[API Proposal]:Add property to HttpClient

[Mr0N]

Background and motivation

I propose adding a property called ClientHandler to HttpClient, which would allow direct access to the underlying HttpClientHandler. When creating an instance of HttpClient, parameters like cookies or connection settings can be configured. However, once the object is passed to a class, there's no way to modify these settings further.

сlass Test(HttpClient client)
{
   public void Execute()
    {
     // In this class, it's impossible to configure cookies or other parameters
    }
}

API Proposal

class  HttpClient
{
    public HttpClientHandler ClientHandler {get;}
}

API Usage

var message = new HttpClientHandler();
var client = new HttpClient(message);

void Execute(HttpClient client)
{
    client.ClientHandler.CookieContainer = null;
}

Alternative Designs

No response

Risks

No response

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[MihaZupan]

An HttpClient may not be backed by an HttpClientHandler as the user can provide a custom HttpMessageHandler.

It's also not possible to change settings on HttpClientHandler after you've sent a request. See #77668 (comment)

[Mr0N]

An HttpClient may not be backed by an HttpClientHandler as the user can provide a custom HttpMessageHandler.

It's also not possible to change settings on HttpClientHandler after you've sent a request. See #77668 (comment)

I modified it this way, but I’d like to do it without hacks.

Handler.SetToHandlerCookies(data.container);

    public class Handler: HttpClientHandler
    {
        public static void SetToHandlerCookies(CookieContainer cookies)
        {
            foreach (var item in _hand)
            {
                item.CookieContainer = cookies;
            }
        }
        static ConcurrentBag<Hand> _hand = new ConcurrentBag<Hand>();
        public Handler()
        {
            _hand.Add(this);
        }
    }

builder.Services.AddHttpClient()
     .ConfigureHttpClientDefaults(http =>
     {
         http.ConfigurePrimaryHttpMessageHandler(() =>
         {
             var handler = new Handler();
             handler.AllowAutoRedirect = true;
             handler.UseProxy = true;
           /// handler.Proxy = new WebProxy("127.0.0.1", 8888);
             return handler;
         });
     });

[DL444]

Wouldn't sharing CookieContainer between primary handlers lead to unexpected information disclosure? IMHO binding cookies to the primary handler is the culprit of most cookie-related issues with IHttpClientFactory. Cookies should really be a session-specific state where "session" is defined by the consumers. It's unfortunate that things have historically been designed this way.

[CarnaViire]

Per-session / per-request overrides (cookies, proxies, default headers, certs, etc) are already tracked in

• A better way to manage cookies and session for HttpClient #77668
• [API] Add per request headers override to HttpClient convenience methods #23322
• Per-request proxies in HttpClient #35992
• API Proposal: SocketsHttpHandler better certificate APIs #41191

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[MihaZupan]

The proposed API is problematic for the reasons called out in #110555 (comment).

The scenario itself is already covered by existing discussions that Natalia linked - #110555 (comment).