WebRequest.CachePolicy Property

Definition

Gets or sets the cache policy for this request.

public:
 virtual property System::Net::Cache::RequestCachePolicy ^ CachePolicy { System::Net::Cache::RequestCachePolicy ^ get(); void set(System::Net::Cache::RequestCachePolicy ^ value); };
public virtual System.Net.Cache.RequestCachePolicy? CachePolicy { get; set; }
public virtual System.Net.Cache.RequestCachePolicy CachePolicy { get; set; }
member this.CachePolicy : System.Net.Cache.RequestCachePolicy with get, set
Public Overridable Property CachePolicy As RequestCachePolicy

Property Value

A RequestCachePolicy object that defines a cache policy.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates setting the cache policy for a Web request.

// The following method demonstrates overriding the
// caching policy for a request.
static WebResponse^ GetResponseNoCache( Uri^ uri )
{
   // Set a default policy level for the "http:" and "https" schemes.
   HttpRequestCachePolicy^ policy = gcnew HttpRequestCachePolicy( HttpRequestCacheLevel::Default );
   HttpWebRequest::DefaultCachePolicy = policy;

   // Create the request.
   WebRequest^ request = WebRequest::Create( uri );

   // Define a cache policy for this request only. 
   HttpRequestCachePolicy^ noCachePolicy = gcnew HttpRequestCachePolicy( HttpRequestCacheLevel::NoCacheNoStore );
   request->CachePolicy = noCachePolicy;
   WebResponse^ response = request->GetResponse();
   Console::WriteLine( L"IsFromCache? {0}", response->IsFromCache );
   
   return response;
}
// The following method demonstrates overriding the
// caching policy for a request.
public static WebResponse GetResponseNoCache(Uri uri)
{
    // Set a default policy level for the "http:" and "https" schemes.
    HttpRequestCachePolicy policy = new HttpRequestCachePolicy(HttpRequestCacheLevel.Default);
    HttpWebRequest.DefaultCachePolicy = policy;
    // Create the request.
    WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(uri);
    // Define a cache policy for this request only.
    HttpRequestCachePolicy noCachePolicy = new HttpRequestCachePolicy(HttpRequestCacheLevel.NoCacheNoStore);
    request.CachePolicy = noCachePolicy;
    WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
    Console.WriteLine("IsFromCache? {0}", response.IsFromCache);
    return response;
}

Remarks

The current cache policy and the presence of the requested resource in the cache determine whether a response can be retrieved from the cache. Using cached responses usually improves application performance, but there is a risk that the response in the cache does not match the response on the server.

Default cache policy can be specified in the Machine.config configuration file or by setting the DefaultCachePolicy property for requests that use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) URI scheme.

A copy of a resource is only added to the cache if the response stream for the resource is retrieved and read to the end of the stream. So another request for the same resource could use a cached copy, depending on the cache policy level for this request.

Applies to

See also