WebClient vs. HttpWebRequest/HttpWebResponse

.net httpwebrequest webclient httpwebresponse
Dan picture Dan · Nov 7, 2009 · Viewed 52.3k times · Source

It seems to me that most of what can be accomplished with HttpWebRequest/Response can also be accomplished with the WebClient class. I read somewhere that WebClient is a high-level wrapper for WebRequest/Response.
So far, I can't see anything that can be accomplished with HttpWebRequest/Response that can not be accomplished with WebClient, nor where HttpWebRequest/Response will give you more "fine-grained" control.

When should I use WebClient and when HttpWebRequest/Response? (Obviously, HttpWebRequest/Response are HTTP specific.)

If HttpWebRequest/Response are lower level then WebClient, what can I accomplish with HttpWebRequest/Response that I cannot accomplish with WebClient?

Answer

Thomas Levesque picture Thomas Levesque · Nov 7, 2009

Using HttpWebRequest gives you more control on the request. You can set cookies, headers, protocol, etc... In the response, you can also retrieve the cookies and headers

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