WebClient.DownloadData Method (String)

The DownloadData method downloads the resource with the URI specified by the address parameter. This method blocks while downloading the resource. To download a resource and continue executing while waiting for the server's response, use one of the DownloadDataAsync methods.

If the BaseAddress property is not an empty string ("") and address does not contain an absolute URI, address must be a relative URI that is combined with BaseAddress to form the absolute URI of the requested data. If the QueryString property is not an empty string, it is appended to address.

This method uses the RETR command to download an FTP resource. For an HTTP resource, the GET method is used.

Note
This member outputs trace information when you enable network tracing in your application. For more information, see Network Tracing.

The following code example requests data from a server and displays the data returned. It assumes that remoteUri contains a valid URI for the requested data.

Console.Write("\nPlease enter a URI (for example, http://www.contoso.com): ");
string remoteUri = Console.ReadLine();

// Create a new WebClient instance.
WebClient myWebClient = new WebClient();
// Download home page data.
Console.WriteLine("Downloading " + remoteUri);                        
// Download the Web resource and save it into a data buffer. 
byte[] myDataBuffer = myWebClient.DownloadData (remoteUri);

// Display the downloaded data. 
string download = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(myDataBuffer);
Console.WriteLine(download);

Console.WriteLine("Download successful.");

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference