How to secure System.Net.Http.HttpClient connections (Windows Store apps using C#/VB and XAML)

Secure System.Net.Http.HttpClient connections to a web service.

What you need to know

Technologies

• System.Net.Http
• System.Net.Http.Headers

Prerequisites

The following example in this topic is provided in C# using the .NET Framework 4.5. A basic understanding of HTTP requests as detailed in RFC 2616 is required.

To make HTTP requests in a Windows Store app using JavaScript and HTML, see Connecting to a web service (HTML).

Use the https: URI scheme

The HTTP Protocol defines two URI schemes:

• http - Used for unencrypted connections.
• https - Used for secure connections that should be encrypted. This option also uses digital certificates and certificate authorities to verify that the server is who it claims to be.

To encrypt your connection, use the https: URI scheme. For example:

   // Create a New HttpClient object.
   HttpClient client = new HttpClient();

   // use https: for the URI scheme
   HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("https://www.contoso.com/");

Remarks

In this topic we reviewed how to secure System.Net.Http.HttpClient connections.

The following example changes one line in the code for the System.Net.Http.HttpClient sample to secure the connection and verify the server.

HttpClient secure connection sample

    HttpClient client = new HttpClient();

    try	
    {
      HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync("https://www.contoso.com/");
      response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
      string responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
      // Above three lines can be replaced with new helper method in following line
      // string body = await client.GetStringAsync(uri);

      httpClientSecure.DisplayStatus(responseBody);

    catch(HttpRequestException e)
    {
       httpClientSecure.DisplayStatus("Exception caught"+e.Message);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
       httpClientSecure.DisplayStatus(ex.ToString);
    }

Related topics

Other resources

Connecting to web services

How to configure network capabilities

How to connect using System.Net.Http.HttpClient

How to use System.Net.Http.HttpClient handlers

Reference

System.Net.Http

System.Net.Http.Headers

Windows.Web.Http

Windows.Web.Http.Filters

Windows.Web.Http.Headers

Samples

HttpClient Sample