MVC 3 GET Webservice and Response - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

I'm attempting to build a GET webservice that would from website 1 initiate a GET request...sending that request to website 2 and website two would respond by sending a list of objects. I using Json.net to serialize and deserialize the List of objects.
I've put together a POST webservice with the assistance of this question.. WebService ASP.NET MVC 3 Send and Receive
But I've been unsuccessful so far at adapting that example for my new requirement.
Here is what I have so far from website 1..
public static List<ScientificFocusArea> ScientificFocusAreas()
{
string apiURL = "http://localhost:50328/Api/GetAPI";
//Make the post
ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = (sender, certificate, chain, errors) => true;
//var bytes = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(body);
HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(apiURL);
Stream stream = null;
try
{
request.KeepAlive = false;
request.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
request.Timeout = -1;
request.Method = "GET";
}
finally
{
if (stream != null)
{
stream.Flush();
stream.Close();
}
}
List<ScientificFocusArea> listSFA = WebService.GetResponse_ScientificFocusArea(request);
return listSFA;
}
public static List<ScientificFocusArea> GetResponse_ScientificFocusArea(HttpWebRequest request)
{
List<ScientificFocusArea> listSFA = new List<ScientificFocusArea>();
using (HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse())
{
using (Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
{
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK && response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.Created)
{
throw new HttpException((int)response.StatusCode, response.StatusDescription);
}
var end = string.Empty;
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream))
{
end = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();
listSFA = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<ScientificFocusArea>>(end);
}
response.Close();
}
}
return listSFA;
}
Then on the website 2...
public class GetAPIController : Controller
{
//
// GET: /Api/GetAPI/
[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Get)]
public ActionResult GetScientificFocusAreas()
{
//Get list of SFAs
List<ScientificFocusArea> ListSFA = CreateList.ScientificFocusArea();
string json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(ListSFA, Formatting.Indented);
//Send the the seralized object.
return Json(json);
}
}
Also, on website 2, I've registered this route for the incoming request...
context.MapRoute(
"GetScientificFocusAreas",
"Api/GetAPI/",
new
{
controller = "GetAPI",
action = "GetScientificFocusAreas",
id = UrlParameter.Optional
}
);
I'm currently getting the error.. he remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
Any help would me greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The problem seems like a routing issue. I would start with the RouteDebugger which can be found here. This tool gives insight into which routes your URL is hitting.
The code I use for a HTTP GET is a bit different that what you have above. It's included below.
public T Get<T>(string url)
{
try
{
HttpWebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest;
using (HttpWebResponse response = request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)
using (Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
{
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK && response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.Created)
{
throw new HttpException((int)response.StatusCode, response.StatusDescription);
}
var end = string.Empty;
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream))
{
end = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();
}
responseStream.Close();
response.Close();
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
serializer.Binder = new DefaultSerializationBinder();
JsonReader jsonReader = new JsonTextReader(new StringReader(end));
T deserialize = serializer.Deserialize<T>(jsonReader);
return deserialize;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new ApiException(string.Format("An error occured while trying to contact the API. URL: {0}", url), ex);
}
}
The other issue I see is in the GetScientificFocusAreas() method. On the second line of the code the objects are converted to JSON. Which is fine, but the last line of code the json is passed into the Json() method. Which converts the string into Json yet again. When using the JSON.Net library use the Content() method in the return instead of Json() and set the content type to application/json
The reasoning for using an external Json converter rather than the internal converter is simply the internal json converter has a few known issues. JSON.Net has been around for years and is solid.