Question

If there is an XML file on a server.
Is there a way to get it’s version or last modified date without downloading the file and reading them from it?

Basically what I’m trying to do is to check if the file is a newer version than the one on my PC Download it, and if not, do not download it.

I now download it and check it’s version. But I don’t want to waste time downloading if it is the same version or has the same last modified date.

Answer 1

you could make a C# (or any language for that matter) Generic Handler (or script or page) that takes 1 parameter FileName (of the XML file) and writes the last modified date to the output. Then, if the date catches your fancy, you start your download

Here is an example for a Generic Handler (note that it probably still needs some error catching):

public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
 context.Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
 string fileName = context.Request.QueryString.Get("fileName");
 FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(Server.MapPath(".") + "/" + fileName);
 context.Response.Write(fileInfo.LastWriteTime.ToString());
}