Check if a text file exists in ASP.NET

Question

I need to check if a text file exists on a site on a different domain. The URL could be:

http://sub.somedomain.com/blah/atextfile.txt

I need to do this from code behind. I am trying to use the HttpWebRequest object, but not sure how to do it.

EDIT: I am looking for a light weight way of doing this as I'll be executing this logic every few seconds

womp · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-05 23:30:14Z

2

HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(
                       "http://sub.somedomain.com/blah/atextfile.txt");

HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
    // FILE EXISTS!
}
response.Close();

answered Feb 5, 2010 at 23:30

womp

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6 Comments

Stephen Fischer Over a year ago

You might also want to set the HttpWebRequest.Timeout property to a low value, if you're doing it every few seconds. The default is 100 seconds, you probably don't want to wait that long if the file is unavailable or server is unresponsive.

Nick Over a year ago

It appears that requestGetResponse() throws an exception if the file does not exist? The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.","StackTrace":" at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse

Beska Over a year ago

I'm guessing this could be wrapped in a using block to make it a little mo' nice (no Close() required).

Beska Over a year ago

@User102533: what's the exception? That could be your answer right there.

Beska Over a year ago

I'm guessing it's just a generic "WebException". Is that good enough? Or do you really need to know if the file isn't there, and take a different action if the server returns some other kind of error?

|

John Boker · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-05 23:28:43Z

0

You could probably use the method used here:

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/2c13cafc-be1c-4dd8-9129-f82f59991517/the-lowly-http-head-reque.aspx

answered Feb 5, 2010 at 23:28

John Boker

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Comments

Cory Charlton · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-05 23:29:13Z

0

Something like this might work for you:

using (WebClient webClient = new WebClient())
{
    try
    {
        using (Stream stream = webClient.OpenRead("http://does.not.exist.com/textfile.txt"))
        {
        }
    }
    catch (WebException)
    {
        throw;
    }
}

answered Feb 5, 2010 at 23:29

Cory Charlton

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