Console Application To Fetch SharePoint List Data Using REST API With CAML Query In C# Managed Code

1. Open Visual Studio.
2. Select the Console Application template and provide a suitable name.
3. Add required assemblies.
4. Add the below code to the Program.cs file.
5. Run the code.

   using System;
   using System.Collections.Generic;
   using System.IO;
   using System.Net;
   using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
   namespace ConsoleApp1
   {
       class Program
       {
           static void Main(string[] args)
           {
               string sConnStr = "<web_url>";
               Uri oUri = new Uri(sConnStr + "/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Department')/GetItems");
               string sResult = string.Empty;
               string stringData = "{'query' : {'__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.CamlQuery' }, 'ViewXml':'<View><Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name=\"Title\"/><Value Type=\"Text\">HR</Value></Eq></Where></Query></View>'}}";
               HttpWebRequest oWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(oUri);
               oWebRequest.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials;
               oWebRequest.Method = "POST";
               oWebRequest.Accept = "application/json;odata=verbose";
               oWebRequest.ContentType = "application/json;odata=verbose";
               oWebRequest.Headers.Add("X-RequestDigest", GetFormDigest());
               oWebRequest.ContentLength = stringData.Length;
               using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(oWebRequest.GetRequestStream()))
               {
                   writer.Write(stringData);
                   writer.Flush();
               }
               using (WebResponse wresp = oWebRequest.GetResponse())
               using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(wresp.GetResponseStream()))
               {
                   sResult = sr.ReadToEnd();
               }
           }
           public static string GetFormDigest()
           {
               string sFormDigest = null;
               string sConnStr = "<web_url>";
               Uri oUri = new Uri(sConnStr + "/_api/contextinfo");
               HttpWebRequest oWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create(oUri);
               oWebRequest.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
               oWebRequest.Method = "POST";
               oWebRequest.Accept = "application/json;odata=verbose";
               oWebRequest.ContentLength = 0;
               oWebRequest.ContentType = "application/json";
               string sResult;
               using (WebResponse sWebResponse = oWebRequest.GetResponse())
               using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(sWebResponse.GetResponseStream()))
               {
                   sResult = sr.ReadToEnd();
               }
               var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
               var val = jss.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, object>>(sResult);
               var d = val["d"] as Dictionary<string, object>;
               var wi = d["GetContextWebInformation"] as Dictionary<string, object>;
               sFormDigest = wi["FormDigestValue"].ToString();
               return sFormDigest;
           }
       }
   }
   

Code Explanation

1. The complete data to be passed in the request will be.

   {
     "query": {
       "__metadata": {
         "type": "SP.CamlQuery"
       },
       "ViewXml": "<View><Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name=\"Title\"/><Value Type=\"Text\">HR</Value></Eq></Where></Query></View>"
     }
   }
   

2. Form Digest needs to be passed while calling the post method. GetFormDigest() returns the required request digest.

Summary

In this article, we have explored how to call SharePoint REST API with CAML query in C# console application. The CAML query can also be passed through the URL itself. However, this makes the API URL complicated and sometimes, restricts the length of the URL. The same code can be used in implementing custom APIs as well.

Happy Reading!