HttpWebRequest Class

Provides an HTTP-specific implementation of the WebRequest class. Use this class to make HTTP requests to resources identified by a URI.

Namespace

System.Net

Assembly

System.Net.Requests.dll

Syntax

public sealed class HttpWebRequest : WebRequest, ISerializable

Constructors

Signature	Description
`protected HttpWebRequest()`	Initializes a new instance of the `HttpWebRequest` class. (protected – for inheritance only)

Properties

Property	Type	Description
`Method`	`string`	HTTP method (GET, POST, etc.). Default is `GET`.
`Headers`	`WebHeaderCollection`	Request headers collection.
`ContentLength`	`long`	Length of request data.
`ContentType`	`string`	MIME type of request data.
`Credentials`	`ICredentials`	Authentication credentials.
`Timeout`	`int`	Time-out value in milliseconds.
`AllowAutoRedirect`	`bool`	Whether the request follows redirects automatically.
`UserAgent`	`string`	User-Agent header string.

Methods

Method	Return Type	Description
`GetResponse()`	`WebResponse`	Gets the response from the Internet resource.
`GetResponseAsync()`	`Task<WebResponse>`	Asynchronously gets the response.
`GetRequestStream()`	`Stream`	Gets the request stream for writing data.
`GetRequestStreamAsync()`	`Task<Stream>`	Asynchronously gets the request stream.
`Abort()`	`void`	Aborts the request.

Example

// Synchronous GET request
var request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("https://api.example.com/data");
request.Method = "GET";
request.Accept = "application/json";

using var response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
using var reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());
string json = reader.ReadToEnd();
Console.WriteLine(json);

Remarks

HttpWebRequest is considered legacy for new development. Microsoft recommends using HttpClient for most scenarios due to its async nature and better resource management.

.NET API Documentation