Network Programming in .NET

Like the UK’s companies house, you can access basic information about Irish companies using an API that is free to use (mostly), and quite easy to implement.

I say mostly, because unlike the UK version, they charge €2.50 for document downloads.

Here’s the code example (without my credentials) in c#

var strUrl = “https://services.cro.ie/cws/companies?company_num=389820&htmlEnc=1”;

string userName = “** An email address **”;
string password = “**A GUID**”;
WebClient client = new WebClient();
string credentials = Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(userName + “:” + password));
client.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.Authorization] = string.Format(“Basic {0}”, credentials);
client.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.Accept] = “application/json”;
string strJson = “”;
try
{
strJson = client.DownloadString(strUrl);
}
catch (WebException exception)
{

if (exception.Response != null)
{
var responseStream = exception.Response.GetResponseStream();

if (responseStream != null)
{
using (var reader = new StreamReader(responseStream))
{
strJson = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
}

Console.Write(strJson);