Simple Windows 8 C# Webrequest to Post JSON

Question

I'm trying to write a class that will contain an async function to make webrequests to a particular api more simple. To give you an example of what I am aiming for, I want to be able to write code that looks like the following:

private void btnLogin_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        // Validate Login Details...
        // Save login details to xml file if user asks...
        JsonObject authSuccess = await myClass.authenticate(username, password); // NOTE JSON WILL BE THE RESPONSE FROM SERVER SO JSONOBJECT SEEMS LOGICAL BUT MAY BE EASIER WAY?
        if (authSuccess){
          // Go to next part of app...
        }else{
          // Show error
        }
    }
private void btnDelete_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        JsonObject deleteSuccess= await myClass.deleteSomeData(type, data); // NOTE JSON WILL BE THE RESPONSE FROM SERVER SO JSONOBJECT SEEMS LOGICAL BUT MAY BE EASIER WAY?
        if (deleteSuccess){
          // Go to next part of app...
        }else{
          // Show error
        }
    }

myClass would look something like:

namespace myApp
{
    public class myClass 
    {
        public async Task<Boolean> authenticate(String username, String apikey)
        {
            var resp = await PostAsync("http://url", "{\"auth\":{\"passwordCredentials\":{\"username\":\"demouser\",\"password\":\"mypass\"}}}");

            return true;
        }

public async Task<Boolean> deleteSomeData(String type, String data)
        {
            var resp = await PostAsync("http://url", "{\"delete\":{\"type\":{\"type\":\"type\",\"data\":\"data\"}}}");

            return true;
        }

        private async Task<JsonObject> PostAsync(string uri, string data)
        {
            JsonSerializer js = new JsonSerializer();

            var httpClient = new HttpClient();

            var response = await httpClient.PostAsync(uri, new JsonObject());

            response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

            string content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            return await Task.Run(() => JsonObject.Parse(content));
        }
    }
}

I need to know if there is an easy way to do this? I need to be able to call the class from anywhere in my app to communicate with the server using PUT, GET, POST, DELETE sending JSON data and be able to send custom headers and set my own content type.

I will always need to be able to read and parse the response from the server as json or xml.

Anyone help?

ps. alot of the code above is probably wrong.

Answer 1

I've achieved this by using a set of extension methods; along the lines of

    public static bool UpdateItem<TItem>(this HttpClient httpClient, TItem item, string uriBase, string actionName) where TItem : class
    {
        var response = await httpClient.PutAsJsonAsync(string.Format(uriBase, actionName), item);

        response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
        .
        .
        .

        return success;
    }