Access programmatically to SharePoint 2013 Online REST Web Services from Windows 8.1 Application

Question

I have a problem in connecting to SharePoint online from the Windows 8.1 Application.

My goal is quite simple:

• Connect to SharePoint

• Retrieve the List of Lists

• Get Items from a List

I have tried many and many way but I receive always the same "answer": 403 FORBIDDEN.

I'm Administrator on the SharePoint online Site Collection.

Here 2 examples of my code:

A) Trying to take the Auth Token

HttpClient hc = new HttpClient(new HttpClientHandler()
        {
             Credentials = new NetworkCredential("user@domain", "password"),
        });

hc.PostAsync(SharePointSite + "_api/contextinfo", new FormUrlEncodedContent(new List<KeyValuePair<string,string>>())).ContinueWith(
        postTask => 
        {
            var cnt = postTask.Result.Content;
            digest = cnt.ToString(); //FORBIDDEN!
            allDone.Set();
        });

        allDone.WaitOne();

        return digest;

B) Trying to access direct to the content

System.Net.Http.HttpClient _Client = new System.Net.Http.HttpClient(new HttpClientHandler()
            {
                   Credentials = new NetworkCredential(Username, Password, Domain),
            });
            _Client.BaseAddress = new Uri(SharePointSite);
            _Client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue(@"application/atom+xml"));
            //_Client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Basic", _FormatBasicAuth(Domain, Username, Password));

            HttpResponseMessage resp = _Client.GetAsync(SharePointSite + "_api/web/lists").Result;
            string respString = resp.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;

            if (resp.StatusCode==HttpStatusCode.OK){

            }

I read a lot, these are some interesting link

http://dlr2008.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/sharepoint-2013-rest-api-the-c-connection-part-1-using-system-net-http-httpclient/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/jj164022(v=office.15).aspx

Answer 1

Instead of a network credential, you will need a SharePoint Online Credential: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/microsoft.sharepoint.client.sharepointonlinecredentials_members(v=office.15).aspx

Answer 2

The following example demonstrates how to authenticate HttpClient in SharePoint Online:

public class SPHttpClientHandler : HttpClientHandler
{
    public SPHttpClientHandler(Uri webUri, string userName, string password)
    {
        CookieContainer = GetAuthCookies(webUri, userName, password);
        FormatType = FormatType.Json;
    }


    protected override Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(HttpRequestMessage request, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        request.Headers.Add("X-FORMS_BASED_AUTH_ACCEPTED", "f");
        if(FormatType == FormatType.Json)
            request.Headers.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
        return base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken);
    }


    /// <summary>
    /// Retrieve SPO Auth Cookies 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="webUri"></param>
    /// <param name="userName"></param>
    /// <param name="password"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private static CookieContainer GetAuthCookies(Uri webUri, string userName, string password)
    {
        var securePassword = new SecureString();
        foreach (var c in password) { securePassword.AppendChar(c); }
        var credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(userName, securePassword);
        var authCookie = credentials.GetAuthenticationCookie(webUri);
        var cookieContainer = new CookieContainer();
        cookieContainer.SetCookies(webUri, authCookie);
        return cookieContainer;
    }


    public FormatType FormatType { get; set; }
}

public enum FormatType
{
    Json,
    Xml
}

Gist: SPHttpClientHandler.cs

Prerequisites: SharePointOnlineCredentials class from SharePoint Online Client Components SDK is used for authentication.

Usage

 var handler = new SPHttpClientHandler(webUri, userName, password);
 using (var client = new HttpClient(handler))
 {
      client.BaseAddress = webUri;

      var result = client.GetAsync("/_api/web/lists").Result;
      var content = result.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
 }