.NET Framework Class Library
HttpWebResponse Class

Provides an HTTP-specific implementation of the WebResponse class.

Namespace:  System.Net
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)
Syntax

'Declaration

<SerializableAttribute> _
Public Class HttpWebResponse _
	Inherits WebResponse _
	Implements ISerializable
Remarks

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.

NoteNote

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.

Header

Property

Content-Encoding

ContentEncoding

Content-Length

ContentLength

Content-Type

ContentType

Last-Modified

LastModified

Server

Server

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

Examples

The following example returns an HttpWebResponse from an HttpWebRequest.

Dim HttpWReq As HttpWebRequest = _
   CType(WebRequest.Create("http://www.contoso.com"), HttpWebRequest)

Dim HttpWResp As HttpWebResponse = _
   CType(HttpWReq.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)
' Insert code that uses the response object.
HttpWResp.Close()


Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.MarshalByRefObject
    System.Net.WebResponse
      System.Net.HttpWebResponse
Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8z6watww.aspx.
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
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