Send XML document in the HTTP body - web-services

Question

I have a Web API controller with method
public IHttpActionResult Get(int id)
{
try
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.LoadXml("test.xml");
return Ok(xmlDoc.InnerXml);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return InternalServerError(ex);
}
}
The XML document show as string in the HTTP message body
"<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?><TestInfo xmlns=\"http://myschema\"><ID>171961</CSOSAID>...</TestInfo>"
I want it to be in simple XML like
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><TestInfo xmlns="http://myschema"><ID>171961</ID>...</TestInfo>
How could I do it? Try several ways but couldn't get? Thanks.

Answer 1

You are serializing the String object using an XMLSerializer which is not what you want.
You can do this,
public IHttpActionResult Get(int id)
{
try
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.LoadXml("test.xml");
return new ResponseMessageResult(new HttpResponseMessage() {Content = new StringContent(xmlDoc.InnerXml, Encoding.UTF8,"application/xml")});
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return InternalServerError(ex);
}
}
or you can create your own IHttpActionResult helper class, like this,
public class XmlResult : IHttpActionResult
{
private readonly XmlDocument _doc;
public XmlResult(XmlDocument doc)
{
_doc = doc;
}
public Task<HttpResponseMessage> ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
return
Task.FromResult(new HttpResponseMessage()
{
Content = new StringContent(_doc.InnerXml, Encoding.UTF8, "application/xml")
});
}
}
which would then allow you to do,
public IHttpActionResult Get(int id)
{
try
{
XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlDoc.LoadXml("test.xml");
return new XmlResult(xmlDoc);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return InternalServerError(ex);
}
}
or you could switch to XElement which will magically do the right thing,
public IHttpActionResult Get(int id)
{
try
{
XElement xElement = XElement.Load(..);
return OK(xElement);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return InternalServerError(ex);
}
}
You can find more details on why the behaviour is the way it isin this blog post http://www.bizcoder.com/posting-raw-json-to-web-api