How can I save a file from the internet using csharp?

[yanksrock528]

I am writing a program, and i would like to save an xml file that is on the internet now, to my computer in this csharp program. Something else that might help is if i could get the csharp xml reader to work on files on the internet. I would like to read the attributes of xml files and for some reason that is only working when i read the files on my local drive. I am fairly new to csharp and all that i know i have tought myself through the internet. Any help with anyone of these problems would be greatly appreciated.

[vishal1082]

hey!, i guess you wanna download some file from internet to the computer.. you can use WebClient class which is System.Net namespace, heres the code:

 
       private void Download(string URL, string SaveTo)
        {
            //URL = URL of the file to download, dont forget to add http://www. before it...
            //SaveTo = Address of the location to save the downloaded file...
            System.Net.WebClient w = new System.Net.WebClient();
            w.DownloadProgressChanged += new System.Net.DownloadProgressChangedEventHandler(w_DownloadProgressChanged);
            w.DownloadFileCompleted += new AsyncCompletedEventHandler(w_DownloadFileCompleted);
            w.DownloadFileAsync(new Uri(URL), SaveTo);
        }

        void w_DownloadFileCompleted(object sender, AsyncCompletedEventArgs e)
        {
            //...do anything here when the download starts...
        }

        void w_DownloadProgressChanged(object sender, System.Net.DownloadProgressChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            //...do anything here when progress changes of the download, you can use the e.ProgressPercentage to get the percentage of progress done
        }

You can remove the line

w.DownloadProgressChanged += new System.Net.DownloadProgressChangedEventHandler(w_DownloadProgressChanged);

if you dont want to do anything on progress changed...also delete the event for it.

You can also remove the line

w.DownloadFileCompleted += new AsyncCompletedEventHandler(w_DownloadFileCompleted);

if you dont want to do anything when the download is completed...als o delete the event for it.

Hope this helps :) I really dont know any way of directly reading XML from the InterWebz, but after downloading XML with this code you can read/write/edit the XML since it will be on your local hard disk.

[piyusht]

If HTTPS is used then WebClient will fail. In that case use the following code:

public static bool DownloadFile(string url, string path)
        {

            try
            {
                if (ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback == null)
                {
                    ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback += new System.Net.Security.RemoteCertificateValidationCallback(CustomXertificateValidation);
                }

                // Create a request for the URL. 
                WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(url);
               [B] // If required by the server, set the credentials.
                request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;[/B]
                
                // Get the response.
                byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
                WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
                // Display the status.
                if (((HttpWebResponse)response).StatusDescription.ToUpper() == "OK")
                {
                    Logger.WriteToLog("Response receieved from server.", true, LogSeverityLevel.Verbose);
                    //Check content length otherwise 0 KB file will be created which will cause problems later on.
                    if (response.ContentLength == 0)
                    {
                        response.Close();
                        Logger.WriteToLog("No content found in response.", true, LogSeverityLevel.Error);
                        return false;
                    }                    
                    // Get the stream containing content returned by the server.
                    using (Stream dataStream = response.GetResponseStream())
                    {

                        string shortPath = UtilityFunctions.GetShortPath(path);
                        FileInfo info = new FileInfo(shortPath);
                        if (!info.Directory.Exists)
                            info.Directory.Create();

                        using (FileStream fs = File.Create(path))
                        {
                            int count = 0;
                            do
                            {
                                count = dataStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
                                fs.Write(buffer, 0, count);

                            } while (count != 0);

                            fs.Close();
                        }
                    }
                }
                response.Close();               
                return true;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {                
                return false;
            }
        }

private static bool CustomXertificateValidation(object sender, X509Certificate cert, X509Chain chain, System.Net.Security.SslPolicyErrors error)
        {
                return true;
        }