How to use receive POST data in asp.net web api?

Question

I've googled a whole day but still can't find the answer. I need to POST data via jQuery.post to Web API MVC-4 but unable to. This is my routing:

routes.MapRoute(
    name: "Default",
    url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
    defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
);

and this is my Controller (the GET works!):

    public string Get(int id)
    {
        return "value";
    }

    public void Post([FromBody]string data)
    {
        //body...
    }

This is the jQuery.post:

$.post('api/mycontroller', { key1: 'val1' });

Any idea ?

Edit:

@Darin: I tried this:

public class UnitDetails{
    public string id { get; set; }
}

and:

public void Post(UnitDetails id) {
    //body...
}

and:

$.post('api/mycontroller', {id:'string1'});

But still I miss something.. it doesn't stop in Post(...){...}. Again - Get(...){...} does work.. ?

There are special routes for API controllers, recognizable by MapHttpRoute instead of MapRoute. By default, they're defined in App_Start/WebApiConfig.cs. What does this route configuration look like? — J.P.
– J.P., Commented Oct 17, 2012 at 11:45

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 09:38:13Z

6

This is by design and the only way to make this work with a primitive type such as a string is the following:

$.post('/api/mycontroller', '=' + encodeURIComponent('val1'));

So the body of the POST request must contain the following:

=val1

instead of:

data=val1

This has been discussed in this thread.

As an alternative you could define a view model:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string Data { get; set; }
}

and then have your controller action take this view model as parameter:

public void Post(MyViewModel model)
{
    //body...
}

Contrary to primitive types, complex types use formatters instead of model binding. Here's an article which covers how does the Web API does parameter binding.

edited Oct 17, 2012 at 9:38

answered Oct 17, 2012 at 9:29

Darin Dimitrov

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2 Comments

Tar Over a year ago

I tried what you suggested (see in the question's edit, above), with no success..

Darin Dimitrov Over a year ago

Rename your action parameter to something different than id. For example: public void Post(UnitDetails details) { ... }.

J.P. · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 11:49:01Z

0

You're posting to api/mycontroller. ASP.NET MVC automatically appends the name supplied with 'Controller', so it's looking for a controller named mycontrollerController. The name of your API controller is not mentioned in your post, but I suspect it's not that.

Assuming that your controller is named 'myController', try posting to api/my.

$.post('api/my', { id: 'string1' });

answered Oct 17, 2012 at 11:49

J.P.

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