How to detect if HttpClient.CancelPendingRequests was used to cancel pending requests?

Question

Application Setup

---

1. I am using HttpClient to make mulitple Async POST requests to a REST service from a Windows Forms Application.
2. Meanwhile the response is fetched from the REST service the application shows a Processing... window with a Cancel button.
3. Now, when the user presses the Cancel button I am using HttpClient.CancelPendingRequests to cancel the ongoing requests.
4. Using HttpClient.CancelPendingRequests throws TaskCanceledException on the PostAsync mthod call.

---

Query

1. Is there any way I detect that the TaskCanceledException was thrown due the calling of HttpClient.CancelPendingRequests and not due to any other reason (like timeout)
2. Is there any other approach to achieve similar cancellation functionality?

Thanks

---

Answer 1

Catch the exception and check the TaskCanceledException.CancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested property. If true, you can be fairly certain that it was an explicitly requested cancellation vs. a timeout.

Having said that, be cautious with this solution and do some testing. As I discovered a while back, there are cases where you would think that bit should be set and it is not.