How to handle HTTP authentication using HttpURLConnection?
I'm writing a Java client that POSTs to a HTTP server that requires authentication.
I have to support at least the following three authentication methods: Basic, Digest or Negotiate. Additionally the POST may be very large (over 2MB), so I need to use streaming.
As is documented for HttpURLConnection
When output streaming is enabled, authentication and redirection cannot be handled automatically. A HttpRetryException will be thrown when reading the response if authentication or redirection are required.
So, I need to handle authentication myself. I searched, and searched again, for a way to employ the, already coded, classes - but found no way...
I could just pluck the needed sources from here (as they are GPLv2 with Classpath exception). Is this the right way?
Thanks.
Answer
Do you need output streaming? The HttpURLConnection most definitely supports authentication with the Authenticator class, see: Http Authentication.
Update: In case the Authenticator is not an option, you can manually do HTTP basic authentication by adding an extra header to your HTTP request. Try the following code (untested):
String userPassword = username + ":" + password;
String encoding = new sun.misc.BASE64Encoder().encode(userPassword.getBytes());
URLConnection uc = url.openConnection();
uc.setRequestProperty("Authorization", "Basic " + encoding);
uc.connect();