How to Call the Web API From a Client Application (C#): Part 2

Introduction

This article provides a walkthrough of how to call a Web API from a client application that we created in Part 1.

Let's start by creating a simple Console Application in the existing solution that we have already created.

Step 1: Right-click the Solution Explorer, select "Add New Project" and select "Console Application".

Step 2: Install Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.SelfHost using the Packager Manager console as shown below. Click on "Tools" then select "Library Package Manager" --> "Package Manager Console" and enter the following command:

Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.SelfHost

Step 3: Now add a reference to the TestClient to the SelfHost1 project as in the following:

In Solution Explorer right-click the ClientApp project then select "Add Reference".

In the Reference Manager dialog, under "Solution", select "Projects". Select the SelfHost project. Click "OK" as shown below.

Step 4: Now open the Program.cs file and add the following implementation. Then run the project by setting TestClient as the Start up project.

using System;  
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net.Http;
namespace TestClient  
{
    class Program
    {
        static HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:8080");
            ListAllBooks();
            ListBook(1);
            ListBooks("seventh");
            Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to quit.");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
        static void ListAllBooks()
        {
            //Call HttpClient.GetAsync to send a GET request to the appropriate URI
            HttpResponseMessage resp = client.GetAsync("api/books").Result;
            //This method throws an exception if the HTTP response status is an error code.
            resp.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
            var books = resp.Content.ReadAsAsync<IEnumerable<SelfHost1.book>>().Result;
            foreach (var p in books)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2} ({3})", p.Id, p.Name, p.Author, p.Rating);
            }
        }
        static void ListBook(int id)
        {
            var resp = client.GetAsync(string.Format("api/books/{0}", id)).Result;
            resp.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
            var book1 = resp.Content.ReadAsAsync<SelfHost1.book>().Result;
            Console.WriteLine("ID {0}: {1}", id, book1.Name);
        }
        static void ListBooks(string author)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Books in '{0}':", author);
            string query = string.Format("api/books?author={0}", author);
            var resp = client.GetAsync(query).Result;
            resp.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
            //This method is an extension method, defined in System.Net.Http.HttpContentExtensions
            var books = resp.Content.ReadAsAsync<IEnumerable<SelfHost1.book>>().Result;
            foreach (var book in books)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(book.Name);
            }
        }
    }
}

Summary

In this article, I explained how to call a Web API from a client application.

Previous Article: Understanding Self-Hosting of a Web API (C#): Part 1