HTTP post XML data in C#

Question

I need to HTTP post XML data to a URL that has Textarea with the name of XMLdata. My XMl data is ready and is inside of XDocument Sendingxml = xml; but the post code that I have tried is not working. Mostly because I don't know how to put the XML data in postData Variable as it only accept string. This is my code:

        XDocument Sendingxml = xml;          //  string Sendingxml = "<?xml version=1.0 encoding=UTF-8> <PluginData> <Credential UserName=avosfieldagent01 AuthenticationToken=61cc3957744742dca238c4dd7cbca702 /><Session><PropertyAddress>5 Crosskey</PropertyAddress><PropertyAddress2/><PropertyCity>California</PropertyCity><PropertyState>CA</PropertyState><PropertyZip>92620</PropertyZip><PropertyType>Condo</PropertyType><SourceReferenceId>45643</SourceReferenceId><SessionId>2013070100158346</SessionId><SessionCompleteReturnURL/><CustomerId/><BluebookOrderCheckSum>681a598cf23f412095f6092c281823e6</BluebookOrderCheckSum><BluebookOrderId>11160</BluebookOrderId> </Session></PluginData>";          // Create a request using a URL that can receive a post.          WebRequest request =             WebRequest.Create("https://test.bluebookcva.net/order/testdirectplugin/3");         // Set the Method property of the request to POST.         request.Method = "POST";          // Create POST data and convert it to a byte array.         string postData = "XMLData=" + Sendingxml;    //My problem is here as I need postData  as XDocument.           byte[] byteArray = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(postData);         // Set the ContentType property of the WebRequest.         request.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";         // Set the ContentLength property of the WebRequest.         request.ContentLength = byteArray.Length;         // Get the request stream.         Stream dataStream = request.GetRequestStream();         // Write the data to the request stream.         dataStream.Write(byteArray, 0, byteArray.Length);         // Close the Stream object.         dataStream.Close();         // Get the response.         WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();         // Display the status.         Console.WriteLine(((HttpWebResponse)response).StatusDescription);         // Get the stream containing content returned by the server.         dataStream = response.GetResponseStream();         // Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access.         StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(dataStream);         // Read the content.         string responseFromServer = reader.ReadToEnd();         // Display the content.         Console.WriteLine(responseFromServer);         // Clean up the streams.         reader.Close();         dataStream.Close();         response.Close(); 

Answer 1

In General:

An example of an easy way to post XML data and get the response (as a string) would be the following function:

public string postXMLData(string destinationUrl, string requestXml) {     HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(destinationUrl);     byte[] bytes;     bytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(requestXml);     request.ContentType = "text/xml; encoding='utf-8'";     request.ContentLength = bytes.Length;     request.Method = "POST";     Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream();     requestStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);     requestStream.Close();     HttpWebResponse response;     response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();     if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)     {         Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();         string responseStr = new StreamReader(responseStream).ReadToEnd();         return responseStr;     }     return null; } 

In your specific situation:

Instead of:

request.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"; 

use:

request.ContentType = "text/xml; encoding='utf-8'"; 

Also, remove:

string postData = "XMLData=" + Sendingxml; 

And replace:

byte[] byteArray = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(postData); 

with:

byte[] byteArray = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Sendingxml.ToString());