Built-in REST Client with .http files - request variables support

Question

Hi guys,

VS 2022 v17.5 supports built-in REST Client tool that works with .http files to test the APIs.

It's pretty awesome feature, but it's not documented. There are similar tools/extensions docs, but as I can see - it's a built-in tool rather than extension.

It has variables support in general, but what about request variables?

Request variables could help developers to organize requests in a flow. The simplest scenario is authentication. But the code below does not work as it does not set "authPasswordRequest" and "@accessToken" variable gets initialized with "{{authPasswordRequest.response.body.$.access_token}}" expression string, rather than having it evaluated properly.

@baseUrl = https://some.url
@contentType = application/json

### Login Request (responds with 'access_token' in JSON response body):
# @name authPasswordRequest
POST {{baseUrl}}/auth/password
Content-Type: {{contentType}}

{
  "userName": "username",
  "password": "password"
}

### Get User Profile Request:
@accessToken = {{authPasswordRequest.response.body.$.access_token}}
# @name userProfileRequest
GET {{baseUrl}}/profile
Authorization: Bearer {{accessToken}}

Answer 1

Hello @Oleksii Kovalchuk ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

It’s pretty awesome feature, but it’s not documented. There are similar tools/extensions docs, but as I can see – it’s a built-in tool rather than extension.

Yes, this is a new feature in VS 2022 version 17.5. This blog Modern .NET and Cloud development API development inner-loop introduces this new feature.

It has variables support in general, but what about request variables?

As the blog states "This is just our first step towards improving the quality-of-life for developers working with microservices in Visual Studio – stay tuned for future features in upcoming previews!", this new feature is still improving. I may suggest you directly submit a ticket(suggestion/feedback) on our Developer Community. I will also help to report your feedback.

Please feel free to let us know if you have any other concerns.

Sincerely,

Tianyu

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