ASP.NET MVC4 - How can I emulate an HTTP POST request (HttpRequestMessage) so I can debug locally w/o having to rely on a third party device?

Question

Here's the scenario: We have an iOS app that makes an HTTP POST request to my .NET Web API. The method that is invoked is PostPicture (below):

// POST api/blah
    [HttpPost]
    public string PostPicture(HttpRequestMessage msg)
    {
        HttpContext context = HttpContext.Current;
        etc...

As you can see, this method takes in an HttpRequestMessage. The issue I'm having is I constantly have to rely on the iOS app to make the call just to be able to pass in the HttpRequestMessage to test my .NET code.

I had the iOS developer send me the HTTP POST contents that the device (iOS) is sending to my Web API. He sent it in a text document.

Question: Is there any way to take those raw contents and basically emulate an HTTP POST request with these contents (and of course create an HttpRequestObject based on those contents) within my code?

Here's the HTTP POST contents that he sent me:

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1187\cocoasubrtf370
{\fonttbl\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Menlo-Bold;\f1\fnil\fcharset0 Menlo-Regular;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;\red81\green112\blue255;}
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww10800\viewh8400\viewkind0
\deftab529
\pard\tx529\pardeftab529\pardirnatural

\f0\b\fs22 \cf0 \CocoaLigature0 2013-06-14 15:17:32.969 blah[11765:907] insertEntity URL: http://domain/blahWS/API/blah/PostPicture\
\pard\tx529\pardeftab529\pardirnatural

\f1\b0 \cf0 Printing description of mikeTest:\
\{\
  "imageDataBlob" : "JVBERi0xLjMKJcTl8uXrp\\/Og0MTGCjQgMCBvYmoKPDwgL0xlbmd0aCA1IDAg\\nUiAvRmlsdGVyIC9GbG...",\
  "layer" : "0",\
  "blah" : "YES",\
  "pdf" : "JVBERi0xLjMKJcTl8uXrp\\/Og0MTGCjQgMCBvYmoKPDwgL0xlbmd0aCA1IDAg\\nUiAvRmlsdGVyIC9GbG...",\
  "imageCount" : "3",\
  "groupID" : "1_userName",\
  "longitude" : -95.98030149945615,\
  "latitude" : 36.74866412304039,\
  "JsonData" : "[\{ \\"geometry\\" : \{\\"x\\":-95.98030149945615 , \\"y\\": 36.74866412304039\} ,\\"attributes\\":\{ \\"Feature\\" : \\"Chemical_Treatment\\",\\"Type\\" : \\"\\",\\"Prod_Name\\" : \\"\\",\\"Line_Dia\\" : \\"\\",\\"Line_Mat\\" : \\"Select\\",\\"Prspct_Fld\\" : \\"\\",\\"Comments\\" : \\"\\",\\"HTML_LINK\\":\\"http:\\/\\/subdomain.url.net\\/blahWS\\/ImageViewer\\/Display\\/1_userName_2013-06-14_15:17:02\\",\\"APP_LAT\\":\\"36.74866412304039\\",\\"APP_LONG\\":\\"-95.98030149945615\\", \\"groupID\\":\\"1_userNamep_2013-06-14_15:17:02\\"\}\}]",\
  "Timestamp" : "2013-01-01 12:12:23",\
  "username" : "_userName"\
\}\
\pard\tx529\pardeftab529\pardirnatural

\f0\b \cf2 (lldb) }

I'd tackle it by using the CURL utility. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3007253/send-post-xml-file-using-curl-command-line — chris.w.mclean, Jun 15 '13 at 14:16

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 14 '13 at 20:42

2

You could use Fiddler to simulate a request easily using The Composer.

NOTE: The request this developer sent you looks like some RTF file rather than an actual HTTP request. You might familiarize himself that an HTTP request contains 2 parts: HTTP headers and body payload that you will need in order to perform an HTTP request.

answered Jun 14 '13 at 20:42

Darin Dimitrov

1,023,142
271
3,287
2,928

Thanks for the useful information. I appreciate it. I am completely unfamiliar with this territory. I will mess with Fiddler and I informed the developer of what you said. – Mike Marks Jun 14 '13 at 20:51

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '13 at 20:40

1

You can use the HttpClient class in .NET 4.0 and 4.5.

answered Jun 14 '13 at 20:40

Rob Lyndon

12,089
5
49
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Thanks, I will try Fiddler out first. HttpClient sounds promising as well. Appreciate it. – Mike Marks Jun 14 '13 at 21:07

ASP.NET MVC4 - How can I emulate an HTTP POST request (HttpRequestMessage) so I can debug locally w/o having to rely on a third party device?

2 Answers2