Web request timeout in .NET

Question

I am trying to make a web service request call to a third part web site who's server is a little unreliable. Is there a way I can set a timeout on a request to this site? Something like this pseudo code:

try // for 1 minute
{
    // Make web request here
    using (WebClient client new WebClient()) //...etc.
}
catch
{
}

Answer 1

Maybe you should go with

System.Net.WebRequest.Timeout

property

Answer 2

Many classes within .Net framework that involve any kind of networking include a Timeout property. For instance, there's such a property on the WebRequest class (System.Net)

Answer 3

WebClient does not naturally support custom timeouts. But you can easily build a derived class with custom timeouts:

public class TimeoutWebClient : WebClient
{
    private int _timeOut = 10000;
    public int TimeOut
    {
        get
        {
            return _timeOut;
        }
        set
        {
            _timeOut = value;
        }
    }

    protected override WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri address)
    {
        WebRequest webRequest = base.GetWebRequest(address);
        webRequest.Timeout = _timeOut;
        return webRequest;
    }
}

Source: http://aspadvice.com/blogs/maniknet/archive/2008/06/16/Ganz-kurz_3A00_-WebClient-mit-eigenem-Verbindungs-Timeout-_2800_WebClient-with-a-custom-connection-timeout_2900_.aspx

Answer 4

You could use the Timeout property:

var request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://www.google.com");
request.Timeout = 1000;
using (var stream = request.GetResponse().GetResponseStream())
using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
    Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadToEnd());
}

---

UPDATE:

To answer the question in the comment section about XElement.Load(uri) you could do the following:

var request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://stackoverflow.com/feeds");
request.Timeout = 1000;
using (var stream = request.GetResponse().GetResponseStream())
using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
    var xel = XElement.Load(reader);
}