C#: HttpClient with POST parameters

Question

I use codes below to send POST request to a server:

string url = "http://myserver/method?param1=1&param2=2"    
HttpClientHandler handler = new HttpClientHandler();
HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient(handler);
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, url);
HttpResponseMessage response = await httpClient.SendAsync(request);

I don't have access to the server to debug but I want to know, is this request sent as POST or GET?

If it is GET, How can I change my code to send param1 & param2 as POST data (not in the URL)?

Answer 1

A cleaner alternative would be to use a Dictionary to handle parameters. They are key-value pairs after all.

private static readonly HttpClient httpclient;

static MyClassName()
{
    // HttpClient is intended to be instantiated once and re-used throughout the life of an application. 
    // Instantiating an HttpClient class for every request will exhaust the number of sockets available under heavy loads. 
    // This will result in SocketException errors.
    // https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.net.http.httpclient?view=netframework-4.7.1
    httpclient = new HttpClient();    
} 

var url = "http://myserver/method";
var parameters = new Dictionary<string, string> { { "param1", "1" }, { "param2", "2" } };
var encodedContent = new FormUrlEncodedContent (parameters);

var response = await httpclient.PostAsync (url, encodedContent).ConfigureAwait (false);
if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK) {
    // Do something with response. Example get content:
    // var responseContent = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync ().ConfigureAwait (false);
}

Also dont forget to Dispose() httpclient, if you dont use the keyword using

As stated in the Remarks section of the HttpClient class in the Microsoft docs , HttpClient should be instantiated once and re-used.

Edit:

You may want to look into response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); instead of if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK) .

You may want to keep your httpclient and dont Dispose() it. See: Do HttpClient and HttpClientHandler have to be disposed?

Edit:

Do not worry about using .ConfigureAwait(false) in .NET Core. For more details look at https://blog.stephencleary.com/2017/03/aspnetcore-synchronization-context.html

Answer 2

As Ben said, you are POSTing your request ( HttpMethod.Post specified in your code )

The querystring (get) parameters included in your url probably will not do anything.

Try this:

string url = "http://myserver/method";    
string content = "param1=1&param2=2";
HttpClientHandler handler = new HttpClientHandler();
HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient(handler);
HttpRequestMessage request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, url);
HttpResponseMessage response = await httpClient.SendAsync(request,content);

HTH,

bovako