HttpWebResponse Class

This class contains support for HTTP-specific uses of the properties and methods of the WebResponse class. The HttpWebResponse class is used to build HTTP stand-alone client applications that send HTTP requests and receive HTTP responses.

Note
Do not confuse HttpWebResponse with the HttpResponse class that is used in ASP.NET applications and whose methods and properties are exposed through ASP.NET's intrinsic Response object.

You should never directly create an instance of the HttpWebResponse class. Instead, use the instance returned by a call to HttpWebRequest.GetResponse. You must call either the Stream.Close or the HttpWebResponse.Close method to close the response and release the connection for reuse. It is not necessary to call both Stream.Close and HttpWebResponse.Close, but doing so does not cause an error.

Common header information returned from the Internet resource is exposed as properties of the class. See the following table for a complete list. Other headers can be read from the Headers property as name/value pairs.

The following table shows the common HTTP headers that are available through properties of the HttpWebResponse class.

The contents of the response from the Internet resource are returned as a Stream by calling the GetResponseStream method.

The following example returns an HttpWebResponse from an HttpWebRequest.

HttpWebRequest HttpWReq = 
(HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://www.contoso.com");

HttpWebResponse HttpWResp = (HttpWebResponse)HttpWReq.GetResponse();
// Insert code that uses the response object.
HttpWResp.Close();

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Portable Class Library

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference