'How to use java.net.URLConnection to fire and handle HTTP requests

Use of java.net.URLConnection is asked about pretty often here, and the Oracle tutorial is too concise about it.

That tutorial basically only shows how to fire a GET request and read the response. It doesn't explain anywhere how to use it to, among others, perform a POST request, set request headers, read response headers, deal with cookies, submit a HTML form, upload a file, etc.

So, how can I use java.net.URLConnection to fire and handle "advanced" HTTP requests?

Solution 1:^[1]

When working with HTTP it's almost always more useful to refer to HttpURLConnection rather than the base class URLConnection (since URLConnection is an abstract class when you ask for URLConnection.openConnection() on a HTTP URL that's what you'll get back anyway).

Then you can instead of relying on URLConnection#setDoOutput(true) to implicitly set the request method to POST instead do httpURLConnection.setRequestMethod("POST") which some might find more natural (and which also allows you to specify other request methods such as PUT, DELETE, ...).

It also provides useful HTTP constants so you can do:

int responseCode = httpURLConnection.getResponseCode();

if (responseCode == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {

Solution 2:^[2]

Inspired by this and other questions on Stack Overflow, I've created a minimal open source basic-http-client that embodies most of the techniques found here.

google-http-java-client is also a great open source resource.

Solution 3:^[3]

I suggest you take a look at the code on kevinsawicki/http-request, its basically a wrapper on top of HttpUrlConnection it provides a much simpler API in case you just want to make the requests right now or you can take a look at the sources (it's not too big) to take a look at how connections are handled.

Example: Make a GET request with content type application/json and some query parameters:

// GET http://google.com?q=baseball%20gloves&size=100
String response = HttpRequest.get("http://google.com", true, "q", "baseball gloves", "size", 100)
        .accept("application/json")
        .body();
System.out.println("Response was: " + response);

Solution 4:^[4]

Update

The new HTTP Client shipped with Java 9 but as part of an Incubator module named jdk.incubator.httpclient. Incubator modules are a means of putting non-final APIs in the hands of developers while the APIs progress towards either finalization or removal in a future release.

In Java 9, you can send a GET request like:

// GET
HttpResponse response = HttpRequest
    .create(new URI("http://www.stackoverflow.com"))
    .headers("Foo", "foovalue", "Bar", "barvalue")
    .GET()
    .response();

Then you can examine the returned HttpResponse:

int statusCode = response.statusCode();
String responseBody = response.body(HttpResponse.asString());

Since this new HTTP Client is in ~~java.httpclient~~ jdk.incubator.httpclient module, you should declare this dependency in your module-info.java file:

module com.foo.bar {
    requires jdk.incubator.httpclient;
}

Solution 5:^[5]

There are two options you can go with HTTP URL Hits : GET / POST

GET Request:

HttpURLConnection.setFollowRedirects(true); // Defaults to true

String url = "https://name_of_the_url";
URL request_url = new URL(url);
HttpURLConnection http_conn = (HttpURLConnection)request_url.openConnection();
http_conn.setConnectTimeout(100000);
http_conn.setReadTimeout(100000);
http_conn.setInstanceFollowRedirects(true);
System.out.println(String.valueOf(http_conn.getResponseCode()));

POST request:

HttpURLConnection.setFollowRedirects(true); // Defaults to true

String url = "https://name_of_the_url"
URL request_url = new URL(url);
HttpURLConnection http_conn = (HttpURLConnection)request_url.openConnection();
http_conn.setConnectTimeout(100000);
http_conn.setReadTimeout(100000);
http_conn.setInstanceFollowRedirects(true);
http_conn.setDoOutput(true);
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(http_conn.getOutputStream());
if (urlparameter != null) {
   out.println(urlparameter);
}
out.close();
out = null;
System.out.println(String.valueOf(http_conn.getResponseCode()));

Solution 6:^[6]

I was also very inspired by this response.

I am often on projects where I need to do some HTTP, and I may not want to bring in a lot of third-party dependencies (which bring in others and so on and so on, etc.)

I started to write my own utilities based on some of this conversation (not any where done):

package org.boon.utils;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLConnection;
import java.util.Map;

import static org.boon.utils.IO.read;

public class HTTP {

Then there are just a bunch or static methods.

public static String get(
        final String url) {

    Exceptions.tryIt(() -> {
        URLConnection connection;
        connection = doGet(url, null, null, null);
        return extractResponseString(connection);
    });
    return null;
}

public static String getWithHeaders(
        final String url,
        final Map<String, ? extends Object> headers) {
    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doGet(url, headers, null, null);
        return extractResponseString(connection);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }
}

public static String getWithContentType(
        final String url,
        final Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
        String contentType) {
    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doGet(url, headers, contentType, null);
        return extractResponseString(connection);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }
}
public static String getWithCharSet(
        final String url,
        final Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
        String contentType,
        String charSet) {
    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doGet(url, headers, contentType, charSet);
        return extractResponseString(connection);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }
}

Then post...

public static String postBody(
        final String url,
        final String body) {
    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doPost(url, null, "text/plain", null, body);
        return extractResponseString(connection);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }
}

public static String postBodyWithHeaders(
        final String url,
        final Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
        final String body) {
    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doPost(url, headers, "text/plain", null, body);
        return extractResponseString(connection);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }
}


public static String postBodyWithContentType(
        final String url,
        final Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
        final String contentType,
        final String body) {

    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doPost(url, headers, contentType, null, body);

        return extractResponseString(connection);

    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }

}


public static String postBodyWithCharset(
        final String url,
        final Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
        final String contentType,
        final String charSet,
        final String body) {

    URLConnection connection;
    try {
        connection = doPost(url, headers, contentType, charSet, body);

        return extractResponseString(connection);

    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Exceptions.handle(ex);
        return null;
    }
}

private static URLConnection doPost(String url, Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
                                    String contentType, String charset, String body
                                    ) throws IOException {
    URLConnection connection;/* Handle output. */
    connection = new URL(url).openConnection();
    connection.setDoOutput(true);
    manageContentTypeHeaders(contentType, charset, connection);

    manageHeaders(headers, connection);

    IO.write(connection.getOutputStream(), body, IO.CHARSET);
    return connection;
}

private static void manageHeaders(Map<String, ? extends Object> headers, URLConnection connection) {
    if (headers != null) {
        for (Map.Entry<String, ? extends Object> entry : headers.entrySet()) {
            connection.setRequestProperty(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue().toString());
        }
    }
}

private static void manageContentTypeHeaders(String contentType, String charset, URLConnection connection) {
    connection.setRequestProperty("Accept-Charset", charset == null ? IO.CHARSET : charset);
    if (contentType!=null && !contentType.isEmpty()) {
        connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", contentType);
    }
}

private static URLConnection doGet(String url, Map<String, ? extends Object> headers,
                                    String contentType, String charset) throws IOException {
    URLConnection connection;/* Handle output. */
    connection = new URL(url).openConnection();
    manageContentTypeHeaders(contentType, charset, connection);

    manageHeaders(headers, connection);

    return connection;
}

private static String extractResponseString(URLConnection connection) throws IOException {
/* Handle input. */
    HttpURLConnection http = (HttpURLConnection)connection;
    int status = http.getResponseCode();
    String charset = getCharset(connection.getHeaderField("Content-Type"));

    if (status==200) {
        return readResponseBody(http, charset);
    } else {
        return readErrorResponseBody(http, status, charset);
    }
}

private static String readErrorResponseBody(HttpURLConnection http, int status, String charset) {
    InputStream errorStream = http.getErrorStream();
    if ( errorStream!=null ) {
        String error = charset== null ? read( errorStream ) :
            read( errorStream, charset );
        throw new RuntimeException("STATUS CODE =" + status + "\n\n" + error);
    } else {
        throw new RuntimeException("STATUS CODE =" + status);
    }
}

private static String readResponseBody(HttpURLConnection http, String charset) throws IOException {
    if (charset != null) {
        return read(http.getInputStream(), charset);
    } else {
        return read(http.getInputStream());
    }
}

private static String getCharset(String contentType) {
    if (contentType==null)  {
        return null;
    }
    String charset = null;
    for (String param : contentType.replace(" ", "").split(";")) {
        if (param.startsWith("charset=")) {
            charset = param.split("=", 2)[1];
            break;
        }
    }
    charset = charset == null ? IO.CHARSET : charset;

    return charset;
}

Well, you get the idea....

Here are the tests:

static class MyHandler implements HttpHandler {
    public void handle(HttpExchange t) throws IOException {

        InputStream requestBody = t.getRequestBody();
        String body = IO.read(requestBody);
        Headers requestHeaders = t.getRequestHeaders();
        body = body + "\n" + copy(requestHeaders).toString();
        t.sendResponseHeaders(200, body.length());
        OutputStream os = t.getResponseBody();
        os.write(body.getBytes());
        os.close();
    }
}


@Test
public void testHappy() throws Exception {

    HttpServer server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(9212), 0);
    server.createContext("/test", new MyHandler());
    server.setExecutor(null); // creates a default executor
    server.start();

    Thread.sleep(10);

    Map<String,String> headers = map("foo", "bar", "fun", "sun");

    String response = HTTP.postBodyWithContentType("http://localhost:9212/test", headers, "text/plain", "hi mom");

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("hi mom"));
    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    response = HTTP.postBodyWithCharset("http://localhost:9212/test", headers, "text/plain", "UTF-8", "hi mom");

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("hi mom"));
    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    response = HTTP.postBodyWithHeaders("http://localhost:9212/test", headers, "hi mom");

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("hi mom"));
    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    response = HTTP.get("http://localhost:9212/test");

    System.out.println(response);

    response = HTTP.getWithHeaders("http://localhost:9212/test", headers);

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    response = HTTP.getWithContentType("http://localhost:9212/test", headers, "text/plain");

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    response = HTTP.getWithCharSet("http://localhost:9212/test", headers, "text/plain", "UTF-8");

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    Thread.sleep(10);

    server.stop(0);
}

@Test
public void testPostBody() throws Exception {

    HttpServer server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(9220), 0);
    server.createContext("/test", new MyHandler());
    server.setExecutor(null); // creates a default executor
    server.start();

    Thread.sleep(10);

    Map<String,String> headers = map("foo", "bar", "fun", "sun");

    String response = HTTP.postBody("http://localhost:9220/test", "hi mom");

    assertTrue(response.contains("hi mom"));

    Thread.sleep(10);

    server.stop(0);
}

@Test(expected = RuntimeException.class)
public void testSad() throws Exception {

    HttpServer server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(9213), 0);
    server.createContext("/test", new MyHandler());
    server.setExecutor(null); // creates a default executor
    server.start();

    Thread.sleep(10);

    Map<String,String> headers = map("foo", "bar", "fun", "sun");

    String response = HTTP.postBodyWithContentType("http://localhost:9213/foo", headers, "text/plain", "hi mom");

    System.out.println(response);

    assertTrue(response.contains("hi mom"));
    assertTrue(response.contains("Fun=[sun], Foo=[bar]"));

    Thread.sleep(10);

    server.stop(0);
}

You can find the rest here:

https://github.com/RichardHightower/boon

My goal is to provide the common things one would want to do in a bit more easier way then....

Solution 7:^[7]

Initially I was misled by this article which favours HttpClient.

Later I have realized that HttpURLConnection is going to stay from this article.

As per the Google blog:

Apache HTTP client has fewer bugs on Eclair and Froyo. It is the best choice for these releases. For Gingerbread , HttpURLConnection is the best choice. Its simple API and small size makes it great fit for Android.

Transparent compression and response caching reduce network use, improve speed and save battery. New applications should use HttpURLConnection; it is where we will be spending our energy going forward.

After reading this article and some other stack over flow questions, I am convinced that HttpURLConnection is going to stay for longer durations.

Some of the SE questions favouring HttpURLConnections:

On Android, make a POST request with URL Encoded Form data without using UrlEncodedFormEntity

HttpPost works in Java project, but not on Android

Solution 8:^[8]

There is also OkHttp, which is an HTTP client that’s efficient by default:

HTTP/2 support allows all requests to the same host to share a socket.

Connection pooling reduces request latency (if HTTP/2 isn’t available).

Transparent GZIP shrinks download sizes.

Response caching avoids the network completely for repeat requests.

First create an instance of OkHttpClient:

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();

Then, prepare your GET request:

Request request = new Request.Builder()
      .url(url)
      .build();

finally, use OkHttpClient to send prepared Request:

Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

For more details, you can consult the OkHttp's documentation

Solution 9:^[9]

If you are using HTTP GET, please remove this line:

urlConnection.setDoOutput(true);

Solution 10:^[10]

You can also use JdkRequest from jcabi-http (I'm a developer), which does all this work for you, decorating HttpURLConnection, firing HTTP requests and parsing responses, for example:

String html = new JdkRequest("http://www.google.com").fetch().body();

Check this blog post for more info: http://www.yegor256.com/2014/04/11/jcabi-http-intro.html

Solution 11:^[11]

If you are using Java 11 (except on Android), instead of the legacy HttpUrlConnection class, you can use Java 11 new HTTP Client API.

An example GET request:

var uri = URI.create("https://httpbin.org/get?age=26&isHappy=true");
var client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
var request = HttpRequest
        .newBuilder()
        .uri(uri)
        .header("accept", "application/json")
        .GET()
        .build();
var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(response.statusCode());
System.out.println(response.body());

The same request executed asynchronously:

var responseAsync = client
        .sendAsync(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString())
        .thenApply(HttpResponse::body)
        .thenAccept(System.out::println);
// responseAsync.join(); // Wait for completion

An example POST request:

var request = HttpRequest
        .newBuilder()
        .uri(uri)
        .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_2)
        .timeout(Duration.ofMinutes(1))
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .header("Authorization", "Bearer fake")
        .POST(BodyPublishers.ofString("{ title: 'This is cool' }"))
        .build();
var response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

For sending form data as multipart (multipart/form-data) or url-encoded (application/x-www-form-urlencoded) format, see this solution.

See this article for examples and more information about HTTP Client API.

Sidenote

For Java standard library HTTP server, see this post.

Sources

This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Overflow and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Source: Stack Overflow

Solution	Source
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'How to use java.net.URLConnection to fire and handle HTTP requests

Solution 1:[1]

Solution 2:[2]

Solution 3:[3]

Solution 4:[4]

Update

Solution 5:[5]

Solution 6:[6]

Solution 7:[7]

Solution 8:[8]

Solution 9:[9]

Solution 10:[10]

Solution 11:[11]