C# - WebApi2 - Post and Get - Post is not converting x-www-form-urlencoded to object

Question

I am attempting to create two methods in WebApi2 that will take data into an object and return a token.

The Get Command works perfectly.

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("refresh")]
    public HttpResponseMessage refresh([FromUri] oAuthTokenRequest tokenItem)
    {
        var device = new ConnectedDevices();
        var AuthString = device.getAuthorization(Request.Headers.Authorization.Parameter);
        var serviceKey = new ServiceKeyManagement();
        var accessToken = new oAuthAccessResponse();
        var response = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.Forbidden, "Unknown", "application/json");
        var clientID = AuthString[0];
        var errorResponse = new oAuthErrorResponse();
        var oauth = new oAuthAuthenticationCode();
        String email = String.Empty;
        var tokenRequest = new oAuthTokenRequest();

        Log.Debug("oAuth REST API GET: Refresh: Authorization Parameter: " + Request.Headers.Authorization.Parameter, this);
        Log.Debug("oAuth REST API GET: Refresh: clientID: " + clientID, this);
        Log.Debug("oAuth REST API GET: Refresh: Request: " + Request.RequestUri, this);

        if (!serviceKey.isValidServiceKey(clientID, AuthString[1]))
        {
            errorResponse.error = oAuthCodes.ErrorCodes.unauthorized_client.ToString();
            errorResponse.error_description = "Invalid Service Key";
            errorResponse.error_uri = String.Empty;
            response = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.Forbidden, errorResponse, "application/json");
            response.ReasonPhrase = "refresh: Invalid Login Request.";
        }           // end of if (!serviceKey.isValidServiceKey(clientID, AuthString[1]))
        else
        {
            Log.Debug("oAuth REST API GET: Refresh: NameValuePairs: " + tokenItem.grant_type, this);

            tokenRequest.redirect_url = tokenItem.redirect_url;
            tokenRequest.code = tokenItem.code;
            tokenRequest.grant_type = tokenItem.grant_type;
            tokenRequest.clientID = clientID;
            response = tokenValidation(tokenRequest, clientID);
        }           // end else for  if (!serviceKey.isValidServiceKey(clientID, AuthString[1]))
        return response;
    }           // end of public HttpResponseMessage Login(ConnectedDeviceViewModel login)

This reads in the variables from the URI, and then parses them into the object.

The Post command is not doing that:

    [HttpPost]
    [Route("refresh")]
    public HttpResponseMessage refreshPost([FromBody] oAuthTokenRequest tokenItem)
    {
        var device = new ConnectedDevices();
        var AuthString = device.getAuthorization(Request.Headers.Authorization.Parameter);
        var serviceKey = new ServiceKeyManagement();
        var accessToken = new oAuthAccessResponse();
        var response = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.Forbidden, "Unknown", "application/json");
        var clientID = AuthString[0];
        var errorResponse = new oAuthErrorResponse();
        var oauth = new oAuthAuthenticationCode();
        String email = String.Empty;
        var tokenRequest = new oAuthTokenRequest();

        Log.Debug("oAuth REST API: Refresh POST: Authorization Parameter: " + Request.Headers.Authorization.Parameter, this);
        Log.Debug("oAuth REST API: Refresh POST: clientID: " + clientID, this);
        Log.Debug("oAuth REST API: Refresh POST: Request: " + Request.RequestUri, this);

        if (!serviceKey.isValidServiceKey(clientID, AuthString[1]))
        {
            errorResponse.error = oAuthCodes.ErrorCodes.unauthorized_client.ToString();
            errorResponse.error_description = "Invalid Service Key";
            errorResponse.error_uri = String.Empty;
            response = Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.Forbidden, errorResponse, "application/json");
            response.ReasonPhrase = "refresh: Invalid Login Request.";
        }           // end of if (!serviceKey.isValidServiceKey(clientID, AuthString[1]))
        else
        {
            Log.Debug("oAuth REST API POST: Refresh: NameValuePairs: " + String.Join(" : ", Request.GetQueryNameValuePairs().ToList()), this);

            tokenRequest.redirect_url = tokenItem.redirect_url;
            tokenRequest.code = tokenItem.code;
            tokenRequest.grant_type = tokenItem.grant_type;
            tokenRequest.clientID = clientID;
            response = tokenValidation(tokenRequest, clientID);
        }           // end else for  if (!serviceKey.isValidServiceKey(clientID, AuthString[1]))
        return response;
    }

The post works perfectly if this is JSON that is being sent. I have tried the signature various ways:

    [HttpPost]
    [Route("refresh")]
    public HttpResponseMessage refreshPost([FromBody] oAuthTokenRequest tokenItem)

    [HttpPost]
    [Route("refresh")]
    public HttpResponseMessage refreshPost(oAuthTokenRequest tokenItem)

    [HttpPost]
    [Route("refresh")]
    public HttpResponseMessage refreshPost(FormDataFormat oAuthTokenRequest tokenItem)

In each case, if I try to send the following request:

POST /api/TokenAuthorization/refresh HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost.www.bissell.com
Authorization: Basic U21hcnRDbGVhbkFsZXhhOlJOWFpfaEFQWUhBVHpVTTc1STVrdDVQcmlEUkkzV0VtdG5FX1dCS0ZiaUEtVGRBVXZtMWZzNldKRV9ZOFJXajVicEVnbmxpdmp2eWJsNkRYelhEYmR1SXB0d0VGV2IwbDRWbXpBWFI3d1VxX2twaklzLTQ4SDRfTnc2Q2YtNy1ZaVpWcU9RSGlBNjFmUWI0MWJoNU1vUjVFd0hMMExZam8tVkszWXJRa3RabWlPb0pTSXVNdWtRazJ2Tjl3MFFmdF9YTWRuUHY5eDNXRFBtMlB0TURSV2VhMVZOUXpDeVFzd0xJRFhtaU1ZbmVhNFBQZ2V3cHp0UmNFU2RjVVlMY0puQVZ5SF90TS01TUg5ZVcwOWRFNmtjMV9BSWRDc3FUcHQwTHB5V1ltVFpjVEVGcGtkdlBwSWJ1N21Od3ZWb0tCU2hZZ0RabEdpQ1dzNVVoM25DbGVVVE5FdXVNaVJiVUdsUWJIVEJKdmtWUmNQbk9qZzJSRHA5ZjBwTml3ZU1fOEthazlQRU1pNXNuSkFMaFo5bWFQTmRVTVNMaXQ1T1VkbVZYVDhuckU5eVdWN1cyS1J2bDh0ZnFsX0Z0OVVNWWFfRjI3TTlGV2dFdm9FbndZV3RyVlgxYkxPdWk1QUlFNVU3OGhzd3loYk5TMkJzRnN2Sk5YaU9icExRa2NESWNrN3g4OWVCaUdsUGNSbGkxdDRBbEVfWER6ZDFzcVNwcURWdjR2NGJwRklYUFRaWXh6MzlhSFl1akdaXzhmMW5QRjYzN3d4WFNDcU52SkpublZYRWR1T1Ey
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Cache-Control: no-cache
Postman-Token: 434aa7f2-a3d2-ce43-d300-001d61be4562

grant_type=authorization_code&code=20620A62853B45B9BEEA6E67C7587BC1%3AC0DB652683B5ACB67797A42D3DDB4D03ABA0561100137DB812602C57E17736E72D6E1E35D5A56C7F67B1760EA33A539D932C7A96A1853E4E103118F41D004D7E&redirect_url=abc&clientID=abc&clientSecret=abc

I get the following error

"ExceptionMessage": "This method or property is not supported after HttpRequest.Form, Files, InputStream, or BinaryRead has been invoked.

My WebApiConfig.cs looks like this:

public static class WebApiConfig
{
    public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
        config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

        config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "DefaultApi",
            routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
            defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
        );

        var json = config.Formatters.JsonFormatter;
        json.SerializerSettings.PreserveReferencesHandling = Newtonsoft.Json.PreserveReferencesHandling.Objects;

        config.Formatters.Remove(config.Formatters.XmlFormatter);
    }
}

I have looked high and low on the internet and everything they say is what I am doing. So, I am guessing that I am missing something basic, most likely in the WebApiConfig. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update So, this is not the way that I want to do the code, however, I did find this solution: Is there a way to handle form post data in a Web Api controller?

            var httpctx = (HttpContextWrapper)Request.Properties["MS_HttpContext"];
            tokenRequest.redirect_url = httpctx.Request.Form["redirect_url"] ?? null;
            tokenRequest.code = httpctx.Request.Form["code"] ?? null;
            tokenRequest.grant_type = httpctx.Request.Form["grant_type"] ?? null;
            tokenRequest.clientID = clientID;

do you have to send the data as x-www-form-urlencoded? Ive had much better luck with using JSON with web api. — victor, Mar 09 '17 at 21:02
Regretfully, I do have to send it as x-www-form-urlencoded. It is to stay in compliance with a standard (oAuth) — RWHertenstein2, Mar 09 '17 at 21:11
So, the adjustment that I did made the x-web-form-urlencode work, but now the JSON isn't. Most likely. this will require a bit of TLC with the content — RWHertenstein2, Mar 10 '17 at 13:26

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 12 '17 at 22:18

in case if you are still looking for standard way of doing this, you have to extend IModelBinder class

Below is a sample

public class CustomModelBinder : IModelBinder
{
    public bool BindModel(HttpActionContext actionContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
    {
        ObjToPass obj = new ObjToPass();
        var parameter =HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(HttpUtility.UrlDecode(actionContext.Request.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result).Remove(0,4));

        var res = parameter.ToString().Split('&');
        obj.Id = Convert.ToInt32(res[0].Split('=')[1]);
        obj.Name = res[1].Split('=')[1];
        bindingContext.Model = obj;
        //obj.Id = Convert.ToInt32(bindingContext.PropertyMetadata.Values[0]);
        return true;
    }
}

public class CustomerOrderModelBinderProvider : ModelBinderProvider
{
    public override IModelBinder GetBinder(System.Web.Http.HttpConfiguration configuration, Type modelType)
    {
        return new CustomModelBinder();
    }
}

And in your controller add this

[HttpPost]
    public void PostValues([ModelBinder(typeof(CustomerOrderModelBinderProvider))] ObjToPass obj)
    { }

Im passing values in request body. If you are adopting this method you have to change BindModel according to your need. I have hard coded and used split and array values.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 09 '17 at 21:47

Use [FromUri]

POST api/default?Id=1&Name=Boopathy HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:51715
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 0
Postman-Token: 86a69035-eea6-16fe-8ecd-86421336f46d
Cache-Control: no-cache
Origin: chrome-extension://aicmkgpgakddgnaphhhpliifpcfhicfo
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/56.0.2924.87 Safari/537.36
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept: */*
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate, br
Accept-Language: en-GB,en-US;q=0.8,en;q=0.6

I had tried that previously, and it does not work. The query string is in the body, not in the URI. — RWHertenstein2, Mar 10 '17 at 13:25

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 10 '17 at 16:29

So, I don't like this answer, but it does work:

            var httpctx = (HttpContextWrapper)Request.Properties["MS_HttpContext"];
            if (Request.Content.Headers.ContentType.MediaType == "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
            {
                tokenRequest.redirect_url = httpctx.Request.Form["redirect_url"] ?? null;
                tokenRequest.code = httpctx.Request.Form["code"] ?? null;
                tokenRequest.grant_type = httpctx.Request.Form["grant_type"] ?? null;
            }
            else
            {
                var bodyText = Request.Content.ReadAsAsync<oAuthTokenRequest>().Result;
                tokenRequest.redirect_url = bodyText.redirect_url;
                tokenRequest.code = bodyText.code;
                tokenRequest.grant_type = bodyText.grant_type;
            }

It splits out the request for form-urlencoded and json.

C# - WebApi2 - Post and Get - Post is not converting x-www-form-urlencoded to object

3 Answers3