Problem
Need a simple way to transfer data with an HTTP web request/response.
Solution
Convert a DataTable to XML, transfer with HTTP, convert XML back to DataTable.
Note: This was tested with .NET 4
SimpleDataTableExport.aspx
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="SimpleDataTableExport.aspx.cs" Inherits="SimpleDataTableExport" %>
SimpleDataTableExport.aspx.cs
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Xml;
/// <summary>
/// Simple web page to export a DataTable through an HTTP response.
/// </summary>
public partial class SimpleDataTableExport : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Start response
Response.ClearHeaders();
Response.ClearContent();
DataTable dataTable = null;
try
{
dataTable = GetDataTable();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
dataTable = null;
Response.StatusCode = 500;
Response.StatusDescription = ex.Message;
Response.Write(String.Format("Error message: {0}", ex.Message));
}
finally
{
if (dataTable != null)
{
// DataTable is converted to XML and sent to the output stream.
XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(Response.OutputStream);
dataTable.WriteXml(xmlWriter, XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema);
}
}
// Complete response
Response.Flush();
ApplicationInstance.CompleteRequest();
}
private DataTable GetDataTable()
{
// Validate input parameters passed in query string.
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(Request.QueryString["parm01"]))
{
throw new ApplicationException("Required parameter 'parm01' is missing.");
}
// Generate DataTable
DataTable table = new DataTable("MyDataTable");
table.Columns.Add("Column01");
table.Columns.Add("Column02");
DataRow row = table.NewRow();
row["Column01"] = String.Format("'parm01' is {0}", Request.QueryString["parm01"]);
row["Column02"] = "Value for Column02";
table.Rows.Add(row);
return table;
}
}
Console application to import DataTable
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Net;
using System.Xml;
namespace SimpleDataTableImport
{
/// <summary>
/// Simple Console Application to import a DataTable through an HTTP request.
/// </summary>
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
DataTable dataTable = new DataTable();
string errorMessage = null;
HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest;
HttpWebResponse httpWebResponse = null;
try
{
httpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create("http://localhost/SimpleDataTableExport.aspx?parm01=helloworld") as HttpWebRequest;
httpWebResponse = httpWebRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse;
XmlReader xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(httpWebResponse.GetResponseStream());
dataTable.ReadXml(xmlReader);
}
catch (WebException webEx)
{
httpWebResponse = webEx.Response as HttpWebResponse;
errorMessage = String.Format("{0} - {1}", Convert.ToInt32(httpWebResponse.StatusCode).ToString(), httpWebResponse.StatusDescription);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
errorMessage = ex.Message;
}
if (httpWebResponse != null)
{
httpWebResponse.Close();
}
if (errorMessage != null)
{
Console.WriteLine(errorMessage);
}
// Display DataTable
foreach (DataColumn column in dataTable.Columns)
{
Console.WriteLine(column.ColumnName);
}
foreach (DataRow row in dataTable.Rows)
{
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("{0},{1}", row["Column01"], row["Column02"]));
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
Results
