C# httpClient does not return content

Question

public const string CloudApi = "https://www.idxhome.com/restServices/cloud-idx/login";
public const string password = "cloudidx";
public const string clientId = "65912";
public async Task<ActionResult> Index()
{
    HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
    client.BaseAddress = new Uri(CloudApi);
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();

    var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
    {
       { "clientId", "cloudidx" },
       { "password", "65912" }
    };

    var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(values);
    HttpResponseMessage response =  await client.PostAsync(CloudApi,content);

    if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    {
        var responseString = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;

        response.Content.ToString();
    }

    client.Dispose();

    return View();
}

I have tried using HttpWebRequest as well as httpClient. I have looked through a dozen or so question on here and none of them have helped the situation.

I can use PHP and Curl and get the result I am looking for. The data returned in PHP is a JSON list of links. That looks like this..

 "links":[
     {
        "rel":"search",
        "href":"http://www.idxhome.com/restServices/cloud-idx/client/2/listing-search/MTM4NDMwMDg2MTA3ODoxYjExMWVhNDVlYWVmMjdiOTZhNTE5NjBhMjU3YzYzMzNhZmI0MzkwODk2MmExY2U0NU0ZjFiOGE3YzFhMTU4MjYxNjNlZjNhYjF-hZWFmNDI2ZWE3NmQwMjE4ODdjNmMzNGQxZmIxYTE4MGQ2MjUyM2YZWNhYjAwM2Q5MWFmNzgyYzM3NzcwYzFmNDk5OGM1Y2ExNDZhYjQwMDk2OWI4NmFhYTllZj..."
     },
     {
        "rel":"detail",
        "href":"http://www.idxhome.com/restServices/cloud-idx/client/2/listing-search/MTM4NDMwMDg2MTA3ODoxYjExMWVhNDVlYWVmMjdiOTZhNTE5NjBhMjU3YzYzMzNhZmI0MzkwODk2MmExY2U0NU0ZjFiOGE3YzFhMTU4MjYxNjNlZjNhYjF-hZWFmNDI2ZWE3NmQwMjE4ODdjNmMzNGQxZmIxYTE4MGQ2MjUyM2YZWNhYjAwM2Q5MWFmNzgyYzM3NzcwYzFmNDk5OGM1Y2ExNDZhYjQwMDk2OWI4NmFhYTllZj..."
     },
     {
        "rel":"cities",
        "href":"http://www.idxhome.com/restServices/cloud-idx/client/2/listing-search/MTM4NDMwMDg2MTA3ODoxYjExMWVhNDVlYWVmMjdiOTZhNTE5NjBhMjU3YzYzMzNhZmI0MzkwODk2MmExY2U0NU0ZjFiOGE3YzFhMTU4MjYxNjNlZjNhYjF-hZWFmNDI2ZWE3NmQwMjE4ODdjNmMzNGQxZmIxYTE4MGQ2MjUyM2YZWNhYjAwM2Q5MWFmNzgyYzM3NzcwYzFmNDk5OGM1Y2ExNDZhYjQwMDk2OWI4NmFhYTllZj..."
     },
     {
        "rel":"zips",
        "href":"http://www.idxhome.com/restServices/cloud-idx/client/2/listing-search/MTM4NDMwMDg2MTA3ODoxYjExMWVhNDVlYWVmMjdiOTZhNTE5NjBhMjU3YzYzMzNhZmI0MzkwODk2MmExY2U0NU0ZjFiOGE3YzFhMTU4MjYxNjNlZjNhYjF-hZWFmNDI2ZWE3NmQwMjE4ODdjNmMzNGQxZmIxYTE4MGQ2MjUyM2YZWNhYjAwM2Q5MWFmNzgyYzM3NzcwYzFmNDk5OGM1Y2ExNDZhYjQwMDk2OWI4NmFhYTllZj..."
     }
  ],
"cloudIdxSearchProfile":{
    "bedrooms":2,
    "cityId":"274,284",
    "fullBaths":1,
    "lotAcres":0,
    "maxListPrice":1000000,
    "minListPrice":0,
    "newConstructionYn":false,
    "openHomesOnlyYn":false,
    "propertyType":"SFR,CND",
    "squareFeet":0,
    "zip":"94702,94703"
},
"cloudIdxDetailProfile":{
    "listingNumber":"88873733",
    "boardId":6
},
"message":"Include 'idxCloudSearchProfile' url parameters with requests to the 'search' URL. For 'detail' requests, include 'idxCloudDetailProfile' url parameters."`

API I am trying to utilize. It logs in with success but i cannot get the data that the call to login is suppose to pass along.

I believe there is a difference in the curl call and the httpclient call but i am not sure.

any help is appreciated. I have edited the code to the following but response string is still empty Copy of debug view

        public async Task<ActionResult> Index()
    {
        using (var client = new HttpClient()) { 
        client.BaseAddress = new Uri(CloudApi);
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
        //client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
        var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
        {
           { "clientId", "65912" },
           { "password", "cloudidx" }

        };
        var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(values);
        HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsync("login", content);
            string responseString = String.Empty;
            if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
        {
             responseString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

        }
    }
        return View();
    }

here is the curl call that works

function cloudIDXCall($url, $method, $data = array()) {

$curl = curl_init();
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); // return response as a string
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, 3); // force default SSL version to 3    
curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0); // turn off verification of the remote server's certificate - helps with Windows

$queryString = http_build_query($data); // pack parameters into a URL query string

if ($method == 'get') {
    // GET is the default request method for cURL
    if (strlen($queryString) > 0) $url = $url . '?' . $queryString; // append parameters for GET
} elseif ($method == 'post') {
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POST, 1);
    curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $queryString); // set parameters for POST
} else {
    return array('failure' => 'Invalid method');
}

curl_setopt($curl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
$response = curl_exec($curl);

if ( !$response ) {
    $errMsg = "Error: " . curl_error($curl) . " - Code: " . curl_errno($curl);
    curl_close($curl);
    return array('failure' => $errMsg);
}

$responseArray = json_decode ($response, $assoc = true); // decode JSON into assoc array
curl_close($curl);
return $responseArray;

}

System.Net.ServicePointManager.SecurityProtocol = SecurityProtocolType.Ssl3; solved the issue... Not sure why it made a difference but it did.

Answer 1

Use:

var responseString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();

The result will then be in responseString.

Also one more problem:

You set your BaseAddress as the CloudApi, so now the requestUri when you call PostAsync should be blank. Like so:

var response = await client.PostAsync(String.Empty, content);

Also do yourself a favor and use the using keyword provided by C#.

So here's what your full method should look like:

    using(var client = new HttpClient())
    {
        client.BaseAddress = "http://baseApiAddress.com";

        var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
        {
            { "clientId", "cloudidx" },
            { "password", "65912" }
        };

        var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(values);
        var response = await client.PostAsync("apiMethod", content);
        string responseString = String.Empty;

        if(response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
        {
            responseString = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
        }
    }

    return View();