VerySimpleRestClient

.NET Standard Very Simple REST client ~ My HttpClient abstraction

What is it?

Library for sending REST requests for .NET Standard based on HttpClient

But why? / Motivation

Because almost all .NET projects I've seen have some kind of HttpClient abstraction.

Because you probably just want to to send some REST/HTTP requests and get the response - not juggle multiple disposable objects and multiple serializations and deserializations - you just one want one line of code that sends the request and read the response.

And since HttpClient is quite big and complex interface - more often than not, it contained bugs, most commonly forgot to dispose some objects. It's challenging to get it right from first try.

So, this is mine solution that I'm using in various projects. I really don't wan't to write HttpClient helpers all over again, so hence this library.

Quickstart

... is only way to start.

Just install VBSoftware.VerySimpleRestClient NuGet package and add using directive using VerySimpleRestClient; or reference static classes directly. There are only two of them:

SimpleClient to get the response (from get or post or put or delete).
Client to get the response as well some ordinary http data like status code and stuff ...

No injection, no configuration, no nothing...

How can I use it?

Examples:

Send simple GET request:

var result = await SimpleClient.GetAsync("http://...");
// result is dynamic JObject
Assert.Equal("value1", result["key1"]);

Send simple GET request and serialize JSON to a class:

var result = await SimpleClient.GetAsync<MyResponse>("http://...");
// result is MyResponse object
Assert.Equal("value1", result.Key1);

Send simple GET request and fetch usual additional data, such as status code, content type, etc...

var (result, response) = await Client.GetAsync("http://...");
Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.StatusCode);
Assert.Equal("text/plain; charset=utf-8", response.ContentType);
// ... etc, see source code for SimpleResponse: https://github.com/vbilopav/VerySimpleRestClient/blob/master/VerySimpleRestClient/SimpleResponse.cs

Inlcude query string deserialized from object instance, anonymous object or dictionary:

var result = await SimpleClient.GetAsync("http://...", new Query(new { key1 = "value1" }));

Send a POST request with JSON body serialized from object instance, anonymous object or dictionary:

var result = await SimpleClient.PostAsync("http://...", body: new Json(new
{
    key1 = "value1", /* ... */
}));

Send a POST request with multipart form body serialized from object instance, anonymous object or dictionary:

var result = await SimpleClient.PostAsync("http://...", body: new Form(new
{
    key1 = "value1", /* ... */
}));

Send a POST request with body in plain text format:

var result = await SimpleClient.PostAsync("http://...", body: new TextPlain("The quick brown fox..."));

Send a POST request with custom HTTPContent content in body:

using (var content = new HttpContent()) //replace HttpContent with non-abstract version
{
	var result = await SimpleClient.PostHttpContentAsync("http://...", body: content);
}

Reuse same HttpClient for multiple requests:

using (var client = new HttpClient()) //replace HttpContent with non-abstract version
{
	//
	// configure client additionally if neccessary, add Auth headers, etc ...
	//
	var result1 = await SimpleClient.GetAsync("http://...", client: client);
	var result2 = await SimpleClient.PostAsync("http://...", client: client);
	var result3 = await SimpleClient.PutAsync("http://...", client: client);
	var result4 = await SimpleClient.DeleteAsync("http://...", client: client);
}

Unit tests

There are none.

However, this library is already used in multiple projects and in multiple unit tests already so it is very well tested and covered with other projects unit tests. Such as this for example: https://github.com/vbilopav/postgrest.net/tree/master/UnitTests

There might be transfer of those unit tests from other projects to this project, if need be - if need to change this library raises (which I highly doubt it will).