Asp.net HttpWebResponse - how can I not depend on WebException for flow control?

Question

I need to check whether the request will return a 500 Server Internal Error or not (so getting the error is expected). I'm doing this:

HttpWebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest; 
request.Method = "GET";  
HttpWebResponse response = request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse; 

if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
     return true;
else 
    return false;

But when I get the 500 Internal Server Error, a WebException is thrown, and I don't want to depend on it to control the application flow - how can this be done?

Answer 1

I think this MSDN articles will help you:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.webexception.status.aspx

Answer 2

Indeed, given the example at msdn, there is no way to not depend on the exception for control flow. Here's the example they give:

try {
   // Create a web request for an invalid site. Substitute the "invalid site" strong in the Create call with a invalid name.
     HttpWebRequest myHttpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create("invalid site");

    // Get the associated response for the above request.
     HttpWebResponse myHttpWebResponse = (HttpWebResponse) myHttpWebRequest.GetResponse();
    myHttpWebResponse.Close();
}
catch(WebException e) {
    Console.WriteLine("This program is expected to throw WebException on successful run."+
                        "\n\nException Message :" + e.Message);
    if(e.Status == WebExceptionStatus.ProtocolError) {
        Console.WriteLine("Status Code : {0}", ((HttpWebResponse)e.Response).StatusCode);
        Console.WriteLine("Status Description : {0}", ((HttpWebResponse)e.Response).StatusDescription);
    }
}
catch(Exception e) {
    Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}

Apparently, sometimes you do have to go down that route. Ah, well.