HTTP Request

[Peter Franz]

Hi
I couldn't find out how to make a simple HTTP-Request (like one in the Browser) from a java application (J2SE).
Response from Server can be ignored, i just want to make the request with a few GET data.
e.g.: request("http://www.xyz.com?name=info&atr=3");
Is this possible?
Thanks a lot for your help!
Peter

[Dirk Schreckmann]

It's certainly possible. I've seen more than one Java-based web browser.
I've used two testing tools that are capable of making various http requests. You might want to take a look at how HtmlUnit or HttpUnit accomplish it. They're both open source projects listed at SourceForge.net.

[Dirk Schreckmann]

Also, something in the java.net package might get the job done easily for you. HttpURLConnection looks promising.
[ June 23, 2003: Message edited by: Dirk Schreckmann ]

[Stan James]

Here's something I have used to fetch HTML pages. For images or other binary files, you might want to read bytes instead of lines.

 
    public String fetchURL( ) throws SiteException
    {
        URL    lURL;
        String lLine;
        StringBuffer lBuffer = new StringBuffer();
        try
        {
            // 07/17/2002 Added following statements to handle HTTPS
            java.security.Security.addProvider(new com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider());
            System.setProperty("java.protocol.handler.pkgs",
                               "com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol");
            // 07/17/2002 end
            lURL   = new URL( mURL );
            BufferedReader lData = new BufferedReader(
                                      new InputStreamReader(
                                         new BufferedInputStream(
                                            lURL.openStream() )));
           while (true)
           {
               lLine = lData.readLine();
               if ( null == lLine ) break;
               lBuffer.append( lLine );
           }
           lData.close();
        }
        catch ( Exception e )
        {
            throw new SiteException( Site.mErrorURL, e.toString() );
        }
        Logger.log( "site01", "Site.fetchURL Retrieved " + lBuffer.length() + " bytes");
        Logger.log( "site02", "Site.fetchURL Data=" + lBuffer.toString() );
        return lBuffer.toString();
    }