DocuSign .NET Sample — Request Signature on Document

A C# .NET console application demonstrating how to create and send a DocuSign envelope using the REST API directly via HttpWebRequest.

Overview

This sample walks through the complete envelope creation flow: building a typed envelope model, attaching a document, placing anchor-text signature tabs, and submitting everything as a multipart/form-data POST to the DocuSign REST API. It is a useful reference for understanding the raw API surface before migrating to an official SDK, and for seeing how the X-DocuSign-Authentication header authentication scheme works in practice.

Features

• REST envelope creation via POST /restapi/v2/accounts/{accountId}/envelopes
• Anchor-text tab placement — SignHereTab, InitialHereTab, FullNameTab, DateSignedTab — using string anchors embedded in the document
• Typed POCO models for all DocuSign request and response objects (Envelope, Signer, Tabs, Document, Recipients, CreateEnvelopeResponse)
• multipart/form-data request construction combining a JSON envelope definition with binary document bytes
• Json.NET (Newtonsoft.Json) serialization and deserialization of all API payloads
• log4net logging via System.Diagnostics.Trace

Prerequisites

Requirement	Notes
.NET Framework 4.5.1	Targets net451; Visual Studio 2013 or later recommended
Visual Studio	Community edition is sufficient
NuGet	Package restore requires internet access on first build
DocuSign developer account	Free at developers.docusign.com

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/markjkelly/docusign-net-sample.git
   

2. Open DocuSignSample.sln (or DocuSignSample.csproj) in Visual Studio.
3. Restore NuGet packages: right-click the solution → Restore NuGet Packages. This pulls Newtonsoft.Json 6.0.8 and log4net 2.0.3.
4. Copy a document named Try DocuSigning.docx into the project root (next to DocuSignSample.csproj). The file name must match exactly — it is hardcoded in DocuSignClient.cs.
5. Fill in your credentials in RequestSignatureOnDocument.cs (see Configuration below).

Configuration

All configuration is set directly in RequestSignatureOnDocument.cs:

Variable	Field	Description
IntegratorKey	credentials.integratorKey	API integrator key from Preferences → API in the DocuSign web app
Email	credentials.username	Your DocuSign account email address
Password	credentials.password	Your DocuSign account password
AccountId	credentials.accountId	Your numeric account ID (visible in the DocuSign URL after login)
RecipientEmail	signer.email	Email address of the person who will receive the signature request
RecipientName	signer.name	Display name shown to the recipient

⚠️ These credentials are hardcoded for sample purposes. In production, use environment variables or a secrets manager.

The baseUrl defaults to https://demo.docusign.net/ (sandbox). Switch to https://www.docusign.net/ for production accounts.

Running

Press F5 in Visual Studio to build and run, or use MSBuild from the command line:

msbuild DocuSignSample.csproj /p:Configuration=Debug
bin\Debug\DocuSignSample.exe

On success, the application prints the CreateEnvelopeResponse (including the new envelopeId) to the debug output. The recipient will receive an email with a link to sign the document.

Key Files

File	Purpose
DocuSignClient.cs	HTTP client — constructs HttpWebRequest objects, sets X-DocuSign-Authentication headers, builds the multipart body, and reads the response
RequestSignatureOnDocument.cs	Entry point — configures credentials, builds the envelope model with tabs and a signer, calls CreateAndSendEnvelope
DocuSign Objects/	POCO model classes for every API object: Envelope, Signer, Tabs, Document, Recipients, CreateEnvelopeResponse, and all tab types
App.config	Targets .NET Framework 4.5.1 runtime; includes commented-out System.Net verbose trace listener config useful for debugging HTTP traffic

API Version Note

Written against the DocuSign REST API v2 using legacy Header Authentication (X-DocuSign-Authentication). The DocuSign eSignature REST API now uses OAuth 2.0. See developers.docusign.com for current SDKs and samples.

License

MIT