How to pass credentials to httpwebrequest for accessing SharePoint Library

Question

I'm trying to read files from a SharePoint document library using HttpWebRequest. In order to do that I have to pass some credentials. I'm using the below request:

HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
request.Method = "GET";
request.ContentType = "application/msexcel";
request.UserAgent = "Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+5.01;+Windows+NT+5.0";
request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(UserName, PassWord);

Is this the correct way to pass credentials?

Answer 1

You could also use:

request.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials; 

Answer 2

If you need to run request as the current user from desktop application use CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials (see on MSDN).

Your code looks fine if you need to run a request from server side code or under a different user.

Please note that you should be careful when storing passwords - consider using the SecureString version of the constructor.

Answer 3

If you need to set the credentials on the fly, have a look at this source:

http://spc3.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/57957#1015709

private ICredentials BuildCredentials(string siteurl, string username, string password, string authtype) {
    NetworkCredential cred;
    if (username.Contains(@"\")) {
        string domain = username.Substring(0, username.IndexOf(@"\"));
        username = username.Substring(username.IndexOf(@"\") + 1);
        cred = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(username, password, domain);
    } else {
        cred = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(username, password);
    }
    CredentialCache cache = new CredentialCache();
    if (authtype.Contains(":")) {
        authtype = authtype.Substring(authtype.IndexOf(":") + 1); //remove the TMG: prefix
    }
    cache.Add(new Uri(siteurl), authtype, cred);
    return cache;
}