How can I improve this exception retry scenario?

Question

I have a web service method I am calling which is 3rd party and outside of my domain. For some reason every now and again the web service fails with a gateway timeout. Its i

Answer 1

You can do it in a loop.

Exception firstEx = null;
for(int i=0; i<5; i++) 
{
    try
    {
        MDO = OperationsWebService.MessageDownload(MI);
        firstEx = null;
        break; 
    }
    catch(Exception ex)
    {
        if (firstEx == null) 
        {
            firstEx = ex;
        }
        Thread.Sleep(100 * (i + 1));
    }
}
if (firstEx != null) 
{
    throw new Exception("WebService call failed after 5 retries.", firstEx);
}