HttpWebRequest Vs HttpClient

Question

I have a chunk of code that works using a HttpWebRequest and HttpWebResponse but I'd like to convert it to use HttpClient and HttpResponseMessage.

This is the chunk of code that works...

HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create(serviceReq);

request.Method = "POST";
request.ContentType = "text/xml";
string xml = @"<?xml version=""1.0""?><root><login><user>flibble</user>" + 
    @"<pwd></pwd></login></root>";
request.ContentLength = xml.Length;
using (StreamWriter dataStream = new StreamWriter(request.GetRequestStream()))
{
    dataStream.Write(xml);
    dataStream.Close();
}

HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

And this is the code that I'd like to replace it with, if only I could get it working.

/// <summary>
/// Validate the user credentials held as member variables
/// </summary>
/// <returns>True if the user credentials are valid, else false</returns>
public bool ValidateUser()
{
    bool valid = false;

    try
    {
        // Create the XML to be passed as the request
        XElement root = BuildRequestXML("LOGON");

        // Add the action to the service address
        Uri serviceReq = new Uri(m_ServiceAddress + "?obj=LOGON");


        // Create the client for the request to be sent from
        using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
        {
            // Initalise a response object
            HttpResponseMessage response = null;

            // Create a content object for the request
            HttpContent content = HttpContentExtensions.
                CreateDataContract<XElement>(root);

            // Make the request and retrieve the response
            response = client.Post(serviceReq, content);

            // Throw an exception if the response is not a 200 level response
            response.EnsureStatusIsSuccessful();

            // Retrieve the content of the response for processing
            response.Content.LoadIntoBuffer();

            // TODO: parse the response string for the required data
            XElement retElement = response.Content.ReadAsXElement();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Log.WriteLine(Category.Serious, 
            "Unable to validate the Credentials", ex);
        valid = false;
        m_uid = string.Empty;
    }

    return valid;
}

I think the problem is creating the content object and the XML isn't being attached correctly (maybe).

Answer 1

The HttpClient.Post method has an overload that takes a contentType parameter, try this:

// Make the request and retrieve the response
response = client.Post(serviceReq, "text/xml", content);