IWinHttpRequest::ResponseText property

Article
01/07/2021

The ResponseText property retrieves the response entity body as text.

This property is read-only.

Syntax

HRESULT get_ResponseText(
  [out, retval] BSTR *Body
);


strResponseText = WinHttpRequest.ResponseText

Property value

BSTR that receives the entity body of the response as text.

Error codes

The return value is S_OK on success or an error value otherwise.

Remarks

This property can only be invoked after the Send method has been called.

When using this property in synchronous mode, the limit to the number of characters it returns is approximately 2,169,895.

Note

For Windows XP and Windows 2000, see the Run-Time Requirements section of the WinHTTP Start Page.

Examples

The following example shows how to open an HTTP connection, send an HTTP request, and read the response text. This example must be run from a command prompt.

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <objbase.h>

#include "httprequest.h"

#pragma comment(lib, "ole32.lib")
#pragma comment(lib, "oleaut32.lib")

// IID for IWinHttpRequest.
const IID IID_IWinHttpRequest =
{
  0x06f29373,
  0x5c5a,
  0x4b54,
  {0xb0, 0x25, 0x6e, 0xf1, 0xbf, 0x8a, 0xbf, 0x0e}
};

int main()
{
    // Variable for return value
    HRESULT    hr;

    // Initialize COM.
    hr = CoInitialize( NULL );

    IWinHttpRequest *  pIWinHttpRequest = NULL;

    BSTR            bstrResponse = NULL;
    VARIANT         varFalse;
    VARIANT         varEmpty;

    CLSID           clsid;

    VariantInit(&varFalse);
    V_VT(&varFalse)   = VT_BOOL;
    V_BOOL(&varFalse) = VARIANT_FALSE;

    VariantInit(&varEmpty);
    V_VT(&varEmpty) = VT_ERROR;

    hr = CLSIDFromProgID(L"WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1", &clsid);

    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        hr = CoCreateInstance(clsid, NULL,
                              CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER,
                              IID_IWinHttpRequest,
                              (void **)&pIWinHttpRequest);
    }
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {   // Open WinHttpRequest.
        BSTR bstrMethod  = SysAllocString(L"GET");
        BSTR bstrUrl = SysAllocString(L"https://microsoft.com");
        hr = pIWinHttpRequest->Open(bstrMethod, bstrUrl, varFalse);
        SysFreeString(bstrMethod);
        SysFreeString(bstrUrl);
    }
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {   // Send Request.
        hr = pIWinHttpRequest->Send(varEmpty);
    }
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {   // Get Response text.
        hr = pIWinHttpRequest->get_ResponseText(&bstrResponse);
    }

    // Print the response to a console.
    wprintf(L"%.256s",bstrResponse);

    // Release memory.
    if (pIWinHttpRequest)
        pIWinHttpRequest->Release();
    if (bstrResponse)
        SysFreeString(bstrResponse);

    CoUninitialize();
    return 0;
}

The following scripting example shows how to open an HTTP connection, send an HTTP request, and read the response text.

// Instantiate a WinHttpRequest object.
var WinHttpReq = new ActiveXObject("WinHttp.WinHttpRequest.5.1");

// Initialize an HTTP request.  
WinHttpReq.Open("GET", "https://www.microsoft.com", false);

// Send the HTTP request.
WinHttpReq.Send(); 

// Display the response text.
WScript.Echo( WinHttpReq.ResponseText);

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional with SP3 [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server with SP3 [desktop apps only]
Redistributable	WinHTTP 5.0 and Internet Explorer 5.01 or later on Windows XP and Windows 2000.
IDL	HttpRequest.idl
Library	Winhttp.lib
DLL	Winhttp.dll