How consume REST service with complex type in C#?

Question

I have a WebApi service that calculates a price of a customized product. The controller function is:

public double Get([FromUri]Specifications specifications)

Specifications is a class that allows to customize the product:

public class Specifications 
{
    public string Currency;
    public int DesktopLicenses;
    public Product Product;
    public int Licenses;
}

Now, how can I consume this service from C#. I want to avoid to codify manually the URI query with all Specifications variables, I would like to able to use directly an instance of Specificationsto call the service.

If the service is a POST, I could do it doing:

Specifications product = new Specifications( ...);
HttpResponseMessage reponse = httpClient.PostAsJsonAsync("api/pricecalculator", product).Result;

but I cannot find the way to do the same when I use GET.

This is close to what you're asking for - it almost looks like you have to do a string builder. Which sort of defeats the idea of passing an object. POST is certainly the best way to handle it -- is there no way you can do it via POST? It removes the headache of complext object transports. stackoverflow.com/questions/13585992/… — Jason
– Jason, Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 14:03
Yes, I sow this question, but precisely I want to avoid to codify manually all members of the class in the URI. Yes, I could use POST, but according the guidelines, POST must be used when you save some data in the server and GET when you simply get data. — Dabiel Kabuto
– Dabiel Kabuto, Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 14:07
comment area was too long, see my "answer" below. In short, if you need to feed the server some complex data to get a result, you should be using POST. To feed it via the querystring is only going to infuse more headache than necessary. — Jason
– Jason, Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 14:12
Possible duplicate of Web API Get Method with Complex Object as Parameter — AXMIM
– AXMIM, Commented Apr 24, 2017 at 15:40

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:31:09Z

The example is showing that the GET is passing it a complex object in the call. Normally, that's just a simple request, and returning the complex object -- that's the "best practice". If you need to request something by giving it a complex object - it should still be a POST call. I know the pundits like to think POST/PUT as your change/add for the REST world -- but in the end, frankly there's zero difference between a POST and a GET besides the request body. If you need to give the server complex data, use the request body (aka POST). If it's a simple request -- /api/listofvendors/zone1 - then use a GET.

Web API Get Method with Complex Object as Parameter

example:

    [HttpGet]
    [Route("~/services/mrf/{mrfnumber}")]                       // GET specific MRF
    public Mrf GetMrfRecord(string mrfnumber) {
        using (var ddc = new MRFDataContext(ConnectionString)) {
            var options = new DataLoadOptions();
            options.LoadWith((Mrf c) => c.MRFParts);    //immediate load related MRFParts
            ddc.LoadOptions = options;

            var mrf = (from u in ddc.Mrfs
                       where u.MrfNum == mrfnumber
                       select u).FirstOrDefault();

            return mrf ?? null;
        }
    }

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