Making a Web API method accept an xml - asp.net-web-api

Question

I am new to Web API so if this question sounds trivial or stupid please still give a solution.
I have a requirement where the consumer of my web api wants to post an xml.
I created an empty Web API controller and added a method like so:
public class StudentController : ApiController
{
[HttpPost]
public Student GetStudent(Student studentXml)
{
Student student = new Student() { Id = 502, Course = "Chemistry" };
return student;
}
}
The param is of type Student which is the class that has the same properties as the tags in the xml.
The XML that will be posted is like so:
<StudentStatus>
<AccountID>1231</AccountID>
<Password>2132132</Password>
<Batch/>
<Sequence/>
<Test>0</Test>
<Date>09/25/2014 09:18:24</Date>
<TestNumber>1972</TestNumber>
<StatusCode>3</StatusCode>
<ID>502</ID>
</StudentStatus>
The method is suppose to return an XML in response.
That's easy with the
Accept: application/xml
But how do I make the method accept an XML?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Regards.

Answer 1

Try this in the controller code...Remove Get Prefix, no need to add [HttpPost]
Put a breakpint to see if it hits there.
public void PostStudent(string studentXml)
{
//Write your logic here
}
Try this in the code from where you are posting data
using (var client = new WebClient())
{
var data = "XML data" //Try HTML.Encode if it does not work
var result = client.UploadString("http://localhost:52996/api/Student", "POST", data);
//Do something with result
}