Webmethod only found if no parameter taken

Question

-EDIT for clarity-

I was trying to modify the first method into the second, rather than use them both at once.

-EDIT-

I have two C# Webmethods, one with no parameters:

    [System.Web.Http.HttpPost]
    [System.Web.Http.Route("api/call/postCall")]
    public string postCall()
    {
        return "test success";
    }

and one with one parameter:

    [System.Web.Http.HttpPost]
    [System.Web.Http.Route("api/call/postCall")]
    public string postCall(int call)
    {
        return "posted value = " + call;
    }

I call them both with this:

        string data = "call=55"; 
        byte[] dataStream = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(data);
        string request = "http://<mySite>/api/call/postCall";
        WebRequest webRequest = WebRequest.Create(request);
        webRequest.Method = "POST";
        webRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
        webRequest.ContentLength = dataStream.Length;
        Stream newStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream();
        newStream.Write(dataStream, 0, dataStream.Length);
        newStream.Close();
        WebResponse webResponse = webRequest.GetResponse();    

The first method with no parameter returns test success but the second method which takes a parameter returns a 404 not found error.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong here?

Answer 1

You cannot have 2 routes with the same verb and url -> the framework cannot disambiguate between them. Consider adding the parameter to the route instead if it is a simple value (such as integer):

[System.Web.Http.HttpPost]
[System.Web.Http.Route("api/call/postCall/{call}")]
public string postCall(int call)
{
    return "posted value = " + call;
}

and then call like this:

var request = WebRequest.Create("http://<mySite>/api/call/postCall/55");
request.Method = "POST";
using (var response = request.GetResponse())
using (var stream = response.GetResponseStream())
using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
    string result = reader.ReadToEnd();
}

Also for methods that are not modifying some state on the server you may consider using the GET verb instead.