需求
有一个固定URL的文件,服务器端程序会定期的更新这个文件,现在需要写一个工具来监控这个文件的变化。
解决办法
最初我想到的是把这个文件下载下来,然后通过大小来判断文件是否改变(已知该文件变化时大小会变化)。
但是这个文件有时会很大,如果每次都下载下来会消耗一定的时间,希望能更快一些。
搜索了一下,发现Http除了Get和Post方法外,还有Head方法,它可以获取http头信息,其中的Content-Length就是文件的大小。
理论
在HttpWebRequest 中设置Method属性为Head,就可以只获取http的头信息,而不返回实际内容。
除了Get,Post,Head外,Method属性还可以设置:
Method 属性设置为任何 HTTP 1.1 协议谓词:GET、HEAD、POST、PUT、DELETE、TRACE 或 OPTIONS。
在Http协议中,Head方法得到的响应和Get方法相比,除了没有正文内容以外,其它都是一样的。也就是说:
Get:http头信息+内容
Head:http头信息
这样如果我们只关心http头,而不需要内容时,就可以使用Head方法了。
实践
static void Main(string[] args) { var url = "http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/srpr/logo1w.png"; var len = GetHttpLength(url); Console.WriteLine("Url:{0}\r\nLength:{1}", url,len); } static long GetHttpLength(string url) { var length = 0l; try { var req = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.CreateDefault(new Uri(url)); req.Method = "HEAD"; req.Timeout = 5000; var res = (HttpWebResponse)req.GetResponse(); if (res.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK) { length = res.ContentLength; } res.Close(); return length; } catch (WebException wex) { return 0; } }
执行后输出如下:
Url:http://www.google.com/intl/en_ALL/images/srpr/logo1w.png
Length:6803
注意:Head方法和Get方法一样,有时候服务端设置了缓存的话会返回同样的内容回来。这时候可以在url后面增加一个时间参数使缓存失效实现实时获取.
参考资料
HttpWebRequest.Method 属性
中文:http://msdn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/library/90k2e0f0(v=VS.90).aspx
英文:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/90k2e0f0(v=VS.90).aspx
Http协议中head部分
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec9.html
=============================
9.4 HEAD
The HEAD method is identical to GET except that the server MUST NOT return a message-body in the response. The metainformation contained in the HTTP headers in response to a HEAD request SHOULD be identical to the information sent in response to a GET request. This method can be used for obtaining metainformation about the entity implied by the request without transferring the entity-body itself. This method is often used for testing hypertext links for validity, accessibility, and recent modification.
The response to a HEAD request MAY be cacheable in the sense that the information contained in the response MAY be used to update a previously cached entity from that resource. If the new field values indicate that the cached entity differs from the current entity (as would be indicated by a change in Content-Length, Content-MD5, ETag or Last-Modified), then the cache MUST treat the cache entry as stale.
=========================
static long GetHttpLength(string url)
{
var length = 0l;
try
{
var req = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.CreateDefault(new Uri(url));
req.Method = "head";
req.Timeout = 5000;
var res = (HttpWebResponse)req.GetResponse();//获取响应
if (res.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
StringBuilder rStr = new StringBuilder();
var streamReader = new StreamReader(res.GetResponseStream(), Encoding.Default);//获取响应流
rStr.Append(streamReader.ReadToEnd());
streamReader.Close();
length = res.ContentLength;
}
res.Close();
return length;
}
catch (WebException wex)
{
return 0;
}
}