C# in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

HttpWebRequest

Synopsis

This is a subclass of WebRequest. .NET uses this subclass to request documents from the http and https URI schemes (RFCs 2616 and 2818, respectively). An instance of this type is returned by WebRequest.Create( ) when a URI starting with the http:// or https:// prefix is passed in. Since that method’s return value is WebRequest, cast it to HttpWebRequest if you need access to any of the methods or properties that are unique to this class (and the HTTP or HTTPS protocol).

The properties on this type correspond directly to the headers documented in the RFC standard documentation; see that document for details regarding their contents. Note that because these headers are sent as part of the HTTP request, any modification of the headers must be done before the request is sent to the remote host. (Calling either GetResponse( ) or BeginGetResponse( ), the asynchronous version of GetResponse( ), sends the request.)

When a WebRequest encounters an error, a WebException is thrown.

public class HttpWebRequest : WebRequest {
// Protected Constructors
   protected HttpWebRequest(System.Runtime.Serialization.SerializationInfo serializationInfo,
       System.Runtime.Serialization.StreamingContext streamingContext);
// Public Static Properties
   public static int DefaultMaximumResponseHeadersLength{set; get; }
// Public Instance Properties
   public string Accept{set; get; }
   public Uri Address{get; }
   public bool AllowAutoRedirect{set; get; }
   public bool AllowWriteStreamBuffering{set; ...