How to get the url response values in Asp.NET

Question

I almost dare to ask, but how can i get the response data of a URL? I just can't remember anymore.

My scenario: I'm using the twitter API to get the profile picture of an user. That API URL returns the JPEG location. So if I actually write this HTML in my views:

<img src="https://api.twitter.com/1/users/profile_image?screen_name=twitterapi&size=bigger"/> 

The browser auto uses the response JPEG for the SRC property. Like this:

Now is my question very simple: how can I get that .jpg location in C# to put in my database?

Answer 1

I'm not exactly sure what you are asking.

I think you can use WebClient.DownloadData in c# to call that url. Once you download the file, you can then place it in the database.

byte[] response = new System.Net.WebClient().DownloadData(url);

Download a file over HTTP into a byte array in C#?

EDIT: THIS IS WORKING FOR ME

WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create("https://api.twitter.com/1/users/profile_image?screen_name=twitterapi&size=bigger");
WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
Console.WriteLine(response.ResponseUri);

Console.Read( );

from A way to figure out redirection URL

EDIT: THIS IS ANOTHER METHOD I THINK...using show.json from Read the absolute redirected SRC attribute URL for an image

http://api.twitter.com/1/users/show.json?screen_name=twitterapi

Answer 2

You can also do it using HttpClient:

public class UriFetcher
{
    public Uri Get(string apiUri)
    {
        using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
        {
            var httpResponseMessage = httpClient.GetAsync(apiUri).Result;
            return httpResponseMessage.RequestMessage.RequestUri;
        }
    }
}

[TestFixture]
public class UriFetcherTester
{
    [Test]
    public void Get()
    {
        var uriFetcher = new UriFetcher();
        var fetchedUri = uriFetcher.Get("https://api.twitter.com/1/users/profile_image?screen_name=twitterapi&size=bigger");
        Console.WriteLine(fetchedUri);
    }
}

Answer 3

You can use the HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse classes (via using System.Net)to achieve this;

  HttpWebRequest webRequest =
    WebRequest.Create("https://api.twitter.com/1/users/profile_image?screen_name=twitterapi&size=bigger") as HttpWebRequest;

  webRequest.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

  HttpWebResponse response = webRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse;

  string url = response.ResponseUri.OriginalString;

url now contains the string "https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1438634086/avatar_bigger.png"