This article shows you how to use the new Java 11 HttpClient APIs to send HTTP GET/POST requests, and some frequent used examples.

  HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
        .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_2)
        .followRedirects(HttpClient.Redirect.NORMAL)
        .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(20))
        .proxy(ProxySelector.of(new InetSocketAddress("proxy.yourcompany.com", 80)))
        .authenticator(Authenticator.getDefault())
        .build();

1. Synchronous Example

This example sends a GET request to https://httpbin.org/get, and print out the response header, status code, and body.

HttpClientSynchronous.java

package com.favtuts.http;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpHeaders;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.time.Duration;

public class HttpClientSynchronous {

    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
        .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_1_1)
        .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
        .build();
    
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
        
        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .GET()
            .uri(URI.create("https://httpbin.org/get"))
            .setHeader("User-Agent", "Java 11 HttpClient Bot") // add request header
            .build();
        
        HttpResponse<String> response = httpClient.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

        // print response headers
        HttpHeaders headers = response.headers();
        headers.map().forEach((k, v) -> System.out.println(k + ":" + v));

        // print status code
        System.out.println(response.statusCode());

        // print response body
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }
}

Output

access-control-allow-credentials:[true]
access-control-allow-origin:[*]
connection:[keep-alive]
content-length:[271]
content-type:[application/json]
date:[Tue, 10 May 2022 09:46:13 GMT]
server:[gunicorn/19.9.0]
200
{
  "args": {}, 
  "headers": {
    "Content-Length": "0", 
    "Host": "httpbin.org", 
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot", 
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-627a3465-59aa4d452eda31397a009a77"
  }, 
  "origin": "14.162.33.98", 
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/get"
}

2. Asynchronous Example

2.1 HttpClient.sendAsync() to send a GET request asynchronous, it will return a CompletableFuture

HttpClientAsynchronous.java

package com.favtuts.http;

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class HttpClientAsynchronous {

    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_2)
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .build();
    
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        
        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .GET()
                .uri(URI.create("https://httpbin.org/get"))
                .setHeader("User-Agent", "Java 11 HttpClient Bot")
                .build();
        
        CompletableFuture<HttpResponse<String>> response =
            httpClient.sendAsync(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        
        String result = response.thenApply(HttpResponse::body).get(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);

        System.out.println(result);
    }
}

Output

{
  "args": {},
  "headers": {
    "Host": "httpbin.org",
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot",
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-5ec0fb51-2c5dcf98167c6418bd555548"
  },
  "origin": "124.82.107.103",
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/get"
}  

3. Custom Executor + Concurrent Requests

3.1 Add a custom executor.

	private final ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5);

  private final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
          .executor(executorService)
          .build();

3.2 Send multiple concurrent requests asynchronously.

HttpClientCustomExecutor.java

package com.favtuts.http;

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

public class HttpClientCustomExecutor {

    // custom executor
    private static final ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(5);

    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
        .executor(executorService)
        .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_2)
        .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
        .build();
    
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        
        List<URI> targets = Arrays.asList(
            new URI("https://httpbin.org/get?name=favtuts1"),
            new URI("https://httpbin.org/get?name=favtuts2"),
            new URI("https://httpbin.org/get?name=favtuts3")
        );

        List<CompletableFuture<String>> result = targets.stream()
            .map(url -> httpClient.sendAsync(
                HttpRequest.newBuilder(url)
                    .GET()
                    .setHeader("User-Agent", "Java 11 HttpClient Bot")
                    .build()
                    , 
                HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString())
                .thenApply(response -> response.body())         
            )
            .collect(Collectors.toList());
        
        for (CompletableFuture<String> future : result) {
            System.out.println(future.get());
        }
    }
    
}

Output

{
  "args": {
    "name": "favtuts1"
  }, 
  "headers": {
    "Host": "httpbin.org", 
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot", 
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-627a753c-14ae27021dbdabc23f2f6c4a"
  }, 
  "origin": "14.162.33.98", 
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/get?name=favtuts1"
}

{
  "args": {
    "name": "favtuts2"
  }, 
  "headers": {
    "Host": "httpbin.org", 
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot", 
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-627a753c-2ce53d22544b7da802f368d0"
  }, 
  "origin": "14.162.33.98", 
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/get?name=favtuts2"
}

{
  "args": {
    "name": "favtuts3"
  }, 
  "headers": {
    "Host": "httpbin.org", 
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot", 
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-627a753c-4d63aa946ec2103234231fb7"
  }, 
  "origin": "14.162.33.98", 
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/get?name=favtuts3"
}

4. POST Form Parameters

4.1 Java 11 HttpClient didn’t provide API for the form data, we have to construct it manually.

HttpClientPostForm.java

package com.favtuts.http;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.time.Duration;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class HttpClientPostForm {
    
    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_2)
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .build();

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
        
        // form parameters
        Map<Object, Object> data = new HashMap<>();
        data.put("username", "abc");
        data.put("password", "123");
        data.put("custom", "secret");
        data.put("ts", System.currentTimeMillis());

        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .POST(ofFormData(data))
                .uri(URI.create("https://httpbin.org/post"))
                .setHeader("User-Agent", "Java 11 HttpClient Bot") // add request header
                .header("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
                .build();

        HttpResponse<String> response = httpClient.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

        // print status code
        System.out.println(response.statusCode());

        // print response body
        System.out.println(response.body());
    }

    // Sample: 'password=123&custom=secret&username=abc&ts=1570704369823'
    public static HttpRequest.BodyPublisher ofFormData(Map<Object, Object> data) {
        var builder = new StringBuilder();
        for (Map.Entry<Object, Object> entry : data.entrySet()) {
            if (builder.length() > 0) {
                builder.append("&");
            }
            builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getKey().toString(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
            builder.append("=");
            builder.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getValue().toString(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
        }
        return HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(builder.toString());
    }
}

Output

200
{
  "args": {}, 
  "data": "", 
  "files": {}, 
  "form": {
    "custom": "secret", 
    "password": "123", 
    "ts": "1652193037757", 
    "username": "abc"
  }, 
  "headers": {
    "Content-Length": "56", 
    "Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded", 
    "Host": "httpbin.org", 
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot", 
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-627a770f-6fbdfa77156ce12779ae2ae0"
  }, 
  "json": null, 
  "origin": "14.162.33.98", 
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/post"
}

5. POST JSON

HttpClientPostJSON.java

package com.favtuts.http;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.time.Duration;

public class HttpClientPostJSON {

    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .version(HttpClient.Version.HTTP_2)
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .build();

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {

        // json formatted data
        String json = new StringBuilder()
                .append("{")
                .append("\"name\":\"favtuts\",")
                .append("\"notes\":\"hello\"")
                .append("}").toString();

        // add json header
        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .POST(HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(json))
                .uri(URI.create("https://httpbin.org/post"))
                .setHeader("User-Agent", "Java 11 HttpClient Bot") // add request header
                .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
                .build();

        HttpResponse<String> response = httpClient.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

        // print status code
        System.out.println(response.statusCode());

        // print response body
        System.out.println(response.body());

    }
}

Output

200
{
  "args": {}, 
  "data": "{\"name\":\"favtuts\",\"notes\":\"hello\"}", 
  "files": {}, 
  "form": {}, 
  "headers": {
    "Content-Length": "34", 
    "Content-Type": "application/json", 
    "Host": "httpbin.org", 
    "User-Agent": "Java 11 HttpClient Bot", 
    "X-Amzn-Trace-Id": "Root=1-627a784a-0b2535867b89813140fca0c7"
  }, 
  "json": {
    "name": "favtuts", 
    "notes": "hello"
  }, 
  "origin": "14.162.33.98", 
  "url": "https://httpbin.org/post"
}

6. Authentication

6.1 Start a simple Spring Security WebApp provides HTTP basic authentication, and test it with the new Java 11 HttpClient APIs

HttpClientAuthentication.java

package com.favtuts.http;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.Authenticator;
import java.net.PasswordAuthentication;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.HttpClient;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.net.http.HttpResponse;
import java.time.Duration;

public class HttpClientAuthentication {
    
    private static final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .authenticator(new Authenticator() {
                @Override
                protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
                    return new PasswordAuthentication(
                            "user",
                            "password".toCharArray());
                }

            })
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(10))
            .build();
    
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException {

        HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
                .GET()
                .uri(URI.create("http://localhost:8080/books"))
                .setHeader("User-Agent", "Java 11 HttpClient Bot") // add request header
                .build();

        HttpResponse<String> response = httpClient.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

        // print status code
        System.out.println(response.statusCode());

        // print response body
        System.out.println(response.body());

    }
}

7. FAQs

7.1 Disabled Redirect.

	private final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .followRedirects(HttpClient.Redirect.NEVER)
            .build();

Read this HttpClient.Redirect JavaDoc

7.2 Timeout, 5 seconds.

	private final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .connectTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(5))
            .build();

7.3 Set a Proxy.

	private final HttpClient httpClient = HttpClient.newBuilder()
            .proxy(ProxySelector.of(new InetSocketAddress("your-company-proxy.com", 8080)))
            .build();

Download Source Code

$ git clone https://github.com/favtuts/java-core-tutorials-examples

$ cd java-misc/http

References

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