Question

Here is vb.net 2008 code is:

Public Function CheckURL(ByVal URL As String) As Boolean
Try
Dim Response As Net.WebResponse = Nothing
Dim WebReq As Net.HttpWebRequest = Net.HttpWebRequest.Create(URL)
Response = WebReq.GetResponse
Response.Close()
Return True
Catch ex As Exception
End Try
End Function

when a url is processing in checking it hangs my application for a while. Is this possible it checks smoothly all url list without hanging my application..

Is there any other fastest way to check urls?

Note: I have about 800 urls in file to check all links a valid by website responce or not.

Answer 1

The answer is two fold:

1. Most of the waiting time is due to downloading content you don’t need. If you request to only return the header, you will receive substantially less data, which will make your process faster.
2. As Matt identified, you aren’t disposing of your connections, which may slow your process.

Expanding on Matt’s answer, do the following:

Try
    Dim WebReq As Net.HttpWebRequest = Net.HttpWebRequest.Create(URL)
    WebReq.Method = "HEAD" 'This is the important line.
    Using Response = WebReq.GetResponse()
        Return True
    End Using
Catch ex as WebException
    Return False
End Try