Getting Started

Add the namespace reference

C#
using CI.HttpClient;

Make a GET request

Make a simple get request, the callback is raised once the download completes

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

// Send the GET request to the specified uri
client.Get(new System.Uri("http://httpbin.org/get"), HttpCompletionOption.AllResponseContent, r =>
{
    // This callback is raised when the request completes
    if (r.IsSuccessStatusCode)
    {
        // Read the response content as a string
        string responseData = r.ReadAsString();

        // Or if your api returns a json response you can easily deserialise it to a specific type
        MyObject myObject = r.ReadAsJson<MyObject>();
    }
});

Send a FormUrlEncoded message

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

var keyValuePairs = new Dictionary<string, string>()
{
    { "Key1", "Value1" },
    { "Key2", "Value2" },
};

var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(keyValuePairs);

client.Post(new Uri(url), content, HttpCompletionOption.AllResponseContent, r =>
{
    // Handle the response
});

Send a JSON message

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

MyObject myObject = new MyObject();

// Automatically serialise your object to json
var content = StringContent.FromObject(myObject);

client.Post(new Uri(url), content, HttpCompletionOption.AllResponseContent, r =>
{
    // Handle the response
});

Upload a file with a filename

Serialise your file to a byte array

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

var multipartFormDataContent = new MultipartFormDataContent();

multipartFormDataContent.Add(new ByteArrayContent(fileBytes, "application/octet-stream"), "MyFile", "MyFile.txt");

client.Post(new Uri(url), multipartFormDataContent, HttpCompletionOption.AllResponseContent, r =>
{
    // Handle the response
}, u =>
{
    // Optional upload status callback
});

Or open a stream on the file

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

var multipartFormDataContent = new MultipartFormDataContent();

var fileStream = new FileStream("MyFile.txt", FileMode.Open);

multipartFormDataContent.Add(new StreamContent(fileStream, "application/octet-stream"), "MyFile", "MyFile.txt");

client.Post(new Uri(url), multipartFormDataContent, HttpCompletionOption.AllResponseContent, r =>
{
    // Handle the response
}, u =>
{
    // Optional upload status callback
});

Progress reporting

You can get the progress of a download by setting the HttpCompletionOption to StreamResponseContent. This downloads the resource in chunks which you need to handle

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

byte[] responseData = null;

client.Get(new Uri(url), HttpCompletionOption.StreamResponseContent, r =>
{
    if (responseData == null)
    {
        // Create an array that can hold the full response
        responseData = new byte[r.ContentLength];
    }

    // Get the percentage complete
    ProgressSlider.value = r.PercentageComplete;

    // Copy the data read this round to our array
    r.ReadAsByteArray().CopyTo(responseData, r.TotalContentRead - r.ContentReadThisRound);
});

If you are uploading data in the request then you can also get progress reporting by attaching an upload handler

C#
client.Post(new Uri(url), null, HttpCompletionOption.StreamResponseContent, r =>
{
}, u =>
{
    // Get the percentage complete
    ProgressSlider.value = u.PercentageComplete;
});

Adding headers

Headers can either be added to all requests or to individual requests

C#
var client = new HttpClient();

// These headers are included with all requests from this instance
client.Headers.Add("Accept", "application/json");
client.Headers.Add("MyCustomHeader", "SomeData");

You can also include headers at the request level when using Send

Compression

Assuming the server supports compression you can request either gzip or deflate content by setting the Accept-Encoding header

C#
var client = new HttpClient();
client.Headers.Add("Accept-Encoding", "gzip, deflate");

You can have HttpClient automatically decompress the response by setting the AutomaticDecompression property

C#
// Both are set here as an example but either can be specified on their own
client.AutomaticDecompression = DecompressionMethods.GZip | DecompressionMethods.Deflate;