Question

VB.NET problem using WebRequest.GetResponseStream to download a big file in GRPS/3G

Asked by: eddielao

Any Experts Please Help!
I am using the following VB code in Window Mobile to download a 1M file from the web server.  It works very fast on Wi-Fi mode, less than 5 seconds, using my code or Internet Explorer, no discernable different.    
However, on GPRS/3G mode: it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to download the same file in IE, but my VB code took 17 or sometime 40 minutes to download the file.  The first 500K seems fast in about 4 minutes, still a bit slow when compare to IE, but the last 500 was so slow.  What am I missing?  Please help.  Thanks!

Request = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(sURL)
            Response = Request.GetResponse
            ResponseStream = Response.GetResponseStream
            Dim numBytesToRead As Integer = CInt(Response.ContentLength)
            Dim bytes(Response.ContentLength) As Byte
            Dim numBytesRead As Integer = 0
            While numBytesToRead + 1 > 0
                Dim n As Integer = ResponseStream.Read(bytes, numBytesRead, numBytesToRead)
                 If n = 0 Then
                    Exit While
                End If
                numBytesRead += n
                numBytesToRead -= n
            End While
                                  
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Answers

 

by: TheLearnedOnePosted on 2009-05-06 at 07:38:09ID: 24315297

I have no idea, but you should be able to use a StreamReader to read all the bytes, without use a While statement.  I am not sure if it will help your issue, but it might be a good place to start.

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-05-06 at 07:39:05ID: 24315306

I think you should read a 1024 or 2048 etc number of bytes at a time consistently. Change the loop to keep reading 2048 (for example) bytes at a time until it reads all.

 

by: oobaylyPosted on 2009-05-06 at 07:56:55ID: 24315527

I was going to recommend the WebClient but of course that's not available. How many times have you compared the download times? You're obviously only using a GPRS connection as the speeds are between 27kBit/s & 14kBit/s which is low even for GPRS. It sounds like the connection is a bit flaky on GPRS.

Also, how about reading in blocks of 2k bytes at a time, or writing direct to a FileStream rather than memory. Not convinced it'll make a difference as it seems like a connection issue rather than lack of resources.

 

by: CodeCruiserPosted on 2009-05-06 at 08:08:08ID: 24315680

The loop used currently keeps incrementing the number of bytes being read as it advances. First time it reads 1 byte, then 2, then 3 ....
Keep the number of bytes to read each time fixed.

 

by: eddielaoPosted on 2009-05-06 at 10:31:55ID: 24317381

I changed the code to read 2K at a time and it is doing the same things......

my code was doing the opposite of what CodeCruiser suggested, it was reading the full file size, then the remaining........ until the full file is done!  

 

by: eddielaoPosted on 2009-07-22 at 07:56:02ID: 24915675

Thanks!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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