Question

Suppose I create a HTTPWebRequest, call its GetResponse() and start reading from the response stream. If the connection is interrupted while reading from the stream, do I have to wait for it to time out, or can I know right away that something’s gone wrong? No exception is thrown when I interrupt the connection (e.g. I disconnect my computer from the network).

Answer 1

It depends on the situation.

In general you’ll need to be prepared for both situations (immediate and late interruption).
If, for example, the server disconnects you, you’ll know relatively quickly.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.webexceptionstatus for the kinds of errors that can occur (the WebRequest classes throw WebExceptions on errors)

You have a variety of options:

• Use the async methods (BeginGet... and EndGet...) and model your application around this. Basically you’ll be notified “at some point” if there was a success or error. Do something else in the meantime
• If you want absolute control you can specify a ReadTimeout on the acquired stream (See comment on the other answer, set Timeout on the request as well). Re-try or whatever.
• Just wait