Converting Raw HTTP Request into HTTPWebRequest Object

Question

In .NET is it possible to convert a raw HTTP request to HTTPWebRequest object?

I'm sure .NET internally doing it. Any idea which part of the .NET is actually handling this? Can I call it or is there any external library which allows raw HTTP connections?

Answer 1

I dont believe there is an exposed method to do this. You may have to find or write a parser to break the request up and then write your own class that extends HttpWebRequest.

Here is what looks like a parser from CodeProject:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/CSHTTPServer.aspx

I looked at the rotor code for the HttpWebRequest (briefly) and I did not see anything that stood out as a silver bullet. Here is the link to the file:

http://www.123aspx.com/Rotor/RotorSrc.aspx?rot=40844

All of the rotor code is here for browsing online:

http://www.123aspx.com/Rotor/default.aspx

And here you can download it:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8C09FD61-3F26-4555-AE17-3121B4F51D4D&displaylang=en

I know a bunch of links doesn't really answer your question, but I don't think the functionality that you are looking for is exposed in the framework. I would love to be proven wrong, so please update the post if you find a good way of doing it. I know tools out there must do it, anything written in .Net that logs raw requests and then lets you resubmit them is doing something similar. I believe fiddler (http://www.fiddler2.com) is written in .Net, you may want to shoot an email over to those guys and see if they can help.

Answer 2

Its possible now, but only with .Net Core 2.0+. Use Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.Core.Internal.Http.HttpParser class:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel.Core.Internal.Http;
using System;
using System.Buffers;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

public class Program : IHttpRequestLineHandler, IHttpHeadersHandler
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string requestString =
@"POST /resource/?query_id=0 HTTP/1.1
Host: example.com
User-Agent: custom
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Content-Length: 20
Content-Type: application/json

{""key1"":1, ""key2"":2}";
        byte[] requestRaw = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(requestString);
        ReadOnlySequence<byte> buffer = new ReadOnlySequence<byte>(requestRaw);
        HttpParser<Program> parser = new HttpParser<Program>();
        Program app = new Program();
        Console.WriteLine("Start line:");
        parser.ParseRequestLine(app, buffer, out var consumed, out var examined);
        buffer = buffer.Slice(consumed);
        Console.WriteLine("Headers:");
        parser.ParseHeaders(app, buffer, out consumed, out examined, out var b);
        buffer = buffer.Slice(consumed);
        string body = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(buffer.ToArray());
        Dictionary<string, int> bodyObject = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, int>>(body);
        Console.WriteLine("Body:");
        foreach (var item in bodyObject)
            Console.WriteLine($"key: {item.Key}, value: {item.Value}");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    public void OnHeader(Span<byte> name, Span<byte> value)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"{Encoding.UTF8.GetString(name)}: {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(value)}");
    }

    public void OnStartLine(HttpMethod method, HttpVersion version, Span<byte> target, Span<byte> path, Span<byte> query, Span<byte> customMethod, bool pathEncoded)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"method: {method}");
        Console.WriteLine($"version: {version}");
        Console.WriteLine($"target: {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(target)}");
        Console.WriteLine($"path: {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(path)}");
        Console.WriteLine($"query: {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(query)}");
        Console.WriteLine($"customMethod: {Encoding.UTF8.GetString(customMethod)}");
        Console.WriteLine($"pathEncoded: {pathEncoded}");
    }
}

Output:

Start line:
method: Post
version: Http11
target: /resource/?query_id=0
path: /resource/
query: ?query_id=0
customMethod:
pathEncoded: False
Headers:
Host: example.com
User-Agent: custom
Accept: */*
Connection: close
Content-Length: 20
Content-Type: application/json
Body:
key: key1, value: 1
key: key2, value: 2

Answer 3

Google for Cassinni which was an HTTP server with source originally offered by Microsoft that could host ASP.NET calls. You do have to parse the request yourself and load it but Cassinni would be a good starting point. This URL might help:

http://blogs.msdn.com/dmitryr/archive/2005/09/27/474534.aspx