Check URL validity ASP.net

A handy little function I’ve been using for a while to check if a URL is valid.

The code actually opens the URL and returns the content (html in most cases) as a string. If the code fails it will fall in the catch block, meaning the URL isn’t valid.

I dont like using a try catch like this as it creates a relatively large overhead – especially if it’s used multiple times in a single postback etc. I’ve tried some different methods and had a poke on the web but didn’t manage to get rid of the try statement. If you have any further ideas please comment.

 Dont forget if the file is within filesystem reach (on the same computer or within network range) then you could use System.IO to check the file exists.

Public Class UrlValidity

Public Shared Function IsValid(ByVal Url As String) As Boolean
Dim sStream As Stream
Dim URLReq As HttpWebRequest
Dim URLRes As HttpWebResponse

Try
     URLReq = WebRequest.Create(Url)
     URLRes = URLReq.GetResponse()
     sStream = URLRes.GetResponseStream()
     Dim reader As String = New StreamReader(sStream).ReadToEnd()
     Return True
Catch ex As Exception
     ‘Url not valid
     Return False
End Try
End Function

End Class