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Most non-GET requests would have some contents content in the request body.

An example of information you want to include in the request body is the details of the new employee you are creating with your request.

In general, the request body is just a sequence of bytes. In the context of web services, it 's generally is usually a text that encodes certain details. The text can be a URL-encoded or JSON representation of a set of values.

As mentioned in the previous sections, the Content property of the HttpClientRequest/XPRIM_HttpRequest contains the following methods that you can use to add contents content to your request body in the required format:

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Refer to the limitations of using AddFile on IBM i.

Example - Creating a new Employee using a Web API

Let's say that your company has a published API to create a new employeefor creating new employees.

The URL looks like this:

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Let's have a look at how you can add the details into to the request body. The first example show shows how to add the details as URL-encoded form values, and the second example adds the content as a JSON string.

Adding the employee details as URL-encoded form values

     Define_Com Class(#XPRIM#PRIM_HttpRequestSRVM.HttpClientRequest) Name(#Req)
     #Req.Content.AddUrlEncodedFormValue Name('givenName') Value(#EmpGivenName)
     #Req.Content.AddUrlEncodedFormValue Name('lastName') Value(#EmpLastName)​​
     #Req.Content.AddUrlEncodedFormValue Name('address') Value(#EmpAddress)

* Execute the request (POST verb)

     #Req.DoPost Url('http://yourcompany.com/api/hr/employee')

Adding the employee details as JSON

     Define_Com Class(#PRIM_SRVM.HttpClientRequest) Name(#Req)
     Define_Com Class(#XPRIM#PRIM_HttpRequestJSON.Document) Name(#Req#Json)
     Define_Com Class(#XPRIM#PRIM_JsonObjectJSON.Object) Name(#JsonObject) Reference(*DYNAMIC)

* Construct the JSON object

     #JsonObject <= #Json.CreateRootObject
     #JsonObject.InsertStringAddStringMember Name('givenName') Value(#EmpGivenName)
       #JsonObject.InsertStringAddStringMember Name('lastName') Value(#EmpLastName)
     #JsonObject.InsertStringAddStringMember Name('address') Value(#EmpAddress) 

* Add the constructed JSON to the request body

       #Req.Content.AddJsonObjectAddJson Value(#JsonObject#Json)

* Execute the request (POST verb)

       #Req.DoPost Url('http://yourcompany.com/api/hr/employee')

Next: Constructing JSON Data for Your Request Body