A better way to validate URL in C# than try-catch?

Question

I'm building an application to retrieve an image from internet. Even though it works fine, it is slow (on wrong given URL) when using try-catch statements in the application.

(1) Is this the best way to verify URL and handle wrong input - or should I use Regex (or some other method) instead?

(2) Why does the application try to find images locally if I don't specify http:// in the textBox?

private void btnGetImage_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    String url = tbxImageURL.Text;
    byte[] imageData = new byte[1];

    using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
    {
        try
        {
            imageData = client.DownloadData(url);
            using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(imageData))
            {
                try
                {
                    Image image = Image.FromStream(ms);
                    pbxUrlImage.Image = image;
                }
                catch (ArgumentException)
                {
                    MessageBox.Show("Specified image URL had no match", 
                        "Image Not Found", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
                        MessageBoxIcon.Error);
                }
            }
        }
        catch (ArgumentException)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Image URL can not be an empty string", 
                "Empty Field", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
                MessageBoxIcon.Information);
        }
        catch (WebException)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Image URL is invalid.\nStart with http:// " +
                "and end with\na proper image extension", "Not a valid URL",
                MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
        }
    } // end of outer using statement
} // end of btnGetImage_Click

EDIT: I tried the suggested solution by Panagiotis Kanavos (thank you for your effort!), but it only gets caught in the if-else statement if the user enters http:// and nothing more. Changing to UriKind.Absolute catches empty strings as well! Getting closer :) The code as of now:

private void btnGetImage_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    String url = tbxImageURL.Text;
    byte[] imageData = new byte[1];
    Uri myUri;

    // changed to UriKind.Absolute to catch empty string
    if (Uri.TryCreate(url, UriKind.Absolute, out myUri))
    {
        using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
        {
            try
            {
                imageData = client.DownloadData(myUri);
                using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(imageData))
                {
                    imageData = client.DownloadData(myUri);
                    Image image = Image.FromStream(ms);
                    pbxUrlImage.Image = image;
                }
            }
            catch (ArgumentException)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Specified image URL had no match",
                    "Image Not Found", MessageBoxButtons.OK, 
                    MessageBoxIcon.Error);
            }
            catch (WebException)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Image URL is invalid.\nStart with http:// " +
                    "and end with\na proper image extension", 
                    "Not a valid URL",
                    MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        MessageBox.Show("The Image Uri is invalid.\nStart with http:// " +
            "and end with\na proper image extension", "Uri was not created",
            MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
    }

I must be doing something wrong here. :(

Answer 1

Or this source code good image valid optimization:

 public static string ValidateImage(string absoluteUrl,string defaultUrl)
        { 
           Uri myUri=null; 
           if (Uri.TryCreate(absoluteUrl, UriKind.Absolute, out myUri))
            {
                using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
                {
                    try
                    {
                        using (Stream stream = client.OpenRead(myUri))
                        {
                            Image image = Image.FromStream(stream);
                            return (image != null) ? absoluteUrl : defaultUrl;
                        }
                    }
                    catch (ArgumentException)
                    {
                        return defaultUrl;
                    }
                    catch (WebException)
                    {
                        return defaultUrl;
                    }
                }
            }
            else
            {
                return defaultUrl;
            }
        }

Sou and demo asp.net mvc source image created:

<img src="@ValidateImage("http://example.com/demo.jpg","nophoto.png")"/>

Answer 2

Use it.....

string myString = http//:google.com;
Uri myUri;
Uri.TryCreate(myString, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out myUri);
 if (myUri.IsAbsoluteUri == false)
 {
  MessageBox.Show("Please Input Valid Feed Url");
 }

Answer 3

A shortcut would be to use Uri.IsWellFormedUriString:

if (Uri.IsWellFormedUriString(myURL, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute))
...