Make a request to StackExchange Api

Question

I'm trying to request list of tags on StackExchange in JSON format by url, but problem is, that I'm getting some broken text instead of JSON, so I can't even parse it.

P.S. Done it with the help of RestSharp.

private void Refresh()
    {
        var client = new RestClient("http://api.stackexchange.com/2.2/tags?order=desc&sort=popular&site=stackoverflow");

        var result = client.Execute(new RestRequest(Method.GET));

        var array = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Root>(result.Content);

        Platforms = array.Platforms;
    }

Please [edit your question](http://stackoverflow.com/posts/29486722/edit) and include the **broken text**. — ekad, Apr 07 '15 at 08:07
I don't use c# but I've dabbled with the stackexchange api, and from what I experienced, the response is gzip encoded. With the Java client I used, I had to use a gzip decoder — Paul Samsotha, Apr 07 '15 at 08:15
Don't deface your question when you found the answer. Please [post an answer with your solution](http://stackoverflow.com/revisions/29486722/3). — CodeCaster, Apr 07 '15 at 09:05

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 07 '15 at 08:40

2

If you make GET request to this URL using Fiddler, you will see that response has a header:

Content-Encoding: gzip

Which means that response is compressed with gzip. Good news is that HttpWebRequest can handle that:

request.AutomaticDecompression = DecompressionMethods.Deflate | DecompressionMethods.GZip;

After you add this row you will get nice and readable JSON.

answered Apr 07 '15 at 08:40

Aleksandr Ivanov

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Idk why, but didn't work for me. I used RestSharp and now it's okay. Thanks for the help. – Marcus Vertinskiy Apr 07 '15 at 08:49
I have tested this with your code and it worked. But anyway, I think it's good idea to use RestSharp. – Aleksandr Ivanov Apr 07 '15 at 09:15

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:24

0

As @peeskillet mentions, this looks like compressed data. Please have a look at What is the canonical method for an HTTP client to instruct an HTTP server to disable gzip responses? and especially this answer.

Something like

Accept-Encoding: *;q=0

should help.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:24

Community

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answered Apr 07 '15 at 09:11

Stephen Reindl

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Make a request to StackExchange Api

2 Answers2