Home/.NET/Library/System.Net.Http.Headers

HttpLifetimeService

System.Net.Http.Headers
Class

Summary

Represents a service that manages the lifetime of HTTP connection and request objects. This service is crucial for effective resource management within the System.Net.Http namespace, ensuring that connections are reused and disposed of appropriately.

Description

The HttpLifetimeService plays a vital role in optimizing HTTP communication by controlling how and when underlying network resources, such as sockets and connections, are managed. It allows for configurable lifetimes, enabling scenarios where connections can be kept alive for subsequent requests to improve performance, or closed promptly to free up resources. This service is typically used internally by HttpClient and related classes to abstract away the complexities of connection pooling and disposal.

Key responsibilities include:

Members

Methods

Dispose(Boolean disposing)

protected virtual void Dispose(Boolean disposing)
Releases the unmanaged resources used by the HttpLifetimeService and optionally releases the managed resources.

Parameters

disposing: Boolean

true to release both managed and unmanaged resources; false to release only unmanaged resources.

GetService<T>()

public T GetService<T>()
Retrieves a service of the specified type.

Type Parameters

T: The type of the service to retrieve.

Returns

An instance of the service of type T.

ReleaseService<T>(T service)

public void ReleaseService<T>(T service)
Releases a previously obtained service.

Type Parameters

T: The type of the service to release.

Parameters

service: T

The service instance to release.

Example Usage

While HttpLifetimeService is typically used internally, understanding its principles helps in comprehending the behavior of HttpClient. For instance, when you use HttpClient without managing its lifetime explicitly (e.g., by disposing it after each use), the underlying HttpLifetimeService helps manage connection pooling and reuse. 


using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class Example
{
    public static async Task Main(string[] args)
    {
        // HttpClient internally uses a lifetime service to manage connections.
        // For typical use cases, simply disposing HttpClient is sufficient.
        using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
        {
            try
            {
                var response = await httpClient.GetAsync("https://www.example.com");
                response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
                var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                Console.WriteLine("Successfully fetched content from example.com");
            }
            catch (HttpRequestException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Request exception: {e.Message}");
            }
        }
        // When httpClient is disposed, the associated HttpLifetimeService
        // will manage the release of any active connections.
    }
}

See Also