Httpclient Postasync not passing XML data to MVC Controller but works with API Controller

Question

I have two websites ABC and XYZ.I am trying to send a xml data from ABC to XYZ.

To be specific with the functionality: I am using the ABC application after logging in with EmailID. When I click on a button in the ABC application , the site should redirect to XYZ site along with the credentials. I am sending the data to XYZ in XML format via headers.

ABC site:

    public async Task<object> Login()
    {
        string url = "http://localhost:49669/**api**/Account/PostData";
        HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
        httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", "Basic Auth");
        string xmlString = "";
        UserDetails userDetail = new UserDetails { UserID = 1, EmailID = "name@redblacktree.com" };
        XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();   //Represents an XML document, 
        //Initializes a new instance of the XmlDocument class.          
        XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(userDetail.GetType());
        var emptyNs = new XmlSerializerNamespaces(new[] { XmlQualifiedName.Empty });
        XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
        namespaces.Add(string.Empty, string.Empty);
        // Creates a stream whose backing store is memory. 
        using (MemoryStream xmlStream = new MemoryStream())
        {
            xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlStream, userDetail, emptyNs);
            xmlStream.Position = 0;
            //Loads the XML document from the specified string.
            xmlDoc.Load(xmlStream);
            xmlString = xmlDoc.InnerXml;
        }
        var stringContent = new StringContent(xmlString.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8, "application/xml");
        httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("UserDetails", xmlString.ToString());
        var response = httpClient.PostAsync(url, stringContent).Result;
        var result = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
        {
            var messageContents = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            return Content(messageContents);
        }
        return null;
    }

Here UserDetails is a model class.

XYZ Site

public class AccountController : ApiController
{
    [System.Web.Http.HttpPost]
    public HttpResponseMessage PostData(HttpRequestMessage request)
    {

        var someText = request.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
        var header1 = request.Headers.Authorization;
        var header2 = request.Headers.GetValues("UserDetails");
        return new HttpResponseMessage(); 
    }

If I am posting to a API Controller, it works. If it is to a normal MVC controller, it is not working. Can anyone tell me why.

I am trying to post to a MVC Controller because, I am finding it difficult to get the POST data from the API Controller to MVC Controller. So if I can directly post to MVC Controller, it eases my work. Any help ?

Answer 1

Solved!

Simply by providing return type as ActionResult solved my problem. Unnecessarily I complicated the code.

public class AccountController : Controller      
{    
[System.Web.Http.HttpPost]       
public ActionResult PostData()
    {
        var data = HttpContext.Request.Headers["UserDetails"];
        return null;
    }   
}  

Thanks !