5.2 Using a URLConnection

The URLConnection class establishes a connection to a URL. The openStream( ) method of URL we used in Example 5-1 is merely a convenience method that creates a URLConnection object and calls its getInputStream( ) method. By using a URLConnection object directly instead of relying on openStream( ), you have much more control over the process of downloading the contents of a URL.

Example 5-2 is a simple program that shows how to use a URLConnection to obtain the content type, size, last-modified date, and other information about the resource referred to by a URL. If the URL uses the HTTP protocol, it also demonstrates how to use the HttpURLConnection subclass to obtain additional information about the connection.

Note the use of the java.util.Date class to convert a timestamp (a long that contains the number of milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 GMT) to a human-readable date and time string.

Example 5-2. GetURLInfo.java
package je3.net; import java.net.*; import java.io.*; import java.util.Date; /**  * A class that displays information about a URL.  **/ public class GetURLInfo {     /** Use the URLConnection class to get info about the URL */     public static void printinfo(URL url) throws IOException {         URLConnection c = url.openConnection( );  // Get URLConnection from URL         c.connect( );                             // Open a connection to URL                  // Display some information about the URL contents         System.out.println("  Content Type: " + c.getContentType( ));         System.out.println("  Content Encoding: " + c.getContentEncoding( ));         System.out.println("  Content Length: " + c.getContentLength( ));         System.out.println("  Date: " + new Date(c.getDate( )));         System.out.println("  Last Modified: " +new Date(c.getLastModified( )));         System.out.println("  Expiration: " + new Date(c.getExpiration( )));                  // If it is an HTTP connection, display some additional information.         if (c instanceof HttpURLConnection) {             HttpURLConnection h = (HttpURLConnection) c;             System.out.println("  Request Method: " + h.getRequestMethod( ));             System.out.println("  Response Message: " +h.getResponseMessage( ));             System.out.println("  Response Code: " + h.getResponseCode( ));         }     }          /** Create a URL, call printinfo( ) to display information about it. */     public static void main(String[  ] args) {         try { printinfo(new URL(args[0])); }         catch (Exception e) {             System.err.println(e);             System.err.println("Usage: java GetURLInfo <url>");         }     } }


Java Examples in a Nutshell
Java Examples in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition
ISBN: 0596006209
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 285

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