How to use HTTP Client in C#

Introduction

HttpClient is a class in C# that is used for making HTTP calls of different kinds (most commonly Get/Put/Delete/Post)

This class comes from System.Net.Http namespace

Methods of Class

Most commonly used methods of this class are

• GetAsync
• DeleteAsync
• PostAsync
• PutAsync

Each CRUD method has 4 overloads which serve same purpose with a little bit addition e.g. (Cancellation Token Support )

Dummy API’s and Get Call

Enough talking let’s see the code , there are bunch of free APIs available that contains data over the internet e.g. RestCountriesAPI and PokeAPI , you can use them for retrieving data , for this Newsletter I have used one of my local project and RestCountriesAPI.

After finishing your work you can call Dispose()to free resources

Properties

HttpClient class has some properties that we can set before making HTTP Call.

• Base Address - To set base address one time
• DeafultRequestHeaders - To add media types that are supported

On similar pattern you can make Put/Delete and Post Calls

How to use this with Dependency Injection

1. Add the service by services.AddHttpClient(),you can set the base address and Default Request headers in service as well .

2. After adding service , just inject IHttpClient in your desired class and use it.