How to read values from the querystring with ASP.N

Question

I'm building one RESTful API using ASP.NET Core MVC and I want to use querystring parameters to specify filtering and paging on a resource that returns a collection.

In that case, I need to read the values passed in the querystring to filter and select the results to return.

I've already found out that inside the controller Get action accessing HttpContext.Request.Query returns one IQueryCollection.

The problem is that I don't know how it is used to retrieve the values. In truth, I thought the way to do was by using, for example

string page = HttpContext.Request.Query["page"]

The problem is that HttpContext.Request.Query["page"] doesn't return a string, but a StringValues.

Anyway, how does one use the IQueryCollection to actually read the querystring values?

Answer 1

StringValues is an array of strings. You can get your string value by providing an index, e.g. HttpContext.Request.Query["page"][0].

Answer 2

I have a better solution for this problem,

• request is a member of abstract class ControllerBase
• GetSearchParams() is an extension method created in bellow helper class.

var searchparams = await Request.GetSearchParams();

I have created a static class with few extension methods

public static class HttpRequestExtension
{
  public static async Task<SearchParams> GetSearchParams(this HttpRequest request)
        {
            var parameters = await request.TupledParameters();

            try
            {
                for (var i = 0; i < parameters.Count; i++)
                {
                    if (parameters[i].Item1 == "_count" && parameters[i].Item2 == "0")
                    {
                        parameters[i] = new Tuple<string, string>("_summary", "count");
                    }
                }
                var searchCommand = SearchParams.FromUriParamList(parameters);
                return searchCommand;
            }
            catch (FormatException formatException)
            {
                throw new FhirException(formatException.Message, OperationOutcome.IssueType.Invalid, OperationOutcome.IssueSeverity.Fatal, HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
            }
        }



public static async Task<List<Tuple<string, string>>> TupledParameters(this HttpRequest request)
{
        var list = new List<Tuple<string, string>>();


        var query = request.Query;
        foreach (var pair in query)
        {
            list.Add(new Tuple<string, string>(pair.Key, pair.Value));
        }

        if (!request.HasFormContentType)
        {
            return list;
        }
        var getContent = await request.ReadFormAsync();

        if (getContent == null)
        {
            return list;
        }
        foreach (var key in getContent.Keys)
        {
            if (!getContent.TryGetValue(key, out StringValues values))
            {
                continue;
            }
            foreach (var value in values)
            {
                list.Add(new Tuple<string, string>(key, value));
            }
        }
        return list;
    }
}

in this way you can easily access all your search parameters. I hope this will help many developers :)

Answer 3

You could use the ToString method on IQueryCollection which will return the desired value if a single page parameter is specified:

string page = HttpContext.Request.Query["page"].ToString();

if there are multiple values like ?page=1&page=2 then the result of the ToString call will be 1,2

But as @mike-g suggested in his answer you would better use model binding and not directly accessing the HttpContext.Request.Query object.

Answer 4

in .net core if you want to access querystring in our view use it like

@Context.Request.Query["yourKey"]

if we are in location where @Context is not avilable we can inject it like

@inject Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.IHttpContextAccessor HttpContextAccessor
@if (HttpContextAccessor.HttpContext.Request.Query.Keys.Contains("yourKey"))
{
      <text>do something </text>
}

also for cookies

HttpContextAccessor.HttpContext.Request.Cookies["DeniedActions"]

Answer 5

Here is a code sample I've used (with a .NET Core view):

@{
    Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives.StringValues queryVal;

    if (Context.Request.Query.TryGetValue("yourKey", out queryVal) &&
        queryVal.FirstOrDefault() == "yourValue")
    {
    }
}

Answer 6

Some of the comments mention this as well, but asp net core does all this work for you.

If you have a query string that matches the name it will be available in the controller.

https://myapi/some-endpoint/123?someQueryString=YayThisWorks

[HttpPost]
[Route("some-endpoint/{someValue}")]
public IActionResult SomeEndpointMethod(int someValue, string someQueryString)
    {
        Debug.WriteLine(someValue);
        Debug.WriteLine(someQueryString);
        return Ok();
    }

Ouputs:

123

YayThisWorks