HttpURLConnection class from java.net package can be used to send Java HTTP Request programmatically. Today we will learn how to use HttpURLConnection in java program to send GET and POST requests and then print the response.
Java HTTP Request
For our HttpURLConnection example, I am using sample project from Spring MVC Tutorial because it has URLs for GET and POST HTTP methods. Below are the images for this web application, I have deployed it on my localhost tomcat server.
Java HTTP GET Request
Java HTTP GET Request for Login Page
Java HTTP POST Request
For Java HTTP GET requests, we have all the information in the browser URL itself. So from above images, we know that we have following GET requests URL.
- http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample/
- http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample/login
Above URL’s don’t have any parameters but as we know that in HTTP GET requests parameters are part of URL itself, so for example if we have to send a parameter named userName with value as Pankaj then the URLs would have been like below.
- http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample?userName=Pankaj
- http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample/login?userName=Pankaj&pwd=apple123 – for multiple params
If we know the POST URL and what parameters it’s expecting, it’s awesome but in this case we will figure it out from the login form source.
Below is the HTML code we get when we view source of the login page in any of the browser.
Copy
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>Login Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="home" method="post">
<input type="text" name="userName"><br>
<input type="submit" value="Login">
</form>
</body>
</html>
Look at the form method in the source, as expected it’s POST. Now see that action is “home”, so the POST URL would be http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample/home. Now check the different elements in the form, from above form we can deduce that we need to send one POST parameter with name userName and it’s of type String.
So now we have complete details of GET and POST requests and we can proceed for the Java HTTP Request example program.
Below are the steps we need to follow for sending Java HTTP requests using HttpURLConnection class.
- Create
URLobject from the GET/POST URL String. - Call openConnection() method on URL object that returns instance of
HttpURLConnection - Set the request method in
HttpURLConnectioninstance, default value is GET. - Call setRequestProperty() method on
HttpURLConnectioninstance to set request header values, such as “User-Agent” and “Accept-Language” etc. - We can call
getResponseCode()to get the response HTTP code. This way we know if the request was processed successfully or there was any HTTP error message thrown. - For GET, we can simply use Reader and InputStream to read the response and process it accordingly.
- For POST, before we read response we need to get the OutputStream from
HttpURLConnectioninstance and write POST parameters into it.
HttpURLConnection Example
Based on the above steps, below is the example program showing usage of HttpURLConnection to send Java GET and POST requests.
HttpURLConnectionExample.java code:
Copy
package com.journaldev.utils;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
public class HttpURLConnectionExample {
private static final String USER_AGENT = "Mozilla/5.0";
private static final String GET_URL = "http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample";
private static final String POST_URL = "http://localhost:9090/SpringMVCExample/home";
private static final String POST_PARAMS = "userName=Pankaj";
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
sendGET();
System.out.println("GET DONE");
sendPOST();
System.out.println("POST DONE");
}
private static void sendGET() throws IOException {
URL obj = new URL(GET_URL);
HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) obj.openConnection();
con.setRequestMethod("GET");
con.setRequestProperty("User-Agent", USER_AGENT);
int responseCode = con.getResponseCode();
System.out.println("GET Response Code :: " + responseCode);
if (responseCode == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) { // success
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
con.getInputStream()));
String inputLine;
StringBuffer response = new StringBuffer();
while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
response.append(inputLine);
}
in.close();
// print result
System.out.println(response.toString());
} else {
System.out.println("GET request not worked");
}
}
private static void sendPOST() throws IOException {
URL obj = new URL(POST_URL);
HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) obj.openConnection();
con.setRequestMethod("POST");
con.setRequestProperty("User-Agent", USER_AGENT);
// For POST only - START
con.setDoOutput(true);
OutputStream os = con.getOutputStream();
os.write(POST_PARAMS.getBytes());
os.flush();
os.close();
// For POST only - END
int responseCode = con.getResponseCode();
System.out.println("POST Response Code :: " + responseCode);
if (responseCode == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) { //success
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
con.getInputStream()));
String inputLine;
StringBuffer response = new StringBuffer();
while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
response.append(inputLine);
}
in.close();
// print result
System.out.println(response.toString());
} else {
System.out.println("POST request not worked");
}
}
}
When we execute above program, we get below response.
Copy
GET Response Code :: 200
<html><head> <title>Home</title></head><body><h1> Hello world! </h1><P> The time on the server is March 6, 2015 9:31:04 PM IST. </P></body></html>
GET DONE
POST Response Code :: 200
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"><html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><title>User Home Page</title></head><body><h3>Hi Pankaj</h3></body></html>
POST DONE
Just compare it with the browser HTTP response and you will see that it’s same. You can also save response into any HTML file and open it to compare the responses visually.
Quick Tip: If you have to send GET/POST requests over HTTPS protocol, then all you need is to use javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection instead of java.net.HttpURLConnection. Rest all the steps will be same as above, HttpsURLConnection will take care of SSL handshake and encryption.
ADAM says
March 25, 2019 at 10:23 amYou have missed the con.disconnect() after each call.
Small things can create HUGE issues in the long run.
Maureen Shaw says
February 20, 2019 at 11:07 pmThis article was very helpful but I am stuck getting a failure back from my request. This works in postman but when trying in java, it fails every way I try it. Sample code below along with the response I get. Any help is very appreciated!!
//print out the encoded values
data.addToLog( “sha256hex: “, sha256hex);
data.addToLog( “xauth: “, xauth);
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
String baseurl = “https://” + apihost + endpoint + “?personID=” + personid;
data.addToLog( “BaseURL: “, baseurl);
//print out the JSON search request
try {
URL myurl = new URL(null, baseurl , new sun.net.www.protocol.https.Handler() );
HttpsURLConnection con = (HttpsURLConnection )myurl.openConnection();
con.setSSLSocketFactory(new TSLSocketConnectionFactory());
con.setRequestProperty(“X-Timestamp”, tsparam);
con.setRequestProperty(“X-Nonce”, nonce64);
con.setRequestProperty(“X-Authorization”, xauth);
con.setRequestProperty(“X-Test-Insecure”, “true”);
con.setRequestMethod(method);
con.setDoOutput(true);
con.setRequestProperty(“Content-Type”, “application/json;charset=utf-8”);
int responseCode = con.getResponseCode();
data.addToLog(“Response Code= “, con.getResponseCode() +”: “+ con.getResponseMessage());
if (responseCode == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) { // success
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
con.getInputStream()));
String inputLine;
StringBuffer response = new StringBuffer();
while ((inputLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
response.append(inputLine);
}
in.close();
// print result
//System.out.println(response.toString());
data.addToLog(“Response:”, response.toString() );
}
Log results:
PersonDetailsLookup,custom,Response Code= ,200: OK
PersonDetailsLookup,custom,Response:,{“serviceModel”:{“errorCode”:{“description”:”Unexpected System Error””value”:”500″}”errorMessage”:”API Invocation Failure – Unknown Error””severity”:{“description”:”FATAL””value”:”3″}}}
Akshay J. says
January 28, 2019 at 7:24 ami m getting exception as
java.lang.ClassCastException: sun.net.www.protocol.http.HttpURLConnection cannot be cast to javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection.
I am calling Http URL
Pankaj says
January 28, 2019 at 8:28 amPlease check your import statement, I think you have imported the wrong HttpsURLConnection class. You should import
javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnectionclass.Gaurav Arora says
January 19, 2019 at 7:36 amI can’t thank u in words/comments. you deserve more than that, really appreciated. Thanks so much sir
Nikita says
August 7, 2018 at 6:43 amHi,
I have implemented above code and it works fine.
but I need to accept the values from xls and passing it one by one.
so can you please provide the solution for this.
immanual says
February 12, 2018 at 1:35 amHi I’m getting the error java.net.UnknownHostException: Any idea why
Ikwan says
April 25, 2018 at 12:39 amYou need import java.net.UnknownHostException;
Anjan says
January 21, 2018 at 10:19 pmHow can a post/get an XML or JSON object using this.
incognito says
October 31, 2017 at 1:23 amVery usefull, thanks
dheeraj says
September 26, 2017 at 3:29 amits really useful for me thank u so much …
Greshma John says
August 16, 2017 at 10:12 pmHi ,
I am getting the following error for post request
Exception in thread “main” java.io.IOException: Unable to tunnel through proxy. Proxy returns “HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request” .
I have added extra proxy settings in the sendPOST() method .
Kristina Mendoza says
July 20, 2017 at 11:54 pmThanks for the informative post! I’m still a newbie when it comes to programming using Java programming language but reading posts like this really helps me understand it even more. Cheers!
Mahadev says
June 2, 2017 at 11:34 pmHai, how much it will take to get a response once we hit the url??
Deepak says
May 17, 2017 at 10:28 pmHi
I am using httpsurlconnection.
Url: “https://localhost:8443/LoginApp”
+ “/restservice/agentchildservice/getAttributesForIdentity”;
connection.respose is 200. Its a post call. But the values are not getting fetched , its showing me the login page html content.
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader((conn.getInputStream())));
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
String output;
while ((output = br.readLine()) != null) {
sb.append(output);
}
System.out.println(sb);
on printing it will give me the login page html in stringbuilder variable.
I want to get the values. Can you please suggest.
kiran says
May 4, 2017 at 5:25 amHi Pankaj,
I have an end point url, and i tried through the SOUP UI using REST its giving expected response.
Now i need to implement through java code and test wether i am getting expected response.
can you help on this please. For the first time i am working on web services.
would like to in detail, will be required any jars in eclipse/project etc.
Thanks,
Kiran
kiran says
May 4, 2017 at 5:58 amI have request xml for this as well. how to include while calling web service.
Samas says
February 7, 2017 at 10:30 pmConnection exceptioni s coming when I run the java code. Will you please help me to use the code. Is it to run the java code and automatically the code runs?
Vandens says
January 11, 2017 at 2:48 amAwesome…. I have changed POST_PARAMS into custom xml data in string and it works!
Thanks you.
naresh says
December 5, 2016 at 1:15 amhi sir..
output::
GET Response Code :: 200
Home Hello world! The time on the server is March 6, 2015 9:31:04 PM IST.
GET DONE
POST Response Code :: 200
User Home PageHi Pankaj
POST DONE
how to display in web page sir ….
every time copy paste in browser cannot possible sir … i mean direct when run the programe out put will be display in web page sir
same like above pages
thanks sir
Nidh says
November 7, 2016 at 9:12 pmReally awesome tutorials so easy to understand. Thanks pankaj.
Mathew Eickmeyer says
June 23, 2016 at 7:16 amI have to say I’m new to Java but have worked with C, C++ , python and several other languages. Java was the hardest for me to understand and work with but this little tutorial made it very plain how to use the java.net module the way I wanted. Very Nice Job!
suman says
June 7, 2016 at 10:42 amis there any way to get request url from browser console
Andrew says
April 4, 2016 at 1:59 amMany thanks – I’ve been puzzling over how to POST from a Spring Controller and your article was a great help.
Andrew (Sheffield UK)
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:38 amThanks Andrew, I hope you will find my other articles useful too. 🙂
naresh says
January 2, 2017 at 3:44 amcan you give your mail id
KIRAN says
February 16, 2016 at 3:40 amhello am getting error : javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Remote host closed connection during handshake.
I did same as above except for https connection.
please help.
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:39 amDid you used
Rinaldes Duma says
December 15, 2015 at 9:22 pmThanks 😀
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:40 amyou are welcome.
mbrean says
December 7, 2015 at 9:32 pmThis tutorial is great and clear. But how about 2 parameters?
Mostafa Anter Sayd says
February 27, 2016 at 7:58 amString params = “name=mostafa&age=22”;
u r welcome
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:40 amThanks for answering the question Mostafa.
akshay says
November 29, 2015 at 12:30 amNice tutorial.
Well I didn’t get on thing.
`os.write(POST_PARAMS.getBytes());
os.flush();
os.close();`
How can I print my complete POST URL, after adding parameters. Is that possible to output the URL?
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:41 amPOST parameters are not part of URL, so you see them in URL or print them.
Gurgen says
September 25, 2015 at 3:38 pmThanks man! This really worked as expected. Good job (y)
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:41 amYou are welcome Gurgen.
abhineet says
July 6, 2015 at 10:00 amHi, I wast tried to hit an end point which is get to fetch the detail using apache http, the json response that I get has got some attributes which are empty array. But the same end point I hit thru a browser or a rest client I don’t see these attributes as part of json response. Why is that ?
Pankaj says
May 28, 2016 at 10:43 amIt may be because the browser/rest client is not displaying them. Can you try through Chrome Postman or similar kind of tool and check the raw response?
You can also print the response at the server side before sending it to confirm this.