Cannot send a content-body with this verb-type with GET request

Question

I'm currently receiving a request through the WebApi, and trying to just resend it to another site.

The goal is to receive a request, by example: http://localhost:9999/#q=test . And then forward it to the real site:(for my test I set google.com) http://google.com/#q=test

I've the following code:

    protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, System.Threading.CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        string url = request.RequestUri.PathAndQuery;
        UriBuilder forwardUri = new UriBuilder(_otherWebSiteBase);
        forwardUri.Path = url;
        if (request.Method == HttpMethod.Get)
        {
            //request.Method = HttpMethod.Post;
        }
        request.RequestUri = forwardUri.Uri;
        request.Headers.Host = forwardUri.Host;
        return await _client.SendAsync(request, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead);//_client is an HttpClient
    }

Currently I got an System.Net.ProtocolViolationException which states: Cannot send a content-body with this verb-type.

But my input request is a GET request(and should be a GET request). If I put a POST request, I don't have an exception anymore, but google says that they don't expect a POST request.

So why is this exception coming? Any idea on how to fix it?

Answer 1

I ended by creating a copy of the initial request, and sending it again:

protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, System.Threading.CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
    string url = request.RequestUri.PathAndQuery;
    UriBuilder forwardUri = new UriBuilder(_otherWebSiteBase);
    forwardUri.Path = url;

    HttpRequestMessage newRequest = request.Clone(forwardUri.Uri.ToString());

    HttpResponseMessage responseMessage = await _client.SendAsync(newRequest);
    return responseMessage;
}

The clone method is the following, mostly inspired from this question: How to forward an HttpRequestMessage to another server

    public static HttpRequestMessage Clone(this HttpRequestMessage req, string newUri)
    {
        HttpRequestMessage clone = new HttpRequestMessage(req.Method, newUri);

        if (req.Method != HttpMethod.Get)
        {
            clone.Content = req.Content;
        }
        clone.Version = req.Version;

        foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> prop in req.Properties)
        {
            clone.Properties.Add(prop);
        }

        foreach (KeyValuePair<string, IEnumerable<string>> header in req.Headers)
        {
            clone.Headers.TryAddWithoutValidation(header.Key, header.Value);
        }
        clone.Headers.Host = new Uri(newUri).Authority;
        return clone;
    }