A C# Simplified RESTful Client, Redis Client and Azure Storage Client in .NET Core

In this blog you will learn about C# simplified RESTful client, Redis Client and Azure Storage Client in .NET Core.

The new .NET Core is a  platform framework that has finally come into my life to shake my coding style - now coding in my favorite OS - MacOSX.

 

Having spent a few hours in coding under .NET Core 1.0 (RC2), I created the RESTme toolkit. I originally was thinking to just create a RESTful client in the first hour, and then decided to make it more powerful by enabling it to communicate with Azure Storage and Redis Cache - why not? Since they are all about requesting and saving data!

 

General Code Example

//HTTP Restful client (sudo code)
// Get data
rest.Get(requestUrl);
// Save data
rest.Add(paramKey, paramValue);
rest.Post(requestUrl, data);
// Delete data
rest.Delete(requestUrl);

//Azure Storage or Redis ache sudo-code
// Get data
rest.Get<Stream>("/container/filePath");
rest.Get("/container/jsonData");
rest.Get<myObject>("/container/filePath");

// Save data
rest.Post<myObject>("/container/filePath", myObject);
// Delete data
rest.Delete("/container/filePath");

Detailed Examples 

1. Use it as a basic RESTful HTTP Client.
   

   //direct string JSON return
   var rest = new Restme(new Uri("http://freegeoip.net"));
   var result1 = rest.Get("/json/github.com");
   
   //automatic Generic cast
   var result2 = rest.Get < MyObject > ("/json/github.com");
   var resultAsync2 = await rest.GetAsync << MyObjecT > ("/json/github.com");
   
   //add parameters (Parameters get automatically converted into query string or post form fields)
   rest.add("q", "github.com");
   var result3 = rest.Get < MyObject > ("/json");
   var resultAsync3 = await rest.GetAsync < MyObjecT > ("/json");
   
   //supports POST, DELETE, PUT etc.
   var rest2 = new Restme(new Uri("http://example.com"));
   rest2.Add("Username", "[email protected]");
   rest2.Add("Birthday", DateTime.UtcNow);
   rest2.Post < MyObject > ("/someurl");
   
   rest3.PostAsync < MyObject > ("/asyncexample");
   
   
   //supports direct object submission
   var myObject = new MyObject()
   {
       Username = "[email protected]",
           Birthday = DateTime.UtcNow
   };
   var rest3 = new Restme(new Uri("http://example.com"));
   rest3.Add(myObject);
   rest3.Post < ExpectedResultObject > ("/directObjectPost");

2. Use it as an Azure Storage Client,
   

   //get blob stream directly
   var blobStorageConnectionString = "{Your Storage Account Connection String}";
   
   
   var rest = new Restme(blobStorageConnetionString);
   
   
   rest.CreateAzureBlobContainerIfNotExists = true; //do this only if you want to auto create the container
   
   
   //NOTE 1: first segment of the path should always be your container name
   
   
   //NOTE 3: Type T: if it is a type of Stream it will be stored as original Stream as Azure Blob, otherwise it is always saved into JSON format as Azure Blob
   
   
   //NOTE 2: use a type of Stream if you want the original value retrieved from the blob
   
   
   rest.Get < Stream > ("/myContainer/myfilePath");
   
   rest.GetAsync < Stream > ("/myContainer/myfilePath");
   
   
   //NOTE: only blob items saved in JSON format is suppported
   
   
   rest.Get < ObjectType > ("/myContainer/myfileObjectInJSONFileFormat");
   
   rest.GetAsync < ObjectType > ("/myContainer/myfileObjectInJSONFileFormat");

3. Use it as a Redis Cache Client,
   

   var redisConnectionString = "{Your Redis Cache Connection String}";
   var rest = new Restme(redisConnectionString);
   
   //get cache data (support Generic cast)
   var cacheResult = rest.Get("home:testKey");
   var cacheResult2 = rest.Get<bool>("home:testKey2");
   var cacheResult3 = rest.Get<ObjectType>("home:testKey3");
   
   //set cache data
   rest.Post("home:testKey","value");
   rest.Post<bool>("home:testKey2",true);
   
   var myObject = new ObjectType();  //will be serialized into JSON format and stored as string on redis server
   rest.Post<ObjectType>("home:testKey3", myObject);

I've made the code open source under MIT on github.