Getting headers from WebRequest

c#, webrequest

Solution

The `Create` method will return an `HttpWebRequest` for an http/https url. The 422 status code indicates that you are somehow sending incorrect formed data to the server. `GetResponse()` will throw a `WebException` because you don't receive the status code `200`.

To get the actual headers of the response you need to handle the exception

private static void Main(string[] args)
{
    WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create("http://google.com/12345"); //generate 404

    try
    {

        WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
    }
    catch(WebException ex)
    {
        HttpWebResponse errorResponse = ex.Response as HttpWebResponse;

        if (errorResponse == null)
            throw; //errorResponse not of type HttpWebResponse

        string responseContent = "";

        using(StreamReader r = new StreamReader(errorResponse.GetResponseStream()))
        {
            responseContent = r.ReadToEnd();
        }

        Console.WriteLine("The server at {0} returned {1}", errorResponse.ResponseUri, errorResponse.StatusCode);

        Console.WriteLine("With headers:");
        foreach(string key in errorResponse.Headers.AllKeys)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("\t{0}:{1}", key, errorResponse.Headers[key]);
        }

        Console.WriteLine(responseContent);
    }

    Console.ReadLine();
}

Problem

Original source

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