How to add custom Http Header for C# Web Service Client consuming Axis 1.4 Web service

I'm trying to write a web service client in c# which the webservice is Java Axis 1.4. Axis service requires the Authorization: Basic Base64EncodedToken header value in the HTTP Headers. I can't find a way to set this header in standart ways of consuming web services in visual studio.net, like normal WSDL generated refernce nor with WSE3.0

I can't use WCF as the project is developed using .net 2.0.

Is there any way to do this ?

It seems the original author has found their solution, but for anyone else who gets here looking to add actual custom headers, if you have access to mod the generated Protocol code you can override GetWebRequest:

protected override System.Net.WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri uri)
{
  System.Net.WebRequest request = base.GetWebRequest(uri);
  request.Headers.Add("myheader", "myheader_value");
  return request;
}

Make sure you remove the DebuggerStepThroughAttribute attribute if you want to step into it.

Are we talking WCF here? I had issues where the service calls were not adding the http authorization headers, wrapping any calls into this statement fixed my issue.

  using (OperationContextScope scope = new OperationContextScope(RefundClient.InnerChannel))
  {
            var httpRequestProperty = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
            httpRequestProperty.Headers[System.Net.HttpRequestHeader.Authorization] = "Basic " +
            Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(RefundClient.ClientCredentials.UserName.UserName + ":" +
            RefundClient.ClientCredentials.UserName.Password));
            OperationContext.Current.OutgoingMessageProperties[HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name] = httpRequestProperty;

            PaymentResponse = RefundClient.Payment(PaymentRequest);
   }

This was running SOAP calls to IBM ESB via .NET with basic auth over http or https.

I hope this helps someone out because I had massive issues finding a solution online.

Instead of modding the auto-generated code or wrapping every call in duplicate code, you can inject your custom HTTP headers by adding a custom message inspector, it's easier than it sounds:

public class CustomMessageInspector : IClientMessageInspector
{
    readonly string _authToken;

    public CustomMessageInspector(string authToken)
    {
        _authToken = authToken;
    }

    public object BeforeSendRequest(ref Message request, IClientChannel channel)
    {
        var reqMsgProperty = new HttpRequestMessageProperty();
        reqMsgProperty.Headers.Add("Auth-Token", _authToken);
        request.Properties[HttpRequestMessageProperty.Name] = reqMsgProperty;
        return null;
    }

    public void AfterReceiveReply(ref Message reply, object correlationState)
    { }
}


public class CustomAuthenticationBehaviour : IEndpointBehavior
{
    readonly string _authToken;

    public CustomAuthenticationBehaviour (string authToken)
    {
        _authToken = authToken;
    }
    public void Validate(ServiceEndpoint endpoint)
    { }

    public void AddBindingParameters(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, BindingParameterCollection bindingParameters)
    { }

    public void ApplyDispatchBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, EndpointDispatcher endpointDispatcher)
    { }

    public void ApplyClientBehavior(ServiceEndpoint endpoint, ClientRuntime clientRuntime)
    {
        clientRuntime.ClientMessageInspectors.Add(new CustomMessageInspector(_authToken));
    }
}

And when instantiating your client class you can simply add it as a behavior:

this.Endpoint.EndpointBehaviors.Add(new CustomAuthenticationBehaviour("Auth Token"));

This will make every outgoing service call to have your custom HTTP header.

If you want to send a custom HTTP Header (not a SOAP Header) then you need to use the HttpWebRequest class the code would look like:

HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
webRequest.Headers.Add("Authorization", token);

You cannot add HTTP headers using the visual studio generated proxy, which can be a real pain.

I find this code and is resolve my problem.

http://arcware.net/setting-http-header-authorization-for-web-services/

protected override WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri uri)
{
    // Assuming authValue is set from somewhere, such as the config file
    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)base.GetWebRequest(uri);
    request.Headers.Add("Authorization", string.Format("Basic {0}", authValue));
    return request;
}

user334291's answer was a life saver for me. Just want to add how you can add what the OP originally intended to do (what I ended up using):

Overriding the GetWebRequest function on the generated webservice code:

protected override System.Net.WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri uri)
{
    System.Net.WebRequest request = base.GetWebRequest(uri);          
    string auth = "Basic " + Convert.ToBase64String(System.Text.Encoding.Default.GetBytes(this.Credentials.GetCredential(uri, "Basic").UserName + ":" + this.Credentials.GetCredential(uri, "Basic").Password));
    request.Headers.Add("Authorization", auth);
    return request;
}

and setting the credentials before calling the webservice:

  client.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(user, password);       

Here is what worked for me:

protected override System.Net.WebRequest GetWebRequest(Uri uri)
{
        HttpWebRequest request;
        request = (HttpWebRequest)base.GetWebRequest(uri);
        NetworkCredential networkCredentials =
        Credentials.GetCredential(uri, "Basic");
        if (networkCredentials != null)
        {
            byte[] credentialBuffer = new UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(
            networkCredentials.UserName + ":" +
            networkCredentials.Password);
            request.Headers["Authorization"] =
            "Basic " + Convert.ToBase64String(credentialBuffer);
            request.Headers["Cookie"] = "BCSI-CS-2rtyueru7546356=1";
            request.Headers["Cookie2"] = "$Version=1";
        }
        else
        {
            throw new ApplicationException("No network credentials");
        }
        return request;
}

Don't forget to set this property:

service.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "password");  

Cookie and Cookie2 are set in header because java service was not accepting the request and I was getting Unauthorized error.