Creating a document in BaasBox using HttpClient?

Question

Following with this BaasBox series, I previously posted BaasBox and C# from WP8 to know how to perform a log in from a WP8 App to a BaasBox server. I have accomplished that.

Now, I am facing a problem when trying to create a new record (In BaasBox it's called Document. See here) into an specific collection.

This is the code I'm using:

string sFirstName = this.txtFirstName.Text;
string sLastName = this.txtLasttName.Text;
string sAge = this.txtAge.Text;
string sGender = ((bool)this.rbtnMale.IsChecked) ? "Male" : "Female";

try
{
    using(var client = new HttpClient())
    {
        //Step 1: Set up the HttpClient settings
        client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://MyServerDirecction:9000/document/MyCollectionName");
        //client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
        //client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));

        //Step 2: Create the request to send
        HttpRequestMessage requestMessage = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, "http://MyServerDirecction:9000/document/MyCollectionName");
        //Add custom header
        requestMessage.Headers.Add("X-BB-SESSION", tokenId);

        //Step 3: Create the content body to send
        string sContent = string.Format("fname={0}&lname={1}&age={2}&gender={3}", sFirstName, sLastName, sAge, sGender);
        HttpContent body = new StringContent(sContent);
        body.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json");
        requestMessage.Content = body;

        //Step 4: Get the response of the request we sent
        HttpResponseMessage response = await client.SendAsync(requestMessage, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead);

        if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
        {
             //Code here for success response
        }
        else
             MessageBox.Show(response.ReasonPhrase + ". " + response.RequestMessage);
   }
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
   MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}

When testing the code above I got the following exceptionÑ

{Method: POST, RequestUri: 'http://MyServerDirecction:9000/document/MyCollectionName', Version: 1.1, Content: System.Net.Http.StringContent, Headers:
{
  X-BB-SESSION: e713d1ba-fcaf-4249-9460-169d1f124cbf
  Content-Type: application/json
  Content-Length: 50
}}

Does anyone know how could I send an json data using HttpClient to a BaasBox Server? Or what is wrong with the code above?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You have to send the body in the JSON format. According to the BaasBox documentation, the body payload must be a valid JSON (http://www.baasbox.com/documentation/?shell#create-a-document)

Try to format the sContent string as:

//Step 3: Create the content body to send
string sContent = string.Format("{\"fname\":\"{0}\",\"lname\":\"{1}\",\"age\":\"{2}\",\"gender\":\"{3}\"}", sFirstName, sLastName, sAge, sGender);

Or you can use JSON.NET (http://james.newtonking.com/json) or any other similar library to manipulate JSON stuff in a simple way.