To consume a RESTful web service in C#, should I use HttpWebRequest?

Question

How do I consume a RESTful web service in C# code?

NOTE: by RESTful, I mean non-SOAP. For example, in the flickr API you can call their web service as follows to return JSON data:

http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?tags=cats&tagmode=any&format=json

Do I simply use HttpWebRequest?

What if I'm using a web service that takes POST parameters? Would that use HttpWebRequest also?

Is there any benefit to using WCF on the consumer side?

Answer 1

WCF provides a unified programming model for communication, so if you later decide that you do not want to use REST or you want to provide an extra type of endpoint for example SOAP, you only need tp change the configuration.

Take a look at REST for WCF:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/cc950529.aspx

Answer 2

Hi Shiraz,

Their is a demonstration and labs in the .NET Framework 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit, which provides two labs based around creating, servicing and consuming RESTFul services. The above link is the best MS combined resources of REST services.

Bob.