Using HttpClient with System.Text.Json

When working with JSON and HttpClient in the .NET Framework, it was pretty common to add a reference to Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client, which added a number of extension methods to HttpClient and HttpResponseMessage that made it simpler to send and receive JSON documents.

That package still work with .NET Core, but it has a dependency on the Newtonsoft.Json. Since .NET Core 3+ comes with System.Text.Json, a more async friendly JSON parser, it might be worth making the switch, espcially in newer projects.

Conveniently, there’s also a package called System.Net.Http.Json that includes extension methods to make your serialization and deserializion easier.

Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client

This section will show a few calls made with Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client.

The assumption is that you have an HttpClient already instanciated with the name client, a request model called RequestModel, and a response model called ResponseModel.

A basic GET

First, we get a HttpResponseMessage from the client by making a request.

HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("/");

Then, we using the generic verion of the ReadAsAsync<T> extension method to read and deserialize the JSON document into our object.

Task<ResponseModel> responseModel = await response.Content.ReadAsAsync<ResponseModel>();

A POST with a request document

Sending a document is also pretty straightforward.

First, we initialize our request model.

RequestModel requestModel = new RequestModel();

Then, we make our request, including our model that will get serialized through the PostAsJsonAsync extension method.

HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync("/", requestModel);

Finally, we read the response model, just like we did for the GET.

ResponseModel responseModel = await response.Content.ReadAsAsync<ResponseModel>();

System.Net.Http.Json

Here, we’ll be doing the same exact thing, but using the extension methods in System.Net.Http.Json instead.

A basic GET

Again, we get a HttpResponseMessage from the client by making a request. This is the same as for Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client.

HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("/");

Then, we using the generic verion of the ReadFromJsonAsync<T> extension method to read and serialize the JSON document into our object.

ResponseModel responseModel = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<ResponseModel>();

Note that if you don’t need to do any processing on the HttpResponseMessage, there’s also a convenience method called GetFromJsonAsync so you can skip that step entirely.

ResponseModel responseModel = await client.GetFromJsonAsync<ResponseModel>("/");

A POST with a request document

Sending a document is also pretty straightforward.

First, we initialize our request model.

RequestModel requestModel = new RequestModel();

Then, we make our request, including our model that will get serialized through the PostAsJsonAsync extension method, which conveniently has the same name as the extension method from Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client.

HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync("/", requestModel);

Finally, we read the response model, just like we did for the GET.

ResponseModel responseModel = await response.Content.ReadFromJsonAsync<ResponseModel>();

Final notes

While serializing and deserializing documents with the HttpClient isn’t particularly challenging, it does lead to a fair amount of repetition, so using these extension methods (or rolling your own!) should make your code look a lot leaner.