WebRequest Class

Definition

public ref class WebRequest abstract : MarshalByRefObject, System::Runtime::Serialization::ISerializable

[System.Serializable]
public abstract class WebRequest : MarshalByRefObject, System.Runtime.Serialization.ISerializable

type WebRequest = class
    inherit MarshalByRefObject
    interface ISerializable

Public MustInherit Class WebRequest
Inherits MarshalByRefObject
Implements ISerializable

Inheritance

Object

MarshalByRefObject

WebRequest

Derived

System.IO.Packaging.PackWebRequest

System.Net.FileWebRequest

System.Net.FtpWebRequest

System.Net.HttpWebRequest

Attributes

SerializableAttribute

Implements

ISerializable

Examples

The following example shows how to create a WebRequest instance and return the response.

#using <System.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Net;
using namespace System::Text;
int main()
{
   
   // Create a request for the URL.   
   WebRequest^ request = WebRequest::Create( "http://www.contoso.com/default.html" );
   
   // If required by the server, set the credentials.
   request->Credentials = CredentialCache::DefaultCredentials;
   
   // Get the response.
   HttpWebResponse^ response = dynamic_cast<HttpWebResponse^>(request->GetResponse());
   
   // Display the status.
   Console::WriteLine( response->StatusDescription );
   
   // Get the stream containing content returned by the server.
   Stream^ dataStream = response->GetResponseStream();
   
   // Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access.
   StreamReader^ reader = gcnew StreamReader( dataStream );
   
   // Read the content.
   String^ responseFromServer = reader->ReadToEnd();
   
   // Display the content.
   Console::WriteLine( responseFromServer );
   
   // Cleanup the streams and the response.
   reader->Close();
   dataStream->Close();
   response->Close();
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
using System.Text;

namespace Examples.System.Net
{
    public class WebRequestGetExample
    {
        public static void Main ()
        {
            // Create a request for the URL. 		
            WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create ("http://www.contoso.com/default.html");
            // If required by the server, set the credentials.
            request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
            // Get the response.
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse ();
            // Display the status.
            Console.WriteLine (response.StatusDescription);
            // Get the stream containing content returned by the server.
            Stream dataStream = response.GetResponseStream ();
            // Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access.
            StreamReader reader = new StreamReader (dataStream);
            // Read the content.
            string responseFromServer = reader.ReadToEnd ();
            // Display the content.
            Console.WriteLine (responseFromServer);
            // Cleanup the streams and the response.
            reader.Close ();
            dataStream.Close ();
            response.Close ();
        }
    }
}

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Net
Imports System.Text

Namespace Examples.System.Net
    Public Class WebRequestGetExample

        Public Shared Sub Main()
            ' Create a request for the URL. 		
            Dim request As WebRequest = WebRequest.Create("http://www.contoso.com/default.html")
            ' If required by the server, set the credentials.
            request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials
            ' Get the response.
            Dim response As HttpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)
            ' Display the status.
            Console.WriteLine(response.StatusDescription)
            ' Get the stream containing content returned by the server.
            Dim dataStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()
            ' Open the stream using a StreamReader for easy access.
            Dim reader As New StreamReader(dataStream)
            ' Read the content.
            Dim responseFromServer As String = reader.ReadToEnd()
            ' Display the content.
            Console.WriteLine(responseFromServer)
            ' Cleanup the streams and the response.
            reader.Close()
            dataStream.Close()
            response.Close()
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Remarks

WebRequest is the abstract base class for .NET's request/response model for accessing data from the Internet. An application that uses the request/response model can request data from the Internet in a protocol-agnostic manner, in which the application works with instances of the WebRequest class while protocol-specific descendant classes carry out the details of the request.

Requests are sent from an application to a particular URI, such as a Web page on a server. The URI determines the proper descendant class to create from a list of WebRequest descendants registered for the application. WebRequest descendants are typically registered to handle a specific protocol, such as HTTP or FTP, but can be registered to handle a request to a specific server or path on a server.

The WebRequest class throws a WebException when errors occur while accessing an Internet resource. The Status property is one of the WebExceptionStatus values that indicates the source of the error. When Status is WebExceptionStatus.ProtocolError, the Response property contains the WebResponse received from the Internet resource.

Because the WebRequest class is an abstract class, the actual behavior of WebRequest instances at run time is determined by the descendant class returned by Create method. For more information about default values and exceptions, see the documentation for the descendant classes, such as HttpWebRequest and FileWebRequest.

Notes to Implementers

When you inherit from WebRequest, you must override the following members: Method, RequestUri, Headers, ContentLength, ContentType, Credentials, PreAuthenticate, GetRequestStream(), BeginGetRequestStream(AsyncCallback, Object), EndGetRequestStream(IAsyncResult), GetResponse(), BeginGetResponse(AsyncCallback, Object), and EndGetResponse(IAsyncResult). In addition, you must provide an implementation of the IWebRequestCreate interface, which defines the Create(Uri) method used when you call Create(Uri). You must register the class that implements the IWebRequestCreate interface, using the RegisterPrefix(String, IWebRequestCreate) method or the configuration file.

Constructors

Properties

Methods

Explicit Interface Implementations

Security

WebPermission
To access the requested URI or any URI that the request is redirected to. Associated enumeration: Connect.

Applies to

See also

• HttpWebRequest
• Requesting Data
• Programming Pluggable Protocols