Monday, February 23, 2015

How to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman

In this article we'll learn Step by step how to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman
We'll use Postman to test a RESTful OData Web API application, sending an HTTP POST request. We'll start with a working OData Web API built on an ODataController , which we built in a previous tutorial,   and we'll create an entry using  Postman . After we create a new record , we check it sending an HTTP GET request :



HTTP POST Request to a RESTful OData Web API Service using Postman
In order to get Postman , just go to the Tools >> Extensions on Chrome , do a search for "Postman" and install the App .

HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman



Open Postman and select "POST" from the list :

How to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman  1

Now let's learn how to call the OData Web API : in MVC , in order to setup  the ODataController , there must be an ODataModelBuilder registered at the "Register" method called from the Global.asax file : as you see in the following snapshot , the EntitySet name MUST be the name of the Controller ( "Notes" in our case ) , so we'll look for a "NotesController" ODataController at the application :

How to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman   2
Also , there is a route prefix declared ( "ODataV4" ) , so we'll append it to the URI . 


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Found the ODataController , now we check for the "Post" action method , because we're sending an HTTP POST request :


How to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman     4
Why are we checking this ? Because we want to know which kind of object is the ODataController method expecting : in our case , it expects a "Note" object , which must be included in the request's body ( "[FromBody]" ) . How to create a Note object ? Look at the declaration inside the Model :


How to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman   5

Now we know that a Note must include all of those properties.
You could send an OData request asking for the METADATA information to construct the Note object , but that way you won't know the constraints declared with Data Annotations at the Model :

http://localhost:21435/ODataV4/$metadata

The Port of the application can be extracted from the Web tab at the application properties:

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Put all of this together , and you have the URI for the POST request : "http://localhost:21435/ODataV4/Notes" :

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Important : OData protocol is case sensitive : therefore , if you type "notes" instead of "Notes" , you will not reach the controller.

After setting the URI and the POST method , set the "Content-Type" header :

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Next , build the JSON object to be sent inside the request's body , according to the Data Annotations :

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Send the request :

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Postman is waiting for the response :

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In the meantime , the ODataController at the RESTful WebAPI have gotten the JSON object and bound it to a local variable : 

How to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful ODataController Web API Service using Postman    12
The action method renders a response with code 201 CREATED , and Postman exposes it : 


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Finally , if you want to , send a HTTP GET request to check for the new record added to the database :

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That's all... 
In this tutorial we've learned how to send an HTTP POST Request to a RESTful  ODataController Web API Service using Postman.
Happy programming.....
      By Carmel Shvartzman
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