Do Get request with a complex type parameter in the request body with web api - asp.net-web-api

Question

I want to do an integration test for the below action.
How can I pass my requestDto object in the integration test?
Neither the GetAsync nor SendAsync method has an overload parameter to pass a custom object to the server.
[Route("{startDate:datetime}")]
[HttpGet]
public HttpResponseMessage Get(DateTime startDate, [FromBody]LessonplannerGetRequest request)
{
request.StartDate = startDate;
var lessonplannerResponse = _service.GetPeriodsByWeekStartDate(request);
return Request.CreateResponse<LessonplannerResponse>(HttpStatusCode.OK, lessonplannerResponse);
}
[Test]
public void Get_Lessons_By_Date()
{
// Arrange
var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, _server.BaseAddress + "/api/lessonplanner/2014-01-14");
var myRequestDto = new LessonplannerGetRequest();
// Act => QUESTION: HOW do I pass the myRequestDto ???
var response = _client.SendAsync(request, new CancellationToken()).Result;
// Assert
Assert.That(response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK);
}
UPDATE
As Darrel Miller said:"Technically HTTP says you can send a body, it just says the body doesn't mean anything and cannot be used. HttpClient won't let you send one."
I post here my integration test with HttpClient doing a Get request with complex type + FromBody:
// Arrange
var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, _server.BaseAddress + "/api/lessonplanner/2014-01-14");
var myRequestDto = new LessonplannerGetRequest{ FirstDayOfWeek = DayOfWeek.Sunday, SchoolyearId = 1, StartDate = DateTime.Today};
request.Content = new ObjectContent<LessonplannerGetRequest>(myRequestDto, new JsonMediaTypeFormatter());
request.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json");
_client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
// Act
var response = _client.SendAsync(request, new CancellationToken()).Result;
// Assert
Assert.That(response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK);
Of course is this is not the Http way some might consider doing it differentlly sending complex type via FromUri/query string.

Answer 1

HTML specifications says you cannot send a GET with a body.
HTTP specs allows it.
WebAPI allows it, because it is a service/REST and implements HTTP but not HTML, but many clients and browser won't allow it because they implement both specs and try to be strict.
As for the specifications (RFC1866, page 46; HTML 4.x section 17.13.3) itself, it states:
If the method is "get" and the action is an HTTP URI, the user agent takes the value of action, appends a `?' to it, then appends the form data set, encoded using the "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" content type.
(e.g. if you do a <form> with GET, it will parse all the form params and set them in the query string ?a=b).
In term of pure HTTP and in the context of REST services, nothing prevents that behavior, but not all clients will be able to handle it. It's mostly a best-practice advise when it comes to REST/WebAPI to not handle body data from HttpGet, only URI data (the opposite, POST /action?filter=all is usually tolerated for metadata/action qualifiers, but that's another discussion).
So yeah, it's at your own risk, even if used only internally. As not all clients handle it (e.g. HttpRequestMessage), so you might run into trouble like you have.

Answer 2

You should NOT pass a GET body with HTTPClient.