LinkedInNET

Sparkle.LinkedInNET Nuget will help you query the LinkedIn API V2 :)

Motivation

Bring the .NET world a nice LinkedIn client library. + support V2 API.

Before you start - About LinkedIn API recent changes

By using the LinkedIn APIs you agree to the LinkedIn APIs Terms of Use.
This project is released under the LGPL v3 license.
This is NOT an official client library.

Update:

Api request tunneling are supported now.

Usage

1. Installation

Use it from Nuget.

Or build the sources... You have to create your own .snk file.

Supported frameworks: 4.5 (sync and task async).

2. Create API client with configuration

The LinkedInApi class is the entry point for all API calls. You must instantiate it with a configuration object. The minimum configuration is the API key and secret. Get a LinkedIn API key.

// create a configuration object
var config = new LinkedInApiConfiguration("•api•key•••", "•api•secret•key••••••");

// get the APIs client
var api = new LinkedInApi(config);

3. Create OAuth2 authorize url

The OAuth2 authentication process is fully supported. The GetAuthorizationUrl method will generate the OAuth2 url to navigate the user to.

var scope = AuthorizationScope.ReadBasicProfile | AuthorizationScope.ReadEmailAddress;
var state = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
var redirectUrl = "http://mywebsite/LinkedIn/OAuth2";
var url = api.OAuth2.GetAuthorizationUrl(scope, state, redirectUrl);
// https://www.linkedin.com/uas/oauth2/authorization?response_type=code&client_id=...
// now redirect your user there

4. Get access token

When the user is redirected back to your website, you can get an access code.

// http://mywebsite/LinkedIn/OAuth2?code=...&state=...
public async Task<ActionResult> OAuth2(string code, string state, string error, string error_description)
{
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(error) || !string.IsNullOrEmpty(error_description))
    {
        // handle error and error_description
    }
    else
    {
        var redirectUrl = "http://mywebsite/LinkedIn/OAuth2";
        var userToken = await api.OAuth2.GetAccessTokenAsync(code, redirectUrl);
        // keep this token for your API requests
    }

    // ...
}

You will find in the source codes a nicer way to build the redirect url.

var redirectUrl = this.Request.Compose() + this.Url.Action("OAuth2");

5. Example call: fetch user profile

var user = new UserAuthorization(userToken.AccessToken);
var profile = api.Profiles.GetMyProfile(user);

Yes, you have to pass the token for each call. This might seem redundant for some but we prefer stateless objects for multi-threaded contexts.

6. Errors

API error results throw LinkedInApiExceptions. You can find extra info in the Data collection.

try
{
    var profile = this.api.Profiles.GetMyProfile(user);
}
catch (LinkedInApiException ex) // one exception type to handle
{
    // ex.Message
    // ex.InnerException // WebException
    // ex.Data["ResponseStream"]
    // ex.Data["HttpStatusCode"]
    // ex.Data["Method"]
    // ex.Data["UrlPath"]
    // ex.Data["ResponseText"]
}
////catch (Exception ex) { } //  bad, don't do that

Library internal errors throw LinkedInNetExceptions. You should not catch them as they do not represent a normal behavior. This may be usefull when waiting for a fix.

You should not catch WebExceptions as they are wrapped into LinkedInApiExceptions.

Contribute

We welcome contributions. Especially if you can suggest/access/test methods with a partner API key.

We are generating code based on a XML file.
This XML file is manually filled to represent the API.
The API coverage should be implemented by modifying the XML file and enhancing code generation.

To generate the API code, build the "ServiceDefinition" project in Debug mode, edit LinkedInApiV2.xml, then use "Run custom tool" on the Service.tt file. The XML file will be read and most of the code will be updated automagically.

To alter code generation, search for CSharpGenerator.cs. Different methods are responsible of generating different parts of C# code (return types, api groups, selectors).

To add/alter API methods and return types, search for LinkedInApiV2.xml. This file describes the API in a human-readable and machine-readable way. Don't forget to re-generate the code (Service.tt).

References

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/linkedin/compliance/

.NET versions

Supported .NET Framework version:

• .NET 4.5 (dependencies: Newtonsoft.Json ≥ 6.0.8, Microsoft.Net.Http ≥ 2.2.29)

We are using a lot of code generation so it won't be difficult to target any other framework.

Status