How to add parameters into a WebRequest?

Question

I need to call a method from a webservice, so I've written this code:

 private string urlPath = "http://xxx.xxx.xxx/manager/";
 string request = urlPath + "index.php/org/get_org_form";
 WebRequest webRequest = WebRequest.Create(request);
 webRequest.Method = "POST";
 webRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
 webRequest.
 webRequest.ContentLength = 0;
 WebResponse webResponse = webRequest.GetResponse();

But this method requires some parameters, as following:

Post data:

_username:'API USER',         // api authentication username

_password:'API PASSWORD',     // api authentication password

How can I add these parameters into this Webrequest?

score 82 · Answer 1 · edited Feb 28 '12 at 23:52

82

Use stream to write content to webrequest

string data = "username=<value>&password=<value>"; //replace <value>
byte[] dataStream = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(data);
private string urlPath = "http://xxx.xxx.xxx/manager/";
string request = urlPath + "index.php/org/get_org_form";
WebRequest webRequest = WebRequest.Create(request);
webRequest.Method = "POST";
webRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
webRequest.ContentLength = dataStream.Length;  
Stream newStream=webRequest.GetRequestStream();
// Send the data.
newStream.Write(dataStream,0,dataStream.Length);
newStream.Close();
WebResponse webResponse = webRequest.GetResponse();

edited Feb 28 '12 at 23:52

Jacob

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answered Jul 19 '10 at 09:49

Sandeep Kumar M

3,841
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what are the extra parameters you added to this `newStream.Write(data,0,data.Length)` – Smith Dec 24 '11 at 20:14
@Smith - username and password, see the first line – Sandeep Kumar M Dec 27 '11 at 05:27

score 34 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 29 '16 at 17:58

If these are the parameters of url-string then you need to add them through '?' and '&' chars, for example http://example.com/index.aspx?username=Api_user&password=Api_password.

If these are the parameters of POST request, then you need to create POST data and write it to request stream. Here is sample method:

private static string doRequestWithBytesPostData(string requestUri, string method, byte[] postData,
                                        CookieContainer cookieContainer,
                                        string userAgent, string acceptHeaderString,
                                        string referer,
                                        string contentType, out string responseUri)
        {
            var result = "";
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(requestUri))
            {
                var request = WebRequest.Create(requestUri) as HttpWebRequest;
                if (request != null)
                {
                    request.KeepAlive = true;
                    var cachePolicy = new RequestCachePolicy(RequestCacheLevel.BypassCache);
                    request.CachePolicy = cachePolicy;
                    request.Expect = null;
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(method))
                        request.Method = method;
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(acceptHeaderString))
                        request.Accept = acceptHeaderString;
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(referer))
                        request.Referer = referer;
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(contentType))
                        request.ContentType = contentType;
                    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(userAgent))
                        request.UserAgent = userAgent;
                    if (cookieContainer != null)
                        request.CookieContainer = cookieContainer;

                    request.Timeout = Constants.RequestTimeOut;

                    if (request.Method == "POST")
                    {
                        if (postData != null)
                        {
                            request.ContentLength = postData.Length;
                            using (var dataStream = request.GetRequestStream())
                            {
                                dataStream.Write(postData, 0, postData.Length);
                            }
                        }
                    }

                    using (var httpWebResponse = request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)
                    {
                        if (httpWebResponse != null)
                        {
                            responseUri = httpWebResponse.ResponseUri.AbsoluteUri;
                            cookieContainer.Add(httpWebResponse.Cookies);
                            using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(httpWebResponse.GetResponseStream()))
                            {
                                result = streamReader.ReadToEnd();
                            }
                            return result;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            responseUri = null;
            return null;
        }

@Omid a number indicating how long the system should wait before giving up. — RyanfaeScotland, Feb 13 '15 at 11:32

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 25 '10 at 01:36

10

For doing FORM posts, the best way is to use WebClient.UploadValues() with a POST method.

answered Jul 25 '10 at 01:36

feroze

7,380
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Can I have an example ? – Susarla Nikhilesh Aug 22 '18 at 15:45

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 21 '15 at 12:18

3

Hope this works

webRequest.Credentials= new NetworkCredential("API_User","API_Password");

edited Apr 21 '15 at 12:18

Sandeep Kumar M

3,841
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answered Feb 01 '11 at 16:38

Hidsman

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4
12

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 20 '19 at 16:50

I have a feeling that the username and password that you are sending should be part of the Authorization Header. So the code below shows you how to create the Base64 string of the username and password. I also included an example of sending the POST data. In my case it was a phone_number parameter.

string credentials = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(_username + ":" + _password));

HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(Request);
webRequest.Headers.Add("Authorization", string.Format("Basic {0}", credentials));
webRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
webRequest.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Post;
webRequest.AllowAutoRedirect = true;
webRequest.Proxy = null;

string data = "phone_number=19735559042"; 
byte[] dataStream = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(data);

request.ContentLength = dataStream.Length;
Stream newStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream();
newStream.Write(dataStream, 0, dataStream.Length);
newStream.Close();

HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)webRequest.GetResponse();
Stream stream = response.GetResponseStream();
StreamReader streamreader = new StreamReader(stream);
string s = streamreader.ReadToEnd();

request.ContentLength --- request is not defined. thanks – MindRoasterMir Sep 15 '21 at 11:07 — MindRoasterMir, Sep 15 '21 at 11:07

Demetre Phipps · Answer 6 · 2018-12-20T14:24:10.037

The code below differs from all other code because at the end it prints the response string in the console that the request returns. I learned in previous posts that the user doesn't get the response Stream and displays it.

//Visual Basic Implementation Request and Response String
  Dim params = "key1=value1&key2=value2"
    Dim byteArray = UTF8.GetBytes(params)
    Dim url = "https://okay.com"
    Dim client = WebRequest.Create(url)
    client.Method = "POST"
    client.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
    client.ContentLength = byteArray.Length
    Dim stream = client.GetRequestStream()

    //sending the data
    stream.Write(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length)
    stream.Close()

//getting the full response in a stream        
Dim response = client.GetResponse().GetResponseStream()

//reading the response 
Dim result = New StreamReader(response)

//Writes response string to Console
    Console.WriteLine(result.ReadToEnd())
    Console.ReadKey()

Code-only answers are discouraged. Please click on edit and add some words summarising how your code addresses the question, or perhaps explain how your answer differs from the previous answer/answers. Thanks — Nick, Dec 20 '18 at 05:57

How to add parameters into a WebRequest?

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