Is it possible to modify the User-Agent for a WinRT HttpWebRequest?

Question

I am trying to convert an existing app to a Metro UI app in VS 11 Developer Preview. This means running against the WinRT runtime (correct me if I'm wrong). This runs on the Windows 8 Developer Preview.

I need to call a REST API, which requires a specific user-agent to be set. This doesn't seem to be possible in WInRT. I have the following original code:

_request = WebRequest.CreateHttp(url);
_request.UserAgent = UserAgent;

But the UserAgent property is not defined for HttpWebRequest. I also tried:

_request.Headers["User-Agent"] = UserAgent;

This results in a runtime exception: System.ArgumentException: This header must be modified using the appropriate property or method.

How can I modify the User-Agent header ?

Answer 1

After some tinkering around, I have now worked out how to do this in WinRT. The HttpWebRequest API has changed in this version to be a lot poorer than in the full .NET Framework. However, I can send a request with the new HttpClient API, which will allow me to send the user-agent header:

var req = new HttpClient(handler)
var message = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, url);
message.Headers.Add("User-Agent", "myCustomUserAgent");
var response = await req.SendAsync(message);

Answer 2

Just to note that in Windows 10 it is possible to do it exactly like in the example in your question.