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.NET Framework Class Library
HttpWebResponse..::.ContentLength Property

Gets the length of the content returned by the request.

Namespace: System.Net
Assembly: System (in System.dll)
Syntax
Public Overrides ReadOnly Property ContentLength As Long
public override long ContentLength { get; }
public:
virtual property long long ContentLength {
	long long get () override;
}
abstract ContentLength : int64
override ContentLength : int64

Property Value

Type: System..::.Int64
The number of bytes returned by the request. Content length does not include header information.
Exceptions
ExceptionCondition
ObjectDisposedException

The current instance has been disposed.

Remarks

The ContentLength property contains the value of the Content-Length header returned with the response. If the Content-Length header is not set in the response, ContentLength is set to the value -1.

Examples

The following example displays the value of this property.


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


    Public Class Test

        ' Specify the URL to receive the request.
        Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
        Dim request As HttpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(args(0)), HttpWebRequest)


        ' Set some reasonable limits on resources used by this request
        request.MaximumAutomaticRedirections = 4
        request.MaximumResponseHeadersLength = 4

        ' Set credentials to use for this request.
        request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

        Dim response As HttpWebResponse = CType(request.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)

        Console.WriteLine("Content length is {0}", response.ContentLength)
        Console.WriteLine("Content type is {0}", response.ContentType)

        ' Get the stream associated with the response.
        Dim receiveStream As Stream = response.GetResponseStream()

        ' Pipes the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format. 
        Dim readStream As New StreamReader(receiveStream, Encoding.UTF8)

        Console.WriteLine("Response stream received.")
        Console.WriteLine(readStream.ReadToEnd())
        response.Close()
        readStream.Close()
    End Sub 'Main
End Class 'Test
'
'The output from this example will vary depending on the value passed into Main 
'but will be similar to the following:
'
'Content length is 1542
'Content type is text/html; charset=utf-8
'Response stream received.
'<html>
'...
'</html>
'
'


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


    public class Test
    {
        // Specify the URL to receive the request.
        public static void Main (string[] args)
        {
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create (args[0]);

            // Set some reasonable limits on resources used by this request
            request.MaximumAutomaticRedirections = 4;
            request.MaximumResponseHeadersLength = 4;
            // Set credentials to use for this request.
            request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse ();

            Console.WriteLine ("Content length is {0}", response.ContentLength);
            Console.WriteLine ("Content type is {0}", response.ContentType);

            // Get the stream associated with the response.
            Stream receiveStream = response.GetResponseStream ();

            // Pipes the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format. 
            StreamReader readStream = new StreamReader (receiveStream, Encoding.UTF8);

            Console.WriteLine ("Response stream received.");
            Console.WriteLine (readStream.ReadToEnd ());
            response.Close ();
            readStream.Close ();
        }
    }

/*
The output from this example will vary depending on the value passed into Main 
but will be similar to the following:

Content length is 1542
Content type is text/html; charset=utf-8
Response stream received.
<html>
...
</html>

*/


#using <System.dll>

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Net;
using namespace System::Text;
using namespace System::IO;

// Specify the URL to receive the request.
int main()
{
   array<String^>^args = Environment::GetCommandLineArgs();
   HttpWebRequest^ request = dynamic_cast<HttpWebRequest^>(WebRequest::Create( args[ 1 ] ));

   // Set some reasonable limits on resources used by this request
   request->MaximumAutomaticRedirections = 4;
   request->MaximumResponseHeadersLength = 4;

   // Set credentials to use for this request.
   request->Credentials = CredentialCache::DefaultCredentials;
   HttpWebResponse^ response = dynamic_cast<HttpWebResponse^>(request->GetResponse());
   Console::WriteLine( "Content length is {0}", response->ContentLength );
   Console::WriteLine( "Content type is {0}", response->ContentType );

   // Get the stream associated with the response.
   Stream^ receiveStream = response->GetResponseStream();

   // Pipes the stream to a higher level stream reader with the required encoding format. 
   StreamReader^ readStream = gcnew StreamReader( receiveStream,Encoding::UTF8 );
   Console::WriteLine( "Response stream received." );
   Console::WriteLine( readStream->ReadToEnd() );
   response->Close();
   readStream->Close();
}

/*
The output from this example will vary depending on the value passed into Main 
but will be similar to the following:

Content length is 1542
Content type is text/html; charset=utf-8
Response stream received.
<html>
...
</html>

*/

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1
Platforms

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

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