RestSharp - array as querystring parameter

Question

i can't pass an array (an int array) as query string parameter to RestSharp client

var client = new RestClient(baseUrl);
client.Authenticator = new HttpBasicAuthenticator(username, password);

var request = new RestRequest(_endpoint, Method.GET);
            request.AddHeader("cache-control", "no-cache");
            request.AddHeader("contenttype", "application/json; charset=utf-8");
            request.AddHeader("Accept", "text/html, application/xhtml+xml, image/jxr, */*");


//i tried with
request.AddParameter("messageIds", "[1,2,3]");
or
request.AddParameter("messageIds", new int[] {1,2,3} );
or
request.AddQueryParameter("messageIds", "[1,2,3]");
or
request.AddQueryParameter("messageIds", new int[] {1,2,3} );

i suppose the problem is related to the UrlEncoding of the parameters

in case i pass the values with "new int[] {1,2,3}" (both AddParameter and AddQueryParameter) the url is built in this way:

ResponseUri = {https://demo.xxxxxxxx.com:8181/ws/messages/zippedMessages?messageIds=System.Int32[]}

in case i pass the values as a string "[1,2,3]" (both AddParameter and AddQueryParameter) the url is built in this way:

ResponseUri = {https://demo.xxxxxxxx.com:8181/ws/messages/zippedMessages?messageIds=[1%2C2%2C3]}

instead a working url should it be:

ResponseUri = {https://demo.xxxxxxxx.com:8181/ws/messages/zippedMessages?messageIds=%5B1,2,3%5D}

or at least:

ResponseUri = {https://demo.xxxxxxxx.com:8181/ws/messages/zippedMessages?messageIds=[1,2,3]}

the "AddParameter" method encodes the comma but not the [ ] , should it be the opposite.

is there a way to change this behaviour? does exist something like a PreExecute event where to relpace characters? or some other workaround?

Yuletide

In the actual request it should be presented as messageIds=a&messageIds=b&messageIds=c. I've not used the RESTSharp client, but is it possible to simply add messageIds multiple times? – Hankypanky

Possible duplicate of Passing list of int to Web API from RestSharp Client – Hankypanky

John this produce an url like you wrote me and the API that i'm consuming is stupid enough to not accept parameters it this way. Unfortunately i can't change it. – Yuletide

Have they defined the format they expect arrays to be passed in? – Hankypanky

trying these formats with postman the api works: demo.xxxxxxxx.com:8181/ws/messages/… demo.xxxxxxxx.com:8181/ws/messages/… – Yuletide

I looked at this and it seems that the accepted answer is right: RestSharp is hard coded to always encode the parameters. I don't see how you can pass the information you need into RestSharp. Maybe someone better than me can :) I doubt it helps, but fyi: RestSharp's source used Uri.EncodeDataString() – Hankypanky

Answer 1

Am a little late for the party but the way this can also be achieved is by using LINQ and what I did in my case was

var request = new RestRequest("ServiceName", Method.GET);

var userIds = new List<int> { 123, 456};
     userIds.ForEach(x => request.AddParameter("userIds", x, ParameterType.GetOrPost));

The above code generates the URL which appends your integer list as a query string in your request

Your_Service_Name?userIds=123&userIds=456

hope this helps

Controversial

Even later to the party. First of all, thanks for your example, it works perfectly. I just want to mention that the `ParameterType.GetOrPost' can be omitted. – Windowsill

Answer 2

The way I achieved this was to use String.Join()

int[] messageIds = {1, 2, 3};
var request = new RestRequest(_endpoint, Method.GET);
var stringOfInts = String.Join(",", new List<int>(messageIds).ConvertAll(i => i.ToString()).ToArray());
request.AddQueryParameter("messageIds", stringOfInts);

This line var stringOfInts = String.Join(",", new List<int>(messageIds).ConvertAll(i => i.ToString()).ToArray()); converts your int array to a list. This allows us to the use a linq expression on the list to convert each integer in the list to a string. Once that is done, it converts the list back to an array so you can use string.Join() on it. The comma is a separator.

stringOfInts will be set to "1,2,3" which means the output of the entire code segment above (as a URL) will be {_endpoint}?messageIds=1,2,3

EDIT: Credit goes to the following post: int array to string

Throttle