Develop Reference

Confirm a Folder Exists on a Web Server from a C# Desktop Application

I am trying to confirm that a folder has been uploaded to my Website folder so that it can be accessed by a Desktop application. I keep getting an error that states that there is a URI format error on the connection string. There is no shortage of 'solutions' on the general internet but I cannot get anything to work, even ones on this site (of which I am a member for many years). Forward slashes, back slashes, no slashes ... on and on. I am thoroughly confused. The following seems to be a simple and correct code, but it does not work either even though it is a direct copy of a solution that was offered as correct! The passed string 's' is the name of the folder I am trying to look for. A polite simple answer, perhaps with an example, is my desperate request. Thank You.
private bool CheckFiles(string s)
{
bool exists = System.IO.Directory.Exists(#"\\\\http:/www.myserver.com/sites/"+ s);
return exists;
}

System.IO.Directory.Exists checks for a directory in the file system. The address that is provided as a parameter is a http-URL that is not supported by file system access.
If you want to check for the presence of the folder on a webserver, you need to use a http client to "talk" to the server. Send a GET or HEAD request to the URL. If this returns a 200 (ok), the folder exists, if it returns 404 (not found), it doesn't.
As you are using .NET Framework 4.5 (or 4.0), you can use WebClient or better HttpClient for this. The following should give you an idea of how to check for the folder:
using (var http = new HttpClient())
{
using (var req = new HttpWebRequest(HttpMethod.Head, "https://..."))
{
using (var resp = http.Send(req))
{
// This is a very broad condition;
// you can also check the StatusCode property against HttpStatusCode.NotFound
return resp.IsSuccessStatusCode;
}
}
}

Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK CRMServiceClient connection string cache bug

Caching behavior of the last Dynamics SDK is driving me crazy.
First, if you want to use CrmServiceClient to access different environments you have to use the parameter RequireNewInstance=True; in the connection string. If not, every instance of CrmServiceClient will use the same connection, even if you create and dispose instances to different environments.
Now, even if you use the RequireNewInstance=True; in the connection string I found that cache still occurs in some scenarios.
var client1 = new CrmServiceClient("RequireNewInstance=True;
Url=https://myCompany.crm.dynamics.com;
Username=myUser#myCompany.onmicrosoft.com; Password=myPassowrd;
AuthType=Office365");
//Now, client 2 points to a url that doesn’t exists:
var client2 = new CrmServiceClient("RequireNewInstance=True;
Url=https://xxx.crm.dynamics.com; Username=myUser#myCompany.onmicrosoft.com;
Password=myPassowrd; AuthType=Office365");
The client2 keeps using the first connection string, so you cannot determine if the new connection string is correct.
Any ideas how to test Dynamics Crm connections strings correctly in my asp.net application?

Late reply, but the behavior you're seeing is because when you're specifying an erroneous URL the discovery service is used to ascertain which instance to connect to.
To prevent this specify SkipDiscovery=True in your connection string:
var connectionString2 = #"AuthType=Office365;Url=https://FAKE.crm.dynamics.com;Username=USERNAME;Password=PASSWORD;RequireNewInstance=True;SkipDiscovery=True;";
Edit: SkipDiscovery is true by default starting with 9.0.7, kudos to #mwardm

I think I found the problem. It seems to only happens on Dynamics 365 online trials, that was the reason we were getting inconsistent results depending on the environment.
Apparently, the url doesn't need to be completely valid to establish a connection to a CRM online trial environment, as long as the credentials are valid and the url structure is kept.
Let's consider the following example:
var client1 = new CrmServiceClient("RequireNewInstance=True;
Url=https://fake.crm.dynamics.com;
Username=myUser#myCompany.onmicrosoft.com; Password=myPassowrd;
AuthType=Office365");
In this case I can substitute the "fake" part of the url with whatever I want, but still execute requests correctly using the CrmServiceClient service.
If I try to do this with another environment (e.g. 2015, on premise, not-trial crm online, etc.), the IsReady property of the CrmServiceClient would return false and I would get an error in the LastCrmError property.
Very weird behavior, and difficult to pinpoint.
Now that I think I understand the inconsistent behavior I know that finally it will not affect our clients, so I will mark this response as the answer even if I still do not know why we have different behavior between a trial and a normal environment..

I agree choosing to reuse the existing connection if you don't include RequireNewInstance=true seems counter-intuitive, but I can't reproduce what you're seeing. If I try the following from LinqPad crmSvcClient2 will print out errors and then throw a null ref on the Execute call (8.2.0.2 version of the SDK). With this version of the SDK you'll want to always check LastCrmError after connecting to see if the connection failed.
var connectionString = #"AuthType=Office365;Url=https://REAL.crm.dynamics.com;Username=USERNAME;Password=PASSWORD;RequireNewInstance=True;";
var connectionString2 = #"AuthType=Office365;Url=https://FAKE.crm.dynamics.com;Username=USERNAME;Password=PASSWORD;RequireNewInstance=True;";
using (var crmSvcClient = new CrmServiceClient(connectionString))
{
"crmSvcClient".Dump();
crmSvcClient.LastCrmError.Dump();
((WhoAmIResponse)crmSvcClient.Execute(new WhoAmIRequest())).OrganizationId.Dump();
crmSvcClient.ConnectedOrgFriendlyName.Dump();
}
using (var crmSvcClient2 = new CrmServiceClient(connectionString2))
{
"crmSvcClient2".Dump();
crmSvcClient2.LastCrmError.Dump();
((WhoAmIResponse)crmSvcClient2.Execute(new WhoAmIRequest())).OrganizationId.Dump();
crmSvcClient2.ConnectedOrgFriendlyName.Dump();
}

How to get current domain name in ASP.NET

I want to get the current domain name in asp.net c#.
I am using this code.
string DomainName = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host;
My URL is localhost:5858but it's returning only localhost.
Now, I am using my project in localhost. I want to get localhost:5858.
For another example, when I am using this domain
www.somedomainname.com
I want to get somedomainname.com
Please give me an idea how to get the current domain name.

Try getting the “left part” of the url, like this:
string domainName = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority);
This will give you either http://localhost:5858 or https://www.somedomainname.com whether you're on local or production. If you want to drop the www part, you should configure IIS to do so, but that's another topic.
Do note that the resulting URL will not have a trailing slash.

Using Request.Url.Host is appropriate - it's how you retrieve the value of the HTTP Host: header, which specifies which hostname (domain name) the UA (browser) wants, as the Resource-path part of the HTTP request does not include the hostname.
Note that localhost:5858 is not a domain name, it is an endpoint specifier, also known as an "authority", which includes the hostname and TCP port number. This is retrieved by accessing Request.Uri.Authority.
Furthermore, it is not valid to get somedomain.com from www.somedomain.com because a webserver could be configured to serve a different site for www.somedomain.com compared to somedomain.com, however if you are sure this is valid in your case then you'll need to manually parse the hostname, though using String.Split('.') works in a pinch.
Note that webserver (IIS) configuration is distinct from ASP.NET's configuration, and that ASP.NET is actually completely ignorant of the HTTP binding configuration of the websites and web-applications that it runs under. The fact that both IIS and ASP.NET share the same configuration files (web.config) is a red-herring.

Here is a screenshot of Request.RequestUri and all its properties for everyone's reference.

You can try the following code :
Request.Url.Host +
(Request.Url.IsDefaultPort ? "" : ":" + Request.Url.Port)

I use it like this in asp.net core 3.1
var url =Request.Scheme+"://"+ Request.Host.Value;

www.somedomain.com is the domain/host. The subdomain is an important part. www. is often used interchangeably with not having one, but that has to be set up as a rule (even if it's set by default) because they are not equivalent. Think of another subdomain, like mx.. That probably has a different target than www..
Given that, I'd advise not doing this sort of thing. That said, since you're asking I imagine you have a good reason.
Personally, I'd suggest special-casing www. for this.
string host = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.GetComponents(UriComponents.HostAndPort, UriFormat.Unescaped);;
if (host.StartsWith("www."))
return host.Substring(4);
else
return host;
Otherwise, if you're really 100% sure that you want to chop off any subdomain, you'll need something a tad more complicated.
string host = ...;
int lastDot = host.LastIndexOf('.');
int secondToLastDot = host.Substring(0, lastDot).LastIndexOf('.');
if (secondToLastDot > -1)
return host.Substring(secondToLastDot + 1);
else
return host;
Getting the port is just like other people have said.

HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host is returning the correct values. If you run it on www.somedomainname.com it will give you www.somedomainname.com. If you want to get the 5858 as well you need to use
HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Port

the Request.ServerVariables object works for me. I don't know of any reason not to use it.
ServerVariables["SERVER_NAME"] and ServerVariables["HTTP_URL"] should get what you're looking for

You can try the following code to get fully qualified domain name:
Request.Url.Scheme + System.Uri.SchemeDelimiter + Request.Url.Host

Here is a quick easy way to just get the name of the url.
var urlHost = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Host;
var xUrlHost = urlHost.Split('.');
foreach(var thing in xUrlHost)
{
if(thing != "www" && thing != "com")
{
urlHost = thing;
}
}

To get base URL in MVC even with subdomain www.somedomain.com/subdomain:
var url = $"{Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority)}{Url.Content("~/")}";

string domainName = HttpContext.Request.Host.Value;
this line should solve it

Try this:
#Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority)

How can I make sure a url provided by the user is not a local path?

I'm writhing a web application (ASP.Net MVC, C#) that require the user to provide urls to RSS or Atom Feed that I then read with the following code :
var xmlRdr = XmlReader.Create(urlProvidedByUserAsString);
var syndicFeed = SyndicationFeed.Load(xmlRdr);
While debugging my application I accidentally passed /something/like/this as an url and I got an exception telling me that C:\something\like\this can't be opened.
It looks like a user could provide a local path and my application would try to read it.
How can I make this code safe? It probably is not sufficient to check for https:// or http:// at the begining of the url, since the user could still enter something like http://localhost/blah. Is there any other way, maybe with the uri class to check if an url is pointing to the web?
Edit: I think I also need to prevent the user from entering adresses that would point to other machines on my network like this example: http://192.168.0.6/ or http://AnotherMachineName/

Try:
new Uri(#"http://stackoverflow.com").IsLoopback
new Uri(#"http://localhost/").IsLoopback
new Uri(#"c:\windows\").IsLoopback

Truncating Query String & Returning Clean URL C# ASP.net

I would like to take the original URL, truncate the query string parameters, and return a cleaned up version of the URL. I would like it to occur across the whole application, so performing through the global.asax would be ideal. Also, I think a 301 redirect would be in order as well.
ie.
in: www.website.com/default.aspx?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media
out: www.website.com/default.aspx
What would be the best way to achieve this?

System.Uri is your friend here. This has many helpful utilities on it, but the one you want is GetLeftPart:
string url = "http://www.website.com/default.aspx?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media";
Uri uri = new Uri(url);
Console.WriteLine(uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path));
This gives the output: http://www.website.com/default.aspx
[The Uri class does require the protocol, http://, to be specified]
GetLeftPart basicallys says "get the left part of the uri up to and including the part I specify". This can be Scheme (just the http:// bit), Authority (the www.website.com part), Path (the /default.aspx) or Query (the querystring).
Assuming you are on an aspx web page, you can then use Response.Redirect(newUrl) to redirect the caller.

Here is a simple trick
Dim uri = New Uri(Request.Url.AbsoluteUri)
dim reqURL = uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path)

Here is a quick way of getting the root path sans the full path and query.
string path = Request.Url.AbsoluteUri.Replace(Request.Url.PathAndQuery,"");

This may look a little better.
string rawUrl = String.Concat(this.GetApplicationUrl(), Request.RawUrl);
if (rawUrl.Contains("/post/"))
{
bool hasQueryStrings = Request.QueryString.Keys.Count > 1;
if (hasQueryStrings)
{
Uri uri = new Uri(rawUrl);
rawUrl = uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path);
HtmlLink canonical = new HtmlLink();
canonical.Href = rawUrl;
canonical.Attributes["rel"] = "canonical";
Page.Header.Controls.Add(canonical);
}
}
Followed by a function to properly fetch the application URL.
Works perfectly.

I'm guessing that you want to do this because you want your users to see pretty looking URLs. The only way to get the client to "change" the URL in its address bar is to send it to a new location - i.e. you need to redirect them.
Are the query string parameters going to affect the output of your page? If so, you'll have to look at how to maintain state between requests (session variables, cookies, etc.) because your query string parameters will be lost as soon as you redirect to a page without them.
There are a few ways you can do this globally (in order of preference):
If you have direct control over your server environment then a configurable server module like ISAPI_ReWrite or IIS 7.0 URL Rewrite Module is a great approach.
A custom IHttpModule is a nice, reusable roll-your-own approach.
You can also do this in the global.asax as you suggest
You should only use the 301 response code if the resource has indeed moved permanently. Again, this depends on whether your application needs to use the query string parameters. If you use a permanent redirect a browser (that respects the 301 response code) will skip loading a URL like .../default.aspx?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media and load .../default.aspx - you'll never even know about the query string parameters.
Finally, you can use POST method requests. This gives you clean URLs and lets you pass parameters in, but will only work with <form> elements or requests you create using JavaScript.

Take a look at the UriBuilder class. You can create one with a url string, and the object will then parse this url and let you access just the elements you desire.

After completing whatever processing you need to do on the query string, just split the url on the question mark:
Dim _CleanUrl as String = Request.Url.AbsoluteUri.Split("?")(0)
Response.Redirect(_CleanUrl)
Granted, my solution is in VB.NET, but I'd imagine that it could be ported over pretty easily. And since we are only looking for the first element of the split, it even "fails" gracefully when there is no querystring.