What is the python's "urllib2" equivalent in dot net?

Question

I am new in python. I wanna build a bot in c#. Can i use this "urllib2" in dot net or is there any alternative in dot net? please help...

Answer 1

Consider using HttpRequest and/or WebClient. Or, you may need to use sockets. It depends on what kind of bot you want to build.

Also, there is a python implementation for .NET called IronPython. This is able to use standard python libraries and the .NET framework as well.

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On a side note I'd recommend you to choose the right language/framework after you found out what you want to do and observed the alternatives, not before that.

Answer 2

http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/dotnet/ could help also.

Answer 3

Most of the equivalent functionality is in System.Web namespace:

The System.Web namespace supplies classes and interfaces that enable browser-server communication. This namespace includes the HttpRequest class, which provides extensive information about the current HTTP request; the HttpResponse class, which manages HTTP output to the client; and the HttpServerUtility class, which provides access to server-side utilities and processes. System.Web also includes classes for cookie manipulation, file transfer, exception information, and output cache control.

A close cousin of urlopen is the System.Net.Webclient class:

Provides common methods for sending data to and receiving data from a resource identified by a URI.

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;

public class Test
{
    public static void Main (string[] args)
    {
        if (args == null || args.Length == 0)
        {
            throw new ApplicationException ("Specify the URI of the resource to retrieve.");
        }
        WebClient client = new WebClient ();

        // Add a user agent header in case the 
        // requested URI contains a query.

        client.Headers.Add ("user-agent", "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.2; .NET CLR 1.0.3705;)");

        Stream data = client.OpenRead (args[0]);
        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader (data);
        string s = reader.ReadToEnd ();
        Console.WriteLine (s);
        data.Close ();
        reader.Close ();
    }
}