How to get json response using system.net.webrequest in c#?

Question

I need to get json data from an external domain.
I used WebRequest to get the response from a website.
Here's the code:

var request = WebRequest.Create(url);
string text;
var response = (HttpWebResponse) request.GetResponse();

using (var sr = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream()))
{
    text = sr.ReadToEnd();
}

Does anyone know why I can't get the json data?

You need using (var response = request.GetResponse()){ ... }. May not solve the problem but saves the resource leak. — John Saunders
– John Saunders, Commented Sep 16, 2010 at 18:55

Martin Buberl · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-06 13:14:55Z

75

Some APIs want you to supply the appropriate "Accept" header in the request to get the wanted response type.

For example if an API can return data in XML and JSON and you want the JSON result, you would need to set the HttpWebRequest.Accept property to "application/json".

HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(requestUri);
httpWebRequest.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Get;
httpWebRequest.Accept = "application/json";

edited Mar 6, 2011 at 13:14

answered Mar 4, 2011 at 18:06

Martin Buberl

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5 Comments

Jidheesh Rajan Over a year ago

Is it possible to pass the parameter with this??

NoWar Over a year ago

Perhaps you can try to add your parameters to requestUri I.e. localhost/api/product/123

Martin Buberl Over a year ago

@JidheeshRajan See this question/answers for how to add parameters to a WebRequest stackoverflow.com/questions/3279888/…

Campinho Over a year ago

Adding only request.ContentType = "application/json; wasn't enough for me so I think your solution is the correct one.

Arkaine55 Over a year ago

This answer should be accepted because the current accepted answer is not correct. Another example of not using "Accept" when appropriate...

Oren A · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-16 18:42:30Z

69

You need to explicitly ask for the content type.

Add this line:

 request.ContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8";

At the appropriate place

answered Sep 16, 2010 at 18:42

Oren A

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4 Comments

Jidheesh Rajan Over a year ago

Is it possible to pass the parameter with this request??

temoto Over a year ago

Request Content-Type describes type of request body. It is used to tell the server in what format the data is being sent to server. It has nothing to do with content type of response. The client may ask to reply with specific types using Accept header, but the server may ignore it for other reasons.

Mr.X Over a year ago

Yes Jidheesh, see this stackoverflow.com/questions/10263082/…

Trevor Over a year ago

I know this is an old answer but for completeness wanted to reply to @SHEKHARSHETE: you can use something like the excellent NewtonSoft JSON.Net which will do the work for you and I recommend reading the useful guides to workout how to do this here: newtonsoft.com/json

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