return login success from a web api to an mvc 4 application - asp.net-mvc-4

Question

my colleague and myself are working on an application form with login functionality the user logs in from the mvc 4 app and there details are submitted to the web api to be checked against the values held in the database once verified the web api returns a loginResult class that contains the error message (if any) and a bool for stating whether it has been successful or not.
at the mvc 4 application level the code below is used to submit the login details to the web api:
Login Action
[HttpPost]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public async Task<ActionResult> Login(AccountViewModel model)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid) return View("Login", model);
await _client.PostAsJsonAsync("api/Applicant/CheckApplicant", model)
.ContinueWith((postTask) => postTask.Result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode());
var service = DependencyResolver.Current.GetService<IApplyService>();
var loginResult = service.GetLoginResult();
var loginSuccess = loginResult.LoginSuccess;
if (loginSuccess != null && (bool) loginSuccess)
{
FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(model.Email, model.RememberMe);
return RedirectToRoute("Terms And Conditions");
}
return View("Login");
}
the login details are then received at the web api in this method:
Check Applicant Method
public String CheckApplicant(Applicant applicant)
{
Int32 passwordFailureTimeoutMins = Convert.ToInt32(System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["PasswordFailureTimeoutMins"]);
Int32 passwordFailureAttempts = Convert.ToInt32(System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["PasswordFailureAttempts"]);
ApplicantRepository applicantRepository = new ApplicantRepository();
Applicant applicantDB = applicantRepository.GetById(applicant.Email);
LoginResult loginResult = new LoginResult();
PasswordHelper passwordHelper = new PasswordHelper();
if (applicantDB == null)
{
loginResult.LoginSuccess = false;
loginResult.LoginError = "Your password or login may not be correct.";
}
else
{
bool loginFailureCheck;
if (applicantDB.LoginFailureCount > passwordFailureAttempts)
{
System.TimeSpan diffResult = DateTime.Now.Subtract(Convert.ToDateTime(applicantDB.LastLoginFailure));
if (diffResult.Minutes < passwordFailureTimeoutMins)
{
loginFailureCheck = false;
}
else
{
loginFailureCheck = true;
}
}
else
{
loginFailureCheck = true;
}
if (passwordHelper.CheckPassword(applicant.Password, applicantDB.Password))
{
if(loginFailureCheck)
{
if(applicantDB.AccountActive)
{
loginResult.LoginSuccess = true;
loginResult.LoginError = "Login Successful.";
applicantDB.LastLoginFailure = null;
applicantDB.LastLoginSuccess = DateTime.Now;
applicantDB.LoginFailureCount = 0;
applicantRepository.Update(applicantDB);
}
else
{
loginResult.LoginSuccess = false;
loginResult.LoginError = "This account has been permanently banned.";
}
}
else
{
loginResult.LoginSuccess = false;
loginResult.LoginError = "This account is now temporarily disabled please wait " + passwordFailureTimeoutMins + " minutes before trying again";
applicantDB.LastLoginFailure = DateTime.Now;
applicantDB.LoginFailureCount = applicantDB.LoginFailureCount + 1;
applicantRepository.Update(applicantDB);
}
}
else
{
loginResult.LoginSuccess = false;
loginResult.LoginError = "Your password or login may not be correct.";
applicantDB.LastLoginFailure = DateTime.Now;
applicantDB.LoginFailureCount = applicantDB.LoginFailureCount + 1;
applicantRepository.Update(applicantDB);
}
}
return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(loginResult);
}
as you can see it returns a JsonConvert.SerializeObject(loginResult).
when this is done the process returns to the Login ActionResult as above it then moves to the GetLoginResult() method as shown below:
GetLoginResult
public LoginResult GetLoginResult()
{
const string uri = "http://localhost:55830/api/Applicant/CheckApplicant";
using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
{
var response = httpClient.GetStringAsync(uri);
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<LoginResult>(response.Result);
}
}
when it get to this point it returns an error 405 method not allowed.
How do I consume the loginResult at the mvc 4 app level and what is the best way of sending the loginResult from the web api?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Not sure what exactly you are trying to do but are you making a GET to read the result of the previous POST? You can read the response message of POST to get the result, like this.
public async Task<ActionResult> Login(AccountViewModel model)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid) return View("Login", model);
var message = await _client.PostAsJsonAsync
("api/Applicant/CheckApplicant", model);
message.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
LoginResult result = await message.Content.ReadAsAsync<LoginResult>();
// do other stuff here
}
Change the web API action method to return LoginResult directly. The framework will serialize it for you.
public LoginResult CheckApplicant(Applicant applicant)
{
}