Calling bit.ly REST API from Apex

Question

Using Bit.ly V4 API via this code:

HttpRequest req2 = new HttpRequest();           
req2.setEndpoint('https://api-ssl.bitly.com/v4/shorten');           
req2.setMethod('POST');
req2.setHeader('Authorization', 'Bearer ...');
String jsonBody = '{"long_url":"https://test.com"}';
req2.setBody(jsonBody);
req2.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');

Http http2 = new Http();
HttpResponse res2 = http2.send(req2);           
system.debug(res2);

yields the following response:

CALLOUT_RESPONSE [24] | System.HttpResponse [Status = Not Acceptable, StatusCode = 406]

The same request works in Postman. Why doesn't it work in Apex?

Answer 1

Your code snippet

Http http2 = new Http();
HttpResponse res2 = http2.send(req2);           
system.debug(res2);

sends the reference (res2) to debug log. When this happens, SF calls toString() method on the reference and you see System.HttpResponse [Status = Not Acceptable, StatusCode = 406] as the result. toString gives you the class name and status string + associated code. That is not enough information to see what's going on.

If you send the body of the response to debug log in addition to status like so

system.debug(res2.getStatusCode() + ': ' + res2.getBody());

you'd see

<timestamp> USER_DEBUG [12]|DEBUG|406: {"message":"INVALID_ACCEPT_HEADER"}

This pretty much tells you what's wrong - you need to include the Accept header to indicate that your client can accept JSON as the response. This works:

...
req2.setHeader('Accept', 'application/json');

Http http2 = new Http();
HttpResponse res2 = http2.send(req2);           
system.debug(res2.getStatusCode() + ': ' + res2.getBody());

Depending on configuration, Postman may automatically add headers to the request. While it seemed like your request in Postman was the same as it was in Apex, it really wasn't. When testing REST APIs, it's better to use a command-line client such as curl.