Using .NET to get results from an API - winsock

Question

I wanted to use the Rapidshare API in my .NET app, but I am confused on how you send the request and bring back the result. Do you use Winsock or another method?
URLs are like this:
http://api.rapidshare.com/cgi-bin/rsapi.cgi?sub=checkfiles_v1&files=288725357&filenames=my_upload.txt
Thanks.

Answer 1

Check out the System.Net namespace, specifically System.Net.WebClient.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.webclient(VS.80).aspx

Answer 2

Use the WebClient Class.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.webclient%28VS.80%29.aspx
You can use this class to programatically interact with webpage. Here's some example code to log into a website. You can adapt this to interact with their web API:
HttpWebRequest request;
HttpWebResponse response;
CookieContainer cookies;
string url = "http://www.jaxtr.com/user/login.jsp";
try
{
request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
request.AllowAutoRedirect = true;
request.CookieContainer = new CookieContainer();
response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());
while (!reader.EndOfStream)
{
sb.AppendLine(reader.ReadLine());
}
//Get the hidden value out of the form.
String fp = Regex.Match(sb.ToString(), "\"__fp\"\\svalue=\"(([A-Za-z0-9+/=]){4}){1,19}\"", RegexOptions.None).Value;
fp = fp.Substring(14);
fp = fp.Replace("\"", String.Empty);
cookies = request.CookieContainer;
//response.Close();
String requestString = "http://www.jaxtr.com/user/Login.action?tzOffset=6&navigateURL=&refPage=&jaxtrId=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(credentials.Username) + "&password=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(credentials.Password) + "&Login=Login&_sourcePage=%2Flogin.jsp&__fp="+HttpUtility.UrlEncode(fp);
request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(requestString);
request.CookieContainer = cookies; //added by myself
response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
Console.WriteLine("Response from login:" + response.StatusCode);
String messageText = (message.TruncateMessage && message.MessageText.Length > JaxtrSmsMessage.MAX_MESSAGE_LENGTH ? message.MessageText.Substring(JaxtrSmsMessage.MAX_MESSAGE_LENGTH) : message.MessageText);
String messageURL = "http://www.jaxtr.com/user/sendsms?CountryName=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(message.CountryName) + "&phone=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(message.DestinationPhoneNumber) + "&message=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(messageText) + "&bySMS=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode(message.BySMS.ToString().ToLower());
request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(messageURL);
request.CookieContainer = cookies;
response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
Console.WriteLine("Response from send SMS command=" + response.StatusCode);
StringBuilder output = new StringBuilder();
using (Stream s = response.GetResponseStream())
{
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(s);
while (!sr.EndOfStream)
{
output.AppendLine(sr.ReadLine());
}
}
response.Close();
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine("Client was unable to connect!");
}
}
catch (System.Exception e)
{
throw new SMSDeliveryException("Unable to deliver SMS message because "+e.Message, e);
}
This particular code logs into Jaxtr, a SMS messaging service, and sends an SMS message.