Alex Rivera | Logout

C# HttpWebRequest vs WebRequest

Asked 2009-05-22T03:35:59.523
116

I saw this piece of code:

var request = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create("http://www.google.com");

Why do you need to cast (HttpWebRequest)? Why not just use HttpWebRequest.Create? And why does HttpWebRequest.Create make a WebRequest, not a HttpWebRequest?

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The cast is only necessary when you need access to members unique to HttpWebRequest. The idea is that if the properties/methods supported on WebRequest are sufficient, then you can write an application that will work against many types of request/response protocols. In this case the URI could be something given by the user using any protocol supported by pluggable protocols. New protocols can even be supported without altering the original software.

If your application needs more control over features specific to a particular protocol then you can restrict requestUri to your supported scheme(s) and cast WebRequest to the appropriate protocol-specific subclass. This limits the protocols supported by your application, but enables you to tweak protocol-specific features.

answered 2012-05-02T23:04:35.607

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