C# and Forecast API

Question

I am completely new to API data retreival, and would appreciate some help. This is the code I have at the moment:

else if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter & InputTextbox.Text.Contains("hot"))
{
    try
    {
        XElement doc = XElement.Load("https://api.forecast.io/forecast/*APIKEY*/-31.4296,152.9082");
        OutputTextbox.Text = "It is currently " + doc;                                                             
        pBuilder.ClearContent();                                                                                        
        pBuilder.AppendText(OutputTextbox.Text);                                                                        
        sSynth.Speak
        pBuilder);                                                                                                             
        e.SuppressKeyPress = true;                                                                                                          
        InputTextbox.Text = "";
    }
    catch (System.Xml.XmlException fe)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(fe.Message);
    }

This gives back the error message: "Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1."

Can someone please let me know where I am going wrong?

Answer 1

First, you need to see what the output of the api call is, try:

using(var client = new WebClient()) {
    var responseStr = client.DownloadString("https://api.forecast.io/forecast/*APIKEY*/-31.4296,152.9082");
    OutputTextbox.Text = responseStr;
}

Then, to load this xml with XElement, it needs to be completely valid XML. That's the source of your error message: XElement is very strict. If the response is HTML, consider using HtmlAgilityPack, it will save your sanity.

var doc = new HtmlDocument();
doc.Load("https://....");

If it's a json api or something like that, consider using ServiceStack. That will also save your sanity.

Good luck.