Accessing post or get parameters in custom authorization MVC4 Web Api

Question

Is it possible to access post or get parameters via the HttpActionContext object?

I have a set of sensors that loggs data to a web server that provides a REST api.

Answer 1

Although this question has already been answered. But in case someone else needs it, you can get the querystrings from ActionFilterAttribute like below:

public class ApiAuthorizationActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnActionExecuting(HttpActionContext actionContext)
    {
        var queryParameters = actionContext.Request.GetQueryNameValuePairs().ToDictionary(x => x.Key, x => x.Value);

        var some_value = queryParameters.ContainsKey("some_key")
                    ? queryParameters["some_key"] : string.Empty;

        // Log Action Filter call
        base.OnActionExecuting(actionContext);
    }
}

But usually how I build API authorizations are using headers and a custom verification logic by adding keys (unique strings) to the database against user/client etc.

public class ApiAuthorizationActionFilter : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnActionExecuting(HttpActionContext actionContext)
    {
        var headers = actionContext.Request.Headers.ToDictionary(x => x.Key, x => x.Value);

        string api_key = headers.ContainsKey("api_key") ? headers["api_key"].FirstOrDefault() : null;

        bool canAccessApi = IsValidKey(api_key);

        if (!canAccessApi)
            actionContext.Response = actionContext.Request.CreateErrorResponse(HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized, "You do not have access to this API. Please use a valid key.");

        // Log Action Filter call
        base.OnActionExecuting(actionContext);
    }

    private bool IsValidKey(string api_key)
    {
        //Build Access Control Logic here using database keys...
        return true;
    }
}