Consuming the REST API using C-Sharp

When writing clients in C# to consume the API, You can use the ServiceStack client (easy way) or use the .NET web client (harder way).

Using the ServiceStack Client

1. Install the ServiceStackVS extension
2. Add the nuget package ServiceStack.Client
3. Add References to System.Runtime.Serialization and System.Net
4. Right-click on the project and choose "Add ServiceStack Reference..."
   
5. Enter the address of the host and name the service
   

6. Add the following Code:

   Using ServiceStack.Client

   // Authenticate
   var client = new ServiceStack.JsonServiceClient("http://api.jiwa.com.au");
   var authResponse = client.Send<ServiceStack.AuthenticateResponse>(new ServiceStack.Authenticate()
   {
   	provider = "credentials",
   	UserName = "api",
   	Password = "password",
   	RememberMe = true
   });
   
   // Read a debtor
   var serviceStackDebtorResponse = client.Get(new DebtorGetRequest { DebtorID = "0000000061000000001V" });

Using the .NET WebClient

1. Add References to System.Runtime.Serialization and System.Net
2. Add the nuget package Newtonsoft.Json
3. Add a new class file to the project and paste the code from the code generator of the API - you can get this by clicking on the "Generate C#" link on the metadata page:
   

4. Create a cookie aware WebClient using this code - this is needed to send the session Id with every request:

   Cookie Aware WebClient

   public class CookieAwareWebClient : WebClient
   {
   	public CookieAwareWebClient()
   	{
   		CookieContainer = new CookieContainer();
   	}
   	public CookieContainer CookieContainer { get; private set; }
   
   	protected override WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri address)
   	{
   		var request = (HttpWebRequest)base.GetWebRequest(address);
   		request.CookieContainer = CookieContainer;
   		return request;
   	}
   }

5. Add the following code:

   Using WebClient

   using (var webclient = new CookieAwareWebClient())
   {
       // Authenticate                
   	webClient.QueryString.Add("username", "api");
   	webClient.QueryString.Add("password", "password");
   	string responsebody = webclient.DownloadString("http://api.jiwa.com.au/auth");
   
   	ServiceStack.AuthenticateResponse webClientAuthResponse = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ServiceStack.AuthenticateResponse>(responsebody);
   
   	// Read a debtor
   	responsebody = webclient.DownloadString("http://api.jiwa.com.au:80/debtor/0000000061000000001V");                
   	JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaServiceModel.DebtorGetResponse webClientDebtorGetResponse = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JiwaFinancials.Jiwa.JiwaServiceModel.DebtorGetResponse>(responsebody);
   }

Dependency-Free

You can, of course, also consume the REST API without any strong typing or reference to our DTO classes.

Below is a code sample showing how to consume the REST API to logon and retrieve a debtor record with nothing more than a reference to the Newtonsoft.Json nuget package for deserialisation.  This sample also uses the .NET WebClient, but manually sets the SessionId cookie.

using (var webClient = new System.Net.WebClient())
{
	// Authenticate                
	webClient.QueryString.Add("username", "api");
	webClient.QueryString.Add("password", "password");
	
	string responsebody = webClient.DownloadString("http://localhost/auth");                
	// Above returns something like this: {"SessionId":"0hKBFAnutUk8Mw6YY6DN","UserName":"api","DisplayName":"","ResponseStatus":{}}

	// Deserialise response into a dynamic - below requires the Newtonsoft.Json nuget package
	var authResponse = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(responsebody);
	var sessionId = authResponse.SessionId;

	webClient.Headers.Add(System.Net.HttpRequestHeader.Cookie, string.Format("ss-id={0}", sessionId));                
	responsebody = webClient.DownloadString("http://localhost/Debtors/0000000061000000001V");
}

Related articles

• Page:
  REST API
• Page:
  Running the Jiwa API windows service multiple times on the same machine
• Page:
  Adding Custom Routes to the REST API
• Page:
  Open API Specification
• Page:
  Consuming the REST API