.Net Core 1.1 HttpClient with DI - rest

Question

Following is the code I am using:
namespace MySite.Api
{
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
/// <summary>
/// API query execution helper
/// </summary>
public class ApiQuery : IApiQuery
{
/// <summary>
/// configuration reference
/// </summary>
private IConfiguration config;
private HmacAuthenticationUtils hmacUtils;
private readonly ILogger logger;
private static readonly HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
private static readonly HttpClient httpClientHMAC = new HttpClient();
/// <summary>
/// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="ApiQuery"/> class.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="inConfig">injected configuration</param>
public ApiQuery(IConfiguration inConfig, HmacAuthenticationUtils hmacUtils, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory)
{
this.config = inConfig;
this.hmacUtils = hmacUtils;
this.logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger("perfLogger");
}
/// <summary>
/// HTTP verb post
/// </summary>
/// <param name="requestUrl">API url</param>
/// <param name="requestData">request data</param>
/// <returns>HTTP response message</returns>
public virtual async Task<string> Post(string requestUrl, object requestData, HttpClient client = null)
{
return await PostBypassCache(requestUrl, requestData, client);
}
/// <summary>
/// HTTP verb post, specifically to bypass cache
/// </summary>
/// <param name="requestUrl">API url</param>
/// <param name="requestData">request data</param>
/// <returns>HTTP response message</returns>
public async Task<string> PostBypassCache(string requestUrl, object requestData, HttpClient client = null)
{
DateTime perfStart = DateTime.Now;
string customerJson = string.Empty;
if (requestData is string)
{
customerJson = requestData.ToString();
}
else
{
customerJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(requestData);
}
////just some template output to test which I'm getting back.
string resultJson = "{ 'status':'No Content'}";
if (client == null)
{
client = httpClient;
}
var response = await httpClient.PostAsync(requestUrl, new StringContent(customerJson, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json"));
if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
resultJson = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
logger.LogInformation("response time: " + (DateTime.Now - perfStart).TotalMilliseconds + "ms. Resource:" + requestUrl);
return resultJson;
}
/// <summary>
/// HTTP verb post
/// </summary>
/// <param name="requestUrl">API url</param>
/// <param name="requestData">request data</param>
/// <param name="headerset">header data</param>
/// <returns>string data</returns>
public async Task<string> PostHmacAuth(string requestUrl, string requestData)
{
var httpRequest = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, requestUrl);
httpRequest.Content = new StringContent(requestData, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var signature = await Utils.GenerateAuthenticationString(httpRequest);
httpClientHMAC.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue(HmacAuthenticationUtils.HmacHeader, signature);
return await PostBypassCache(requestUrl, requestData, httpClientHMAC);
}
}
}
In the Startup.cs, I inject it
services.AddTransient<IApiQuery, ApiQuery>();
I have recently made these changes as previously the code was actually instantiating the httpClient in each of the method, i.e.,
var client = new HttpClient();
At some places it was like:
using(var client = new HttpClient()){}
I Think due to such code, the the appPool is showing error due to which my IIS hangs, and the problem only get solved by restarting the appPool. I conclude this to be problem as I went through a lot of other articles. What I was not able to conclude is on if it should be a good idea to inject the ApiQuery Service as singleton itself.
Will it be better to inject it as ?
As I am injecting IApiQuery to every business service right now as a transient service, will it be good idea ? Any thoughts

Answer 1

HttpClient should be singleton-scoped. There's a finite number of connections available on your machine, and since HttpClient holds on to connections it creates, having multiple instances floating around can quickly exhaust your connection pool.
Beginning with ASP.NET Core 2.1, there exists IHttpClientFactory which provides a simple and reusable way of injecting properly scoped HttpClient instances. However, since you're using 1.1, that's not available to you. The recommended path would be to upgrade your project to 2.1. The 1.X line of ASP.NET Core is frankly trash. It wasn't ready for production use, despite being an official release.
If you insist on sticking with 1.1, then you'll need to implement your own method of reusing HttpClient instances. The most straightforward way is to use "accessor" classes, which you can then utilize to inject different HttpClients into different objects. For example:
public class ApiHttpClientAccessor : IDisposable
{
public ApiHttpClientAccessor()
{
HttpClient = new HttpClient
{
BaseAddress = new Uri("https://foo.com")
};
}
public HttpClient HttpClient { get; }
private bool _disposed;
public virtual void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing && !_disposed)
{
HttpClient.Dispose();
}
_disposed = true;
}
public bool Dispose() =>
Dispose(true);
}
Then, you can register this accessor class as a singleton, meaning it will only be created once (so the contained HttpClient will also only be created once). Then, set up your class to accept this accessor in its constructor:
public class ApiQuery : IApiQuery
{
private readonly HttpClient _client;
public ApiQuery(ApiHttpClientAccessor httpClientAccessor)
{
_client = (httpClientAccessor ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(httpClientAccessor))).HttpClient;
}
...
}
And in Startup.cs:
services.AddSingleton<ApiHttpClientAccessor>();
services.AddTransient<IApiQuery, ApiQuery>();