

    [ServiceContract(Namespace="http://www.dk.com")]
    [XmlSerializerFormat]
    public interface IRESTfulService
    {
        [WebInvoke(UriTemplate = "/{communityId}/Login", Method = "POST")]
        [OperationContract]
        String Login(String communityId, UserLogin login);
    }

 

    public class RESTfulService : RESTful_Service.IRESTfulService 
    {

        public String Login(String communityId, UserLogin login)
        {
            return "login=" + login.UserName;
        }

    }

 

I use you code to perform a call, but I always get this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><string>login=</string>

 

Maybe the difference... is that I have the class UserLogin declared in the client and in the server... but the serialization output should be the same, shoudn't it?

---

.: Valeriano Tórtola MCTS WPF :.: http://www.vtortola.net :.

Answer 6

Hi,

Something is not working (at least in my computer :P)

 

I've done this:

    [ServiceContract(Namespace="http://www.dk.com")]
    [XmlSerializerFormat]
    public interface IRESTfulService
    {
        [WebInvoke(UriTemplate = "/{communityId}/Login", Method = "POST")]
        [OperationContract]
        String Login(String communityId, UserLogin login);
    }

 

    public class RESTfulService : RESTful_Service.IRESTfulService 
    {

        public String Login(String communityId, UserLogin login)
        {
            return "login=" + login.UserName;
        }

    }

 

I use you code to perform a call, but I always get this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><string>login=</string>

 

Maybe the difference... is that I have the class UserLogin declared in the client and in the server... but the serialization output should be the same, shoudn't it?

---

.: Valeriano Tórtola MCTS WPF :.: http://www.vtortola.net :.

Answer 7

Hi Valeriano,

So the service doesn't report error and just get empty value for the UserLogin object's Username field, correct? In my test service, I also declare the UserLogin class in both client and service project twice, but they are identical, so if you make sure the class definition in both projects are identical(even the namespace) then it should be no problem on that.

Try using the method I mentioned earlier, define a WebGet operation to return the UserLogin and compare its generated XML with the one you send (for the webInvoke operation) to see whether there is difference. You can use fiddler tool to capture message for http service(without message layer security):

http://www.fiddler2.com/Fiddler2/version.asp

or you can even try using WebChannelFactory to call REST service to see whether it works. If works, also try capturing its SOAP message to compare it with your current one.

#WebChannelFactory(TChannel) Class
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb908674.aspx

If necessary, I can send you my test solution so that you can try running it on your side. You can reach me at the following address:

stcheng (AT) microsoft.com

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Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.

Answer 8

Awesome job Steven.  I've been looking for hours for an answer to how to do this! 

Thanks...Dan

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Dan