stackoverflow search api

Question

I would like to use the search method of stackoverflow API to return the json structure of results based on a search keyword and then display those results (title, description and the url) in the SearchResults div.

I am new to C# and my first attempt went something like this:

    protected void searchStockOverflow(string y)
    {

        var httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://api.stackoverflow.com/1.1/search?intitle="+y);
        httpWebRequest.ContentType = "text/json";
        httpWebRequest.Method = "POST";

        using (var streamWriter = new StreamWriter(httpWebRequest.GetRequestStream()))
        {
            string json = "{ \"intitle\": \"" + y + "\"}";

            streamWriter.Write(json);
        }
        var httpResponse = (HttpWebResponse)httpWebRequest.GetResponse();
        using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(httpResponse.GetResponseStream()))
        {
            var responseText = streamReader.ReadToEnd();

            SearchResults.InnerHtml += "<div style='border:1px solid blue;margin:5px;'>";
            SearchResults.InnerHtml += responseText + "<br />";
            SearchResults.InnerHtml += "</div><br style='clear:both;' />";
        }
    }

The issue is that what is returned looks like dingbats rubbish - i guess because it is serialized and need to be deserialized?

Answer 1

I would definitely say consider using the REST client; however, to look at the issues... generally you want to deserialize the data as JSON manually, then run that data through your UI code. For example:

static void SearchStackOverflow(string y)
{
    var httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://api.stackoverflow.com/1.1/search?intitle=" + Uri.EscapeDataString(y));
    httpWebRequest.AutomaticDecompression = DecompressionMethods.Deflate | DecompressionMethods.GZip;
    httpWebRequest.Method = "GET";
    var httpResponse = (HttpWebResponse)httpWebRequest.GetResponse();
    string responseText;
    using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(httpResponse.GetResponseStream()))
    {
        responseText = streamReader.ReadToEnd();
    }
    var result = (SearchResult)new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize(responseText, typeof(SearchResult));
    .... do something with result ...
}
class SearchResult
{
    public List<Question> questions { get; set; }
}
class Question
{
    public string title { get; set; }
    public int answer_count { get; set; }
}

Which uses the JavaScriptSerializer from System.Web.Extensions.dll

Answer 2

Also Take a look at Stacky StackApps .Net Client Library which is REST-based API that provides access to stackoverflow family of websites.

Answer 3

Unfortunately I'm on my Mac and can't run a test on your code. You might want to check the character encoding of both your page and the response stream coming back. If they don't match; it could cause the characters coming from the response stream to be rendered incorrectly, hence the rubbish you're seeing.