Name
FileWebRequest
Synopsis
This subclass of WebRequest provides
access to resources that use the
file URL scheme (such as a file on your local
filesystem). Use WebRequest.Create( ) with a
file:// URL to create an instance of this class.
The WebRequest.Create( ) method returns an
instance of this class as a reference of type
WebRequest.
You may feel a small sense of confusion regarding this type and the
“file:” protocol scheme; if a
program needs access to a file on the filesystem, why not simply open
a System.IO.FileStream instead of using
WebRequest.Create("file:/...")? In terms of
straight functionality, the System.IO.FileStream
call more closely represents the fact that this resource is coming
from disk; however, due to the ubiquity of HTTP servers growing
within the enterprise, there are often times when a system wishes to
equally represent HTTP URLs and filesystem paths within an arbitrary
context. For example, a configuration file might be used to indicate
where to retrieve user preferences; by specifying the location as a
URL rather than an absolute file location, storage of user
preferences is permitted on a centralized server without any
additional code. (This allows a kind of “roaming
preferences” capability within the system.) Many of
the .NET tools also use this approach to identify
“files” to act upon via
command-line parameters.
public class FileWebRequest : WebRequest { // Protected Constructors protected FileWebRequest(System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationInfo ...