Sending HTTP POST Request with XML to a web service and reading response data in C# for windows 8 phone

Question

I a newbie at windows 8 phone development. I want to send an aync HTTP POST Request to a PHP web service with some headers and XML in the request body.

Also, I want to read the response sent back by the PHP web service.

Please guide me, how can I achieve the above two stated things.

what I have tried until now i am giving below

// Main begins program execution.
    public static void SendRequest()
    {

        HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.CreateHttp("http://mytestserver.com/Test.php");
        webRequest.Method = "POST";
        webRequest.ContentType = "text/xml";
        webRequest.Headers["SOURCE"] = "WinApp";

        var response = await httpRequest(webRequest);           

    }

    public static async Task<string> httpRequest(HttpWebRequest request)
    {
        string received;

        using (var response = (HttpWebResponse)(await Task<WebResponse>.Factory.FromAsync(request.BeginGetResponse, request.EndGetResponse, null)))
        {
            using (var responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
            {
                using (var sr = new StreamReader(responseStream))
                {

                    received = await sr.ReadToEndAsync();

                    MessageBox.Show(received.ToString());
                }
            }
        }
        return received;
    }

I am able to send the request using the above code. I just need to know that how I can send the XML in the request body to my web service.

Use webRequest.GetRequestStream() and write your xml to that stream. — L.B
there is no function GetRequestStream() associated with the object webRequest. — Mayank

Doc Roms Doc Roms · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-20T14:34:33

For Set a file, and receive a server Response, I use that for sending .csv files:

First I initialize a POST Request:

/// <summary>
///     Initialize the POST HTTP request.
/// </summary>
public void SentPostReport()
{
    string url = "http://MyUrlPerso.com/";
    Uri uri = new Uri(url);
    // Create a boundary for HTTP request.
    Boundary = "----------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");

    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
    request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + Boundary;
    request.Method = "POST";
    request.BeginGetRequestStream(new AsyncCallback(GetRequestStreamCallback), est);
        allDone.WaitOne();
}

After initialized Request, I send the differents parts of my files (headers + content + footer).

/// <summary>
///     Send a File with initialized request.
/// </summary>
private void GetRequestStreamCallback(IAsyncResult asynchronousResult)
{
    string contentType = "binary";
    string myFileContent = "one;two;three;four;five;"; // CSV content.
    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)asynchronousResult.AsyncState;
    Stream memStream = request.EndGetRequestStream(asynchronousResult);
    byte[] boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\r\n--" + Boundary + "\r\n");

    memStream.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);

    // Send headers.
    string headerTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; ";
    headerTemplate += "name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: " + contentType + "\r\n\r\n";
    string fileName = "MyFileName.csv";
    string header = string.Format(headerTemplate, "file", fileName);
    byte[] headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
    memStream.Write(headerbytes, 0, headerbytes.Length);

    byte[] contentbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(myFileContent);

    // send the content of the file.
    memStream.Write(contentbytes, 0, contentbytes.Length);

    // Send last boudary of the file ( the footer) for specify post request is finish.
    byte[] boundarybytesend = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\r\n--" + Boundary + "--\r\n");
    memStream.Write(boundarybytesend, 0, boundarybytesend.Length);
    memStream.Flush();
    memStream.Close();

    allDone.Set();
    // Start the asynchronous operation to get the response
    request.BeginGetResponse(new AsyncCallback(GetResponseCallback), request);
}

And, Finnaly, I get The response server response, indicate the file is transmetted.

/// <summary>
///     Get the Response server.
/// </summary>
private static void GetResponseCallback(IAsyncResult asynchronousResult)
{
    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)asynchronousResult.AsyncState;

    try
    {
        HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.EndGetResponse(asynchronousResult);
        Stream streamResponse = response.GetResponseStream();
        StreamReader streamRead = new StreamReader(streamResponse);

        string responseString = streamRead.ReadToEnd(); // this is a response server.

        // Close the stream object
        streamResponse.Close();
        streamRead.Close();

        // Release the HttpWebResponse
        response.Close();
    }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            // error.
        }
    }

This sample works on Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8. This is for send a .csv content. You can adapt this code for send Xml content. Replace just

string myFileContent = "one;two;three;four;five;"; // CSV content.
string fileName = "MyFileName.csv";

by your XML

string myFileContent = "<xml><xmlnode></xmlnode></xml>"; // XML content.
string fileName = "MyFileName.xml";

Sending HTTP POST Request with XML to a web service and reading response data in C# for windows 8 phone

8 Answers