Modify middleware response

Question

My requirement: write a middleware that filters all \"bad words\" out of a response that comes from another subsequent middleware (e.g. Mvc).

The problem: streaming

Answer 1

A simpler version based on the code I used:

/// <summary>
/// The middleware Invoke method.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="httpContext">The current <see cref="HttpContext"/>.</param>
/// <returns>A Task to support async calls.</returns>
public async Task Invoke(HttpContext httpContext)
{
    var originBody = httpContext.Response.Body;
    try
    {
        var memStream = new MemoryStream();
        httpContext.Response.Body = memStream;

        await _next(httpContext).ConfigureAwait(false);

        memStream.Position = 0;
        var responseBody = new StreamReader(memStream).ReadToEnd();

        //Custom logic to modify response
        responseBody = responseBody.Replace("hello", "hi", StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);

        var memoryStreamModified = new MemoryStream();
        var sw = new StreamWriter(memoryStreamModified);
        sw.Write(responseBody);
        sw.Flush();
        memoryStreamModified.Position = 0;

        await memoryStreamModified.CopyToAsync(originBody).ConfigureAwait(false);
    }
    finally
    {
        httpContext.Response.Body = originBody;
    }
}

Answer 2

Replace a response stream to MemoryStream to prevent its sending. Return the original stream after the response is modified:

    public async Task Invoke(HttpContext context)
    {
        bool modifyResponse = true;
        Stream originBody = null;

        if (modifyResponse)
        {
            //uncomment this line only if you need to read context.Request.Body stream
            //context.Request.EnableRewind();

            originBody = ReplaceBody(context.Response);
        }

        await _next(context);

        if (modifyResponse)
        {
            //as we replaced the Response.Body with a MemoryStream instance before,
            //here we can read/write Response.Body
            //containing the data written by middlewares down the pipeline 

            //finally, write modified data to originBody and set it back as Response.Body value
            ReturnBody(context.Response, originBody);
        }
    }

    private Stream ReplaceBody(HttpResponse response)
    {
        var originBody = response.Body;
        response.Body = new MemoryStream();
        return originBody;
    }

    private void ReturnBody(HttpResponse response, Stream originBody)
    {
        response.Body.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
        response.Body.CopyTo(originBody);
        response.Body = originBody;
    }

It's a workaround and it can cause performance problems. I hope to see a better solution here.

Answer 3

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to comment since my score is too low. So just wanted to post my extension of the excellent top solution, and a modification for .NET Core 3.0+

First of all

context.Request.EnableRewind();

has been changed to

context.Request.EnableBuffering();

in .NET Core 3.0+

And here's how I read/write the body content:

First a filter, so we just modify the content types we're interested in

private static readonly IEnumerable<string> validContentTypes = new HashSet<string>() { "text/html", "application/json", "application/javascript" };

It's a solution for transforming nuggeted texts like [[[Translate me]]] into its translation. This way I can just mark up everything that needs to be translated, read the po-file we've gotten from the translator, and then do the translation replacement in the output stream - regardless if the nuggeted texts is in a razor view, javascript or ... whatever. Kind of like the TurquoiseOwl i18n package does, but in .NET Core, which that excellent package unfortunately doesn't support.

...

if (modifyResponse)
{
    //as we replaced the Response.Body with a MemoryStream instance before,
    //here we can read/write Response.Body
    //containing the data written by middlewares down the pipeline

    var contentType = context.Response.ContentType?.ToLower();
    contentType = contentType?.Split(';', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries).FirstOrDefault();   // Filter out text/html from "text/html; charset=utf-8"

    if (validContentTypes.Contains(contentType))
    {
        using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(context.Response.Body))
        {
            // Read the body
            context.Response.Body.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
            var responseBody = await streamReader.ReadToEndAsync();

            // Replace [[[Bananas]]] with translated texts - or Bananas if a translation is missing
            responseBody = NuggetReplacer.ReplaceNuggets(poCatalog, responseBody);

            // Create a new stream with the modified body, and reset the content length to match the new stream
            var requestContent = new StringContent(responseBody, Encoding.UTF8, contentType);
            context.Response.Body = await requestContent.ReadAsStreamAsync();//modified stream
            context.Response.ContentLength = context.Response.Body.Length;
        }
    }

    //finally, write modified data to originBody and set it back as Response.Body value
    ReturnBody(context.Response, originBody);
}
...

private void ReturnBody(HttpResponse response, Stream originBody)
{
    response.Body.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
    response.Body.CopyToAsync(originBody);
    response.Body = originBody;
}

Answer 4

A "real" production scenario may be found here: tethys logging middeware

If you follow the logic presented in the link, do not forget to addhttpContext.Request.EnableRewind() prior calling _next(httpContext) (extension method of Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.Internal namespace).