Adding Headers to a Call (HTTP Version)

Yesterday I talked about adding SOAP headers to an outgoing request using a variety of different methods. The most straightforward method was to create an OperationContextScope in your application code to establish an OutgoingMessageHeaders collection.

Although HTTP headers are similar in spirit to SOAP headers, manipulating an HTTP header through code looks a bit different. SOAP headers are elevated to a special significance in the programming model. Everything else, including HTTP headers, is relegated to a general-purpose but distinctly second-class collection of message properties.

On the OperationContextScope you'll find a parallel OutgoingMessageProperties collection that can be used for HTTP headers. In Orcas, the plain OperationContext also works as a WebOperationContext that gives the same first-class programming model to HTTP headers as you get with SOAP headers.

Here's a comparison of the two approaches.

 using (new OperationContextScope((IClientChannel)proxy))
{
   HttpRequestMessageProperty requestProperty = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
   requestProperty.Headers["X-header"] = "value1";
   OperationContext.Current.OutgoingMessageProperties[HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name] = requestProperty;
   proxy.Operation();
}

using (new OperationContextScope((IClientChannel)proxy))
{
   WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingRequest.Headers["X-header"] = "value2";
   proxy.Operation();
}

Next time: Configuring SSL Host Headers