C# Razor using statements inconsistently require explicit curly brackets

Question

I have a .NET Framework 4.7.2 web application. I am receiving the following yellow screen error from some of my Views and Partial Views but not all of them:

Expected a "{" but found a "using". Block statements must be enclosed in "{" and "}". You cannot use single-statement control-flow statements in CSHTML pages...

Some of the Views and Partial Views within the web application work with streams which need to be disposed. I realize that razor is not the ideal place to work with streams. For now, I am seeking to understand why Razor likes my using statements sometimes but not others.

One of the Views has code like this which works great:

@{ string baseUrl = "redacted"; string requestUrl = "redacted"; ... ... #region Redacted Region Name try { HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create(requestUrl) as HttpWebRequest; httpWebRequest.Method = "GET"; using (HttpWebResponse response = httpWebRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse) using (var stream = response.GetResponseStream()) using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream)) { var data = reader.ReadToEnd(); ... } } catch (Exception ex) { ... } #endregion }

However, a separate view with the following using statement would result in the yellow screen error and Visual Studio complaining about syntax errors:

@{ string baseUrl = "redacted"; string requestUrl = "redacted"; ... ... HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create(requestUrl) as HttpWebRequest; httpWebRequest.Method = "GET"; using (HttpWebResponse response = httpWebRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse) using (var stream = response.GetResponseStream()) using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream)) { var data = reader.ReadToEnd(); ... } }

I know I can just apply explicit curly brackets and my problem will be solved as in the below snippet of code. I'd like to understand why I can't stack the using statements and omit some of the curly brackets in some of my Views. Why does it work sometimes but not others in Razor?:

using (HttpWebResponse response = httpWebRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse) { using (var stream = response.GetResponseStream()) { using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream)) { var data = reader.ReadToEnd(); ... } } }

bowserm · Accepted Answer · 2023-05-30 20:04:17Z

The problem appears to be with how Razor decides if I am using a "using statement" or a "using directive" (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/keywords/using)

using directive: helps with namespaces
using statement: helps dispose of objects that won't get automatically cleaned up by the garbage collector

So far, I have found three ways to communicate to Razor that I want to use the using keyword for a "using statement"

Use curly brackets
Encapsulate the "using statement" within a function or an html helper
Surround the using statements in a #region

I am surprised by the #region solution, but it does seem to work, but you have to be careful not to do anything between the opening of the #region and the scope that contains the usage of the "using statement"

This is ok:

@{ string baseUrl = "redacted"; string requestUrl = "redacted"; ... ... #region Redacted Region Name try { HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create(requestUrl) as HttpWebRequest; httpWebRequest.Method = "GET"; using (HttpWebResponse response = httpWebRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse) using (var stream = response.GetResponseStream()) using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream)) { var data = reader.ReadToEnd(); ... } } catch (Exception ex) { ... } #endregion }

This has syntax errors where Razor believes the using keyword is for a "using directive"

@{ ... ... #region Redacted Region Name string baseUrl = "redacted"; string requestUrl = "redacted"; try { HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest = WebRequest.Create(requestUrl) as HttpWebRequest; httpWebRequest.Method = "GET"; using (HttpWebResponse response = httpWebRequest.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse) using (var stream = response.GetResponseStream()) using (var reader = new StreamReader(stream)) { var data = reader.ReadToEnd(); ... } } catch (Exception ex) { ... } #endregion }

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