Networking Tasks in .NET Documentation

Networking Tasks in .NET

This section provides guidance and examples for common networking tasks using the .NET platform. .NET offers a rich set of classes for building networked applications, from simple client-server communication to complex web services.

Core Networking Concepts

Understanding the fundamental concepts is crucial for effective network programming:

IP Addresses and Ports: How devices are identified on a network and how applications communicate.
Protocols: TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) for reliable, connection-oriented communication and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) for faster, connectionless communication.
Sockets: The fundamental building blocks for network communication.
HTTP: The protocol for the World Wide Web, commonly used for web requests and responses.

Common Networking Tasks

Making HTTP Requests

The HttpClient class is the modern and recommended way to send HTTP requests.

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

public class HttpExample
{
    public static async Task MakeRequestAsync(string url)
    {
        using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
        {
            try
            {
                HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync(url);
                response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); // Throw if HTTP status is 4xx or 5xx
                string responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                Console.WriteLine(responseBody);
            }
            catch (HttpRequestException e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Request error: {e.Message}");
            }
        }
    }
}

TCP Socket Programming

For lower-level control, you can use the Socket class.

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Text;

public class TcpServer
{
    public void StartServer(int port)
    {
        TcpListener listener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Any, port);
        listener.Start();
        Console.WriteLine($"Server started on port {port}. Waiting for connections...");

        while (true)
        {
            TcpClient client = listener.AcceptTcpClient();
            Console.WriteLine("Client connected!");

            NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
            // Handle client communication...

            client.Close();
            Console.WriteLine("Client disconnected.");
        }
    }
}

UDP Communication

UDP is suitable for scenarios where performance is critical and some data loss is acceptable.

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Text;

public class UdpClientExample
{
    public void SendData(string ipAddress, int port, string message)
    {
        using (UdpClient client = new UdpClient())
        {
            byte[] data = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(message);
            IPEndPoint endpoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse(ipAddress), port);
            client.Send(data, data.Length, endpoint);
            Console.WriteLine($"Sent: {message}");
        }
    }
}

Important Note

When dealing with network security, always ensure proper authentication, authorization, and data encryption (e.g., using TLS/SSL).

MSDN Documentation