Overview [ Documentation] [ Documentation]

Availability: ASP.NET Core 8? (documentation is unclear), Visual Studio 2022 v17.6+

HTTP files in Visual Studio allow you to create HTTP requests. You can use the editor to create and send requests and view responses.

File Format

The sequence is important:

1. Variables
2. HTTP request
3. Headers (optional)
4. Body (optional)

The request must be in the format HTTP_METHOD URL HTTP_VERSION where HTTP_VERSION is optional and is one of HTTP/1.1 HTTP/2 HTTP/3.

# This is a comment
// This is also a comment
// These are variables:
@hostname=localhost
@port=44320
// Variables are accessed with double curly braces:
GET https://{{hostname}}:{{port}}/weatherforecast 

Requests

Request format = HTTP_VERB URL [HTTP_VERSION]

• where HTTP_VERB is one of: CONNECT, DELETE, GET, HEAD, OPTIONS, PATCH, POST, PUT, TRACE
• where HTTP_VERSION is one of: HTTP/1.2, HTTP/2, HTTP/3

Multiple requests

Multiple requests can be delimited via ###:

GET https://localhost:7220/weatherforecast
###
GET https://localhost:7220/weatherforecast?date=2023-05-11&location=98006
###
GET https://localhost:7220/weatherforecast HTTP/3
###

Headers

Headers must immediately follow the request with no additional spacing:

GET https://localhost:7220/weatherforecast
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2023 07:28:00 GMT
###
GET https://localhost:7220/weatherforecast
Cache-Control: max-age=604800
Age: 100
###

Body

The request body can be added after a blank line following the headers:

POST https://localhost:7220/weatherforecast
Content-Type: application/json
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5

{
    "date": "2023-05-10",
    "temperatureC": 30,
    "summary": "Warm"
}

###

Built-in Functions

Usage

• Add > New Item > ASP.NET Core > General > HTTP File
• Save the file
• Click the green “run” arrow. The response pulls up next to the request:
  

  

With Endpoints Explorer

• View > Other Windows > Endpoints Explorer
• Right-click a request > Generate Request

If an .http file with the project name as the file name exists, the request is added to that file.
Otherwise, an .http file is created with the project name as the file name, and the request is added to that file.

Environments

Availability: Visual Studio 17.8+

By creating an http-client.env.json file, variables for .http files can be scoped to a specific environment:
http-client.env.json

{
  "dev": {
    "TemplatesApi_HostAddress": "localhost:44320",
    "searchTerm": "wpf"
  },
  "remote": {
    "TemplatesApi_HostAddress": "dotnetnew-api.azurewebsites.net",
    "searchTerm": "mads"
  }
}

Since the TemplatesApi_HostAddress variable is defined in the environment file, it should not be defined in the HTTP file (even if they are, precedence is given to the environment file):

sample.http

@searchTerm=api
@templatePackId=MadsKristensen.AspNetCore.Miniblog
@numToSkip=5
@numToTake=2

GET https://{{TemplatesApi_HostAddress}}/api/search/{{searchTerm}}
###
GET https://{{TemplatesApi_HostAddress}}/api/templatepack/{{templatePackId}}
###
GET https://{{TemplatesApi_HostAddress}}/api/templatepack/{{numToSkip}}/{{numToTake}}
###

An environment picker is now available:

Environments — User-specific

Create a http-client.env.json.user file. These files are useful if you want to test something but don’t want to change the environment file the rest of the team is using. By default, *.user files are excluded from version control.

The precedence for loading variables is as follows:

1. http-client.env.json.user file
2. http-client.env.json file
3. .http file

Accessing Secrets in Environment Files

via ASP.NET Core User Secrets

Use this syntax to access user secrets in the http-client.env.json files:

{
  "dev": {
    "searchTerm": "maui",
    "templatesApiKey": { // <-- This is the name of the variable that will hold the value
      "provider": "AspnetUserSecrets",
      "secretName": "config:templatesApiKeyDev"
    }
  }
}

via Azure Key Vault

Note: To access a secret in Azure Key Vault you must be signed into Visual Studio with an account which has access to the given Key Vault.

For Azure Key Vault, the syntax is different:

{
  "dev": {
    "searchTerm": "maui",
    "otherSecret": { // <-- This is the name of the variable that will hold the value
      "provider": "AzureKeyVault",
      "keyVaultName": "sayedapi-keyvault-01", // name of key vault that contains the secret
      "secretName": "SayedSecretValue1", // name of the secret
      "resourceId": "/subscriptions/21e74a87-523d-4a15-87e9-8c5eb2df7716/resourceGroups/sayed-api-demo1" // Azure resource ID
    }
  }
}

via Windows DPAPI

Note: Since Windows Data Protection API encrypts values with a key based on the machine, these values cannot be shared.

Syntax:

{
  "dev": {
    "searchTerm": "maui",
    "secretValue": { // <-- This is the name of the variable that will hold the value
      "provider": "Encrypted",
      "value": "AQAAANCMnd8BFdERjHoAwE/Cl+sBAAAA5qwfg4+Bhk2nsy6ujgg3GAAAAAACAAAAAAAQZgAAAAEAACAAAAAqNXhXc098k1TtKmaI4cUAbJVALMVP1zOR7mhC1RBJegAAAAAOgAAAAAIAACAAAABKu4E9WC/zX5LYZZhOS2pukxMTF9R4yS+XA9HoYF98GzAAAAAzFXatt461ZnVeUWgOV8M/DkqNviWUUjexAXOF/JfpJMw/CdsizQyESus2QjsCtZlAAAAAL7ns3u9mEk6wSMIn+KNsW/vdAw51OaI+HPVrt5vFvXRilTtvGbU/JnxsoIHj0Z7OOxlwOSg1Qdn60zEqmlFJBg=="
    }
  }
}

To encrypt a value using Windows DPAPI:

dotnet add package system.security.cryptography.protecteddata

using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Text;

string stringToEncrypt = "Hello, World!";
byte[] encBytes = ProtectedData.Protect(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(stringToEncrypt), 
                                        optionalEntropy: null, 
                                        scope: DataProtectionScope.CurrentUser); // For the value to work in the HTTP file, you MUST use this scope
string base64 = Convert.ToBase64String(encBytes);

Console.WriteLine(base64);