Why am I getting "(304) Not Modified" error on some links when using HttpWebRequest?
Asked Answered
B

6

58

Any ideas why on some links that I try to access using HttpWebRequest I am getting "The remote server returned an error: (304) Not Modified." in the code?

The code I'm using is from Jeff's post here (the page seems to have disappeared, see an archive copy at the Wayback Machine).

Note the concept of the code is a simple proxy server, so I'm pointing my browser at this locally running piece of code, which gets my browsers request, and then proxies it on by creating a new HttpWebRequest, as you'll see in the code. It works great for most sites/links, but for some this error comes up. You will see one key bit in the code is where it seems to copy the http header settings from the browser request to it's request out to the site, and it copies in the header attributes. Not sure if the issue is something to do with how it mimics this aspect of the request and then what happens as the result comes back?

case "If-Modified-Since":
   request.IfModifiedSince = DateTime.Parse(listenerContext.Request.Headers[key]);
   break;

I get the issue for example from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

PS. UPDATE HERE

Still can't work this out. Basically I can identify 1 link which has an issue, and it seems to work fine, 2nd time it gets the error, 3rd time OK, 4th time gets the error, 5th time OK etc. As if there is some state not getting cleared or something in the code. I've tried to clean up the code a bit using "using" type statements etc.

Here's the code. If anyone can spot why every 2nd time I browse to a link like http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/css/screen/1_0_16/nol/v4/story.css (starting at the 2nd time, not the first) via this proxy code I get the error I'd love to hear.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Proxy p = new Proxy(8080);

        Thread proxythread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(p.Start));
        proxythread.Start();

        Console.WriteLine("Proxy Started. Press Any Key To Stop...");
        Console.ReadKey();

        p.Stop();
     }
}

public class Proxy
{
    private HttpListener _listener;
    private int _port;

    public Proxy(int port)
    {
        int defaultport = 8080;

        // Setup Thread Pool
        System.Threading.ThreadPool.SetMaxThreads(50, 1000);
        System.Threading.ThreadPool.SetMinThreads(50, 50);

        // Sanitize Port Number
        if (port < 1024 || port > 65535)
            port = defaultport;

        // Create HttpListener Prefix
        string prefix = string.Format("http://*:{0}/", port);
        _port = port;

        // Create HttpListener
        _listener = new HttpListener();
        _listener.Prefixes.Add(prefix);
    }

    public void Start()
    {
        _listener.Start();

        while (true)
        {
            HttpListenerContext request = null;

            try
            {
                request = _listener.GetContext();

                // Statistics (by Greg)
                int availThreads = -1;
                int compPortThreads = -1;
                ThreadPool.GetAvailableThreads(out availThreads, out compPortThreads);
                log("INFO", request.Request.Url.ToString(), "START - [" + availThreads + "]");

                ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(ProcessRequest, request);
            }
            catch (HttpListenerException ex)
            {
                log("ERROR", "NA", "INFO: HttpListenerException - " + ex.Message);
                break;
            }
            catch (InvalidOperationException ex)
            {
                log("ERROR", "NA", "INFO: InvalidOperationException - " + ex.Message);
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    public void Stop()
    {
        _listener.Stop();
    }

    private void log(string sev, string uri, string message)
    {
        Console.Out.WriteLine(Process.GetCurrentProcess().Id + " - " + sev + " (" + uri + "): " + message);
    }

    private void ProcessRequest(object _listenerContext)
    {
        #region local variables
        HttpWebRequest psRequest;                   // Request to send to remote web server
        HttpWebResponse psResponse;                 // Response from remote web server         
        List<byte> requestBody = new List<byte>();  // Byte array to hold the request's body
        List<byte> responseBody = new List<byte>(); // Byte array to hold the response's body
        byte[] buffer;
        string uri = "";
        #endregion

        var listenerContext = (HttpListenerContext)_listenerContext;
        uri = listenerContext.Request.Url.ToString().Replace(string.Format(":{0}", _port), "");

        // Create Interent Request 
        HttpWebRequest internetRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
        #region Build Request Up
        internetRequest.Method = listenerContext.Request.HttpMethod;
        internetRequest.ProtocolVersion = listenerContext.Request.ProtocolVersion;
        internetRequest.UserAgent = listenerContext.Request.UserAgent;
        foreach (string key in listenerContext.Request.Headers.AllKeys)
        {
            try
            {
                switch (key)
                {
                    case "Proxy-Connection":
                    case "Connection":
                        internetRequest.KeepAlive = (listenerContext.Request.Headers[key].ToLower() == "keep-alive") ? true : false;
                        break;

                    case "Content-Length":
                        internetRequest.ContentLength = listenerContext.Request.ContentLength64;
                        break;

                    case "Content-Type":
                        internetRequest.ContentType = listenerContext.Request.ContentType;
                        break;

                    case "Accept":
                        internetRequest.Accept = listenerContext.Request.Headers[key];
                        break;

                    case "Host":
                        break;

                    case "Referer":
                        internetRequest.Referer = listenerContext.Request.Headers[key];
                        break;

                    case "If-Modified-Since":
                        internetRequest.IfModifiedSince = DateTime.Parse(listenerContext.Request.Headers[key]);
                        break;

                    default:
                        internetRequest.Headers.Add(key, listenerContext.Request.Headers[key]);
                        break;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error settup up psRequest object. Error = " + ex.Message + "\n" + ex.StackTrace);
            }
        }
        #endregion

        #region Copy content into request
        buffer = new byte[1024];
        using (Stream instream = listenerContext.Request.InputStream)
        {
            int incount = instream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
            while (incount > 0)
            {
                internetRequest.GetRequestStream().Write(buffer, 0, incount);
                incount = instream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
            }
        }
        #endregion

        // Get Internet Response
        HttpWebResponse internetResponse = null;
        try
        {
            using (internetResponse = (HttpWebResponse)internetRequest.GetResponse())
            {
                #region Configure Local Response Header Keys
                foreach (string key in internetResponse.Headers.Keys)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        switch (key)
                        {
                            case "Transfer-Encoding":
                                listenerContext.Response.SendChunked = (internetResponse.Headers[key].ToLower() == "chunked") ? true : false;
                                break;

                            case "Content-Length":
                                listenerContext.Response.ContentLength64 = internetResponse.ContentLength;
                                break;

                            case "Content-Type":
                                listenerContext.Response.ContentType = internetResponse.Headers[key];
                                break;

                            case "Keep-Alive":
                                listenerContext.Response.KeepAlive = true;
                                break;

                            default:
                                listenerContext.Response.Headers.Add(key, internetResponse.Headers[key]);
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                    catch (Exception ex)
                    {
                        log("ERROR", uri, "Error settup up listenerContext.Response objects. Error = " + ex.Message + "\n" + ex.StackTrace);
                    }
                }
                #endregion

                try
                {
                    // Transfer the body data from Internet Response to Internal Response
                    buffer = new byte[1024];
                    using (Stream inputStream = internetResponse.GetResponseStream())
                    {
                        int outcount = inputStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
                        while (outcount > 0)
                        {
                            listenerContext.Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, outcount);
                            outcount = inputStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
                        }
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception ex)
                {
                    log("ERROR", uri, "Could not obtain response from URI: " + ex.Message);
                }
                finally
                {
                    listenerContext.Response.OutputStream.Close();
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            //if (ex is InvalidOperationException ||
            //    ex is ProtocolViolationException ||
            //    ex is WebException)
            //{
            //    log(uri, "Could not successfully get response: " + ex.GetType() + " - " + ex.Message);
            //    listenerContext.Response.Close();
            //    return;
            //}
            //else { throw; }

            log("ERROR", uri, "Could not successfully get response: " + ex.GetType() + " - " + ex.Message);
            listenerContext.Response.Close();
        }
    }
}

And here is an example of what I see - first hit is good, 2nd has error...

Proxy Started. Press Any Key To Stop...
2080 - INFO (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk:8080/css/screen/1_0_16/nol/v4/story.css): START - [50]
2080 - INFO (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk:8080/css/screen/1_0_16/nol/v4/story.css): START - [50]
2080 - ERROR (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/css/screen/1_0_16/nol/v4/story.css): Could not successfully get response: System.Net.WebException - The remote server returned an error: (304) Not Modified.
Bleb answered 8/4, 2010 at 21:30 Comment(2)
possible duplicate of HttpWebRequest.GetResponse throws WebException on HTTP 304Gt
304 is not an error!Aphorism
U
112

First, this is not an error. The 3xx denotes a redirection. The real errors are 4xx (client error) and 5xx (server error).

If a client gets a 304 Not Modified, then it's the client's responsibility to display the resouce in question from its own cache. In general, the proxy shouldn't worry about this. It's just the messenger.

Upbraiding answered 8/4, 2010 at 21:39 Comment(6)
thanks - so are you saying then, what I should do is catch the exception still (right at the point I'm doing the request), but then check to see what is in the exception and if it's a 304 then just continue on?Bleb
No - if you've sent a if-modified-since or if-none-match it implies you have a local (cached) copy - the server is instructing you top use that copy.Pilcomayo
OK - just had to ensure I returned the same status code in the local request and this seems to work. See #2611764 for more detail on the codeBleb
It means that the data from an API for example has no changes in comparison with the cached data available in the client thus resulting a 304 status code is that right ?Grinder
Where can I learn this from, what you know? W3? Any books would like to advice?Leboff
@Shad: I think this video is great to watch youtube.com/watch?v=jTo8U2WeQl8 and this resource is great as quick reference restfulapi.net/http-status-codesUpbraiding
D
24

This is intended behavior.

When you make an HTTP request, the server normally returns code 200 OK. If you set If-Modified-Since, the server may return 304 Not modified (and the response will not have the content). This is supposed to be your cue that the page has not been modified.

The authors of the class have foolishly decided that 304 should be treated as an error and throw an exception. Now you have to clean up after them by catching the exception every time you try to use If-Modified-Since.

Doggerel answered 6/4, 2015 at 3:3 Comment(1)
Absolute insanity this one. Actual error codes are debatable on whether they should cause exceptions. This exception a terrible failure to understand exceptional behavior is.Hypothesis
I
21

Just pressing F5 is not always working.

why?

Because your ISP is also caching web data for you.

Solution: Force Refresh.

Force refresh your browser by pressing CTRL + F5 in Firefox or Chrome to clear ISP cache too, instead of just pressing F5

You then can see 200 response instead of 304 in the browser F12 developer tools network tab.

Another trick is to add question mark ? at the end of the URL string of the requested page:

http://localhost:52199/Customers/Create?

The question mark will ensure that the browser refresh the request without caching any previous requests.

Additionally in Visual Studio you can set the default browser to Chrome in Incognito mode to avoid cache issues while developing, by adding Chrome in Incognito mode as default browser, see the steps (self illustrated):

Go to browsers list Select browse with... Click Add... Point to the chrome.exe on your platform, add argument "Incognito" Choose the browser you just added and set as default, then click browse

Izy answered 4/8, 2017 at 0:27 Comment(0)
O
2

It is not an issue it is because of caching...

To overcome this add a timestamp to your endpoint call, e.g. axios.get('/api/products').

After timestamp it should be axios.get(/api/products?${Date.now()}.

It will resolve your 304 status code.

Orola answered 23/12, 2020 at 12:52 Comment(0)
C
0

If you have status 304 (Not Modified) in Network – Here is solution for Google Chrome: Open DevTools → Settings → Preferences → Network and check Disable cache (while DevTools is open)

Circulate answered 11/5 at 13:11 Comment(0)
N
-4

I think you have not installed these features. see below in picture.

enter image description here

I also suffered from this problem some days ago. After installing this feature then I solved it. If you have not installed this feature then installed it.

Install Process:

  1. go to android studio
  2. Tools
  3. Android
  4. SDK Manager
  5. Appearance & Behavior
  6. Android SDK
Narton answered 23/3, 2017 at 5:12 Comment(0)

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