How to use HttpWebRequest (.NET) asynchronously?

Question

Use HttpWebRequest.BeginGetResponse()

HttpWebRequest webRequest;

void StartWebRequest()
{
    webRequest.BeginGetResponse(new AsyncCallback(FinishWebRequest), null);
}

void FinishWebRequest(IAsyncResult result)
{
    webRequest.EndGetResponse(result);
}

The callback function is called when the asynchronous operation is complete. You need to at least call EndGetResponse() from this function.

By far the easiest way is by using TaskFactory.FromAsync from the TPL. It's literally a couple of lines of code when used in conjunction with the new async/await keywords:

var request = WebRequest.Create("http://www.stackoverflow.com");
var response = (HttpWebResponse) await Task.Factory
    .FromAsync<WebResponse>(request.BeginGetResponse,
                            request.EndGetResponse,
                            null);
Debug.Assert(response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK);

If you can't use the C#5 compiler then the above can be accomplished using the Task.ContinueWith method:

Task.Factory.FromAsync<WebResponse>(request.BeginGetResponse,
                                    request.EndGetResponse,
                                    null)
    .ContinueWith(task =>
    {
        var response = (HttpWebResponse) task.Result;
        Debug.Assert(response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK);
    });

Considering the answer:

HttpWebRequest webRequest;

void StartWebRequest()
{
    webRequest.BeginGetResponse(new AsyncCallback(FinishWebRequest), null);
}

void FinishWebRequest(IAsyncResult result)
{
    webRequest.EndGetResponse(result);
}

You could send the request pointer or any other object like this:

void StartWebRequest()
{
    HttpWebRequest webRequest = ...;
    webRequest.BeginGetResponse(new AsyncCallback(FinishWebRequest), webRequest);
}

void FinishWebRequest(IAsyncResult result)
{
    HttpWebResponse response = (result.AsyncState as HttpWebRequest).EndGetResponse(result) as HttpWebResponse;
}

Greetings

Everyone so far has been wrong, because BeginGetResponse() does some work on the current thread. From the documentation:

The BeginGetResponse method requires some synchronous setup tasks to complete (DNS resolution, proxy detection, and TCP socket connection, for example) before this method becomes asynchronous. As a result, this method should never be called on a user interface (UI) thread because it might take considerable time (up to several minutes depending on network settings) to complete the initial synchronous setup tasks before an exception for an error is thrown or the method succeeds.

So to do this right:

void DoWithResponse(HttpWebRequest request, Action<HttpWebResponse> responseAction)
{
    Action wrapperAction = () =>
    {
        request.BeginGetResponse(new AsyncCallback((iar) =>
        {
            var response = (HttpWebResponse)((HttpWebRequest)iar.AsyncState).EndGetResponse(iar);
            responseAction(response);
        }), request);
    };
    wrapperAction.BeginInvoke(new AsyncCallback((iar) =>
    {
        var action = (Action)iar.AsyncState;
        action.EndInvoke(iar);
    }), wrapperAction);
}

You can then do what you need to with the response. For example:

HttpWebRequest request;
// init your request...then:
DoWithResponse(request, (response) => {
    var body = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream()).ReadToEnd();
    Console.Write(body);
});