Sample code for 30+ languages & platforms
Unicode C

SharePoint -- Get Server Form Digest Value

Demonstrates how to get a server form digest value to be placed in the X-RequestDigest HTTP request header for POST, PUT, MERGE, and DELETE requests. A form digest value is typically valid for 1800 seconds (i.e. 30 minutes). This example persists the value to a file, and only requests a new form digest value if the existing one is near expiration.

Chilkat Unicode C Downloads

Unicode C
#include <C_CkFileAccessW.h>
#include <C_CkXmlW.h>
#include <C_CkDateTimeW.h>
#include <C_CkHttpW.h>
#include <C_CkHttpResponseW.h>

void ChilkatSample(void)
    {
    BOOL success;
    HCkFileAccessW fac;
    HCkXmlW xml;
    HCkDateTimeW dtExpire;
    HCkDateTimeW dtNow;
    const wchar_t *formDigestXmlFile;
    int tNow;
    int tExpire;
    HCkHttpW http;
    const wchar_t *savedAccept;
    HCkHttpResponseW resp;
    HCkXmlW xml2;
    int timeoutInSec;

    success = FALSE;

    //  This requires the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
    //  See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

    //  First, let's see if we already have a persisted form digest value
    //  that hasn't yet expired.
    fac = CkFileAccessW_Create();
    xml = CkXmlW_Create();

    //  My example code (below) persists the form digest XML in this format:
    //  
    //  	<savedFormDigestValue>
    //  	<d:ExpireDateTime>2017-04-12T20:46:39Z</d:ExpireDateTime>
    //  	<d:FormDigestValue>0x3059FFB920651834540F3E6792EA73F5746B302E953FF4E808E485DB1E6C2836C7CF924644995F092453B02A94DE14A7962674B7B16780AF16EAFB8C246BCDC7,12 Apr 2017 17:08:22 -0000</d:FormDigestValue>
    //  	</savedFormDigestValue>
    //  

    dtExpire = CkDateTimeW_Create();
    dtNow = CkDateTimeW_Create();

    formDigestXmlFile = L"qa_data/sharepoint/savedFormDigestValue.xml";
    if (CkFileAccessW_FileExists(fac,formDigestXmlFile) == TRUE) {

        CkXmlW_LoadXmlFile(xml,formDigestXmlFile);

        //  Get the expire date/time
        CkDateTimeW_SetFromTimestamp(dtExpire,CkXmlW_getChildContent(xml,L"d:ExpireDateTime"));

        //  Get the current date/time
        CkDateTimeW_SetFromCurrentSystemTime(dtNow);

        //  Get both times as Unix time values
        tNow = CkDateTimeW_GetAsUnixTime(dtNow,FALSE);
        tExpire = CkDateTimeW_GetAsUnixTime(dtExpire,FALSE);

        //  If tNow >= tExpire, then fall through.
        //  Otherwise, just use the cached digest value.
        if (tNow < tExpire) {
            wprintf(L"Cached digest value is not yet expired.\n");
            wprintf(L"X-RequestDigest: %s\n",CkXmlW_getChildContent(xml,L"d:FormDigestValue"));
            CkFileAccessW_Dispose(fac);
            CkXmlW_Dispose(xml);
            CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtExpire);
            CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtNow);
            return;
        }

    }

    //  If we got to this point, the cached digest value either does not exist, or expired.

    http = CkHttpW_Create();

    //  If SharePoint Windows classic authentication is used, then set the 
    //  Login, Password, LoginDomain, and NtlmAuth properties.
    CkHttpW_putLogin(http,L"SHAREPOINT_USERNAME");
    CkHttpW_putPassword(http,L"SHAREPOINT_PASSWORD");
    CkHttpW_putLoginDomain(http,L"SHAREPOINT_NTLM_DOMAIN");
    CkHttpW_putNtlmAuth(http,TRUE);

    //  The more common case is to use SharePoint Online authentication (via the SPOIDCRL cookie).
    //  If so, do not set Login, Password, LoginDomain, and NtlmAuth, and instead
    //  establish the cookie as shown at SharePoint Online Authentication

    //  When creating, updating, and deleting SharePoint entities, we'll need
    //  to first get the server's form digest value to send in the X-RequestDigest header.
    //  This can be retrieved by making a POST request with an empty body to
    //  http://<site url>/_api/contextinfo and extracting the value of the
    //  d:FormDigestValue node in the XML that the contextinfo endpoint returns.

    //  Apparently, SharePoint needs an "Accept" request header equal to "application/xml",
    //  otherwise SharePoint will return an utterly incomprehensible and useless error message.
    savedAccept = CkHttpW_ck_accept(http);
    CkHttpW_putAccept(http,L"application/xml");

    //  Note: The last argument ("utf-8") is meaningless here because the body is empty.
    resp = CkHttpResponseW_Create();
    success = CkHttpW_HttpStr(http,L"POST",L"https://SHAREPOINT_HTTPS_DOMAIN/_api/contextinfo",L"",L"utf-8",L"application/xml",resp);
    if (success == FALSE) {
        wprintf(L"%s\n",CkHttpW_lastErrorText(http));
        CkFileAccessW_Dispose(fac);
        CkXmlW_Dispose(xml);
        CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtExpire);
        CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtNow);
        CkHttpW_Dispose(http);
        CkHttpResponseW_Dispose(resp);
        return;
    }

    //  Restore the default Accept header
    CkHttpW_putAccept(http,savedAccept);

    if (CkHttpResponseW_getStatusCode(resp) != 200) {
        //  A response status code not equal to 200 indicates failure.
        wprintf(L"Response status code = %d\n",CkHttpResponseW_getStatusCode(resp));
        wprintf(L"Response body:\n");
        wprintf(L"%s\n",CkHttpResponseW_bodyStr(resp));
        CkFileAccessW_Dispose(fac);
        CkXmlW_Dispose(xml);
        CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtExpire);
        CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtNow);
        CkHttpW_Dispose(http);
        CkHttpResponseW_Dispose(resp);
        return;
    }

    CkXmlW_LoadXml(xml,CkHttpResponseW_bodyStr(resp));

    //  The response XML looks like this:

    //  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    //  <d:GetContextWebInformation xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" m:type="SP.ContextWebInformation">
    //      <d:FormDigestTimeoutSeconds m:type="Edm.Int32">1800</d:FormDigestTimeoutSeconds>
    //      <d:FormDigestValue>0x3059FFB920651834540F3E6792EA73F5746B302E953FF4E808E485DB1E6C2836C7CF924644995F092453B02A94DE14A7962674B7B16780AF16EAFB8C246BCDC7,12 Apr 2017 17:08:22 -0000</d:FormDigestValue>
    //      <d:LibraryVersion>15.0.4569.1000</d:LibraryVersion>
    //      <d:SiteFullUrl>https://SHAREPOINT_HTTPS_DOMAIN</d:SiteFullUrl>
    //      <d:SupportedSchemaVersions m:type="Collection(Edm.String)">
    //          <d:element>14.0.0.0</d:element>
    //          <d:element>15.0.0.0</d:element>
    //      </d:SupportedSchemaVersions>
    //      <d:WebFullUrl>https://SHAREPOINT_HTTPS_DOMAIN</d:WebFullUrl>
    //  </d:GetContextWebInformation>
    //  

    //  Cache the digest value, and also an expiration time.  If this code is run again
    //  before the digest expires, we'll just get it from the file.
    xml2 = CkXmlW_Create();

    CkXmlW_putTag(xml2,L"savedFormDigestValue");
    CkXmlW_NewChild2(xml2,L"d:FormDigestValue",CkXmlW_getChildContent(xml,L"d:FormDigestValue"));

    timeoutInSec = CkXmlW_GetChildIntValue(xml,L"d:FormDigestTimeoutSeconds");
    wprintf(L"Timeout in seconds = %d\n",timeoutInSec);

    //  Convert this to an expire timestamp.
    //  Let's make it expire 30 seconds prior to the actual timeout, just to be safe.
    if (timeoutInSec > 30) {
        timeoutInSec = timeoutInSec - 30;
    }

    CkDateTimeW_SetFromCurrentSystemTime(dtExpire);
    CkDateTimeW_AddSeconds(dtExpire,timeoutInSec);
    CkXmlW_NewChild2(xml2,L"d:ExpireDateTime",CkDateTimeW_getAsTimestamp(dtExpire,FALSE));

    //  Persist the digest and expire time to a file.
    CkXmlW_SaveXml(xml2,formDigestXmlFile);

    wprintf(L"Here is the new form digest value:\n");
    wprintf(L"X-RequestDigest: %s\n",CkXmlW_getChildContent(xml,L"d:FormDigestValue"));


    CkFileAccessW_Dispose(fac);
    CkXmlW_Dispose(xml);
    CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtExpire);
    CkDateTimeW_Dispose(dtNow);
    CkHttpW_Dispose(http);
    CkHttpResponseW_Dispose(resp);
    CkXmlW_Dispose(xml2);

    }