HTTPS connection with basic auth result into Unauthorized

Question

I am trying to access Basecamp API from my Android/Java source code following way ....

import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.StatusLine;
import org.apache.http.client.ResponseHandler;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicResponseHandler;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.webkit.WebView;

public class BCActivity extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();

        //final String url = "https://encrypted.google.com/webhp?hl=en"; //This url works
        final String url = "https://username:[email protected]/people.xml"; //This don't
        HttpGet http = new HttpGet(url);
        http.addHeader("Accept", "application/xml");
        http.addHeader("Content-Type", "application/xml"); 

        try {

            //  HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(httpPost);
            HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(http);

            StatusLine statusLine = response.getStatusLine();
            System.out.println("statusLine : "+ statusLine.toString()); 

            ResponseHandler <String> res = new BasicResponseHandler();  

            String strResponse = httpClient.execute(http, res);
            System.out.println("________**_________________________\n"+strResponse);
            System.out.println("\n________**_________________________\n");

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace(); 
        }

        WebView myWebView = (WebView) this.findViewById(R.id.webView);
        myWebView.loadUrl(url);//Here it works and displays XML response

    }
}

This URL displays the response in WebView, but shows Unauthorized exception when I try to access through HttpClient as shown above.

Is this is right way to access Basecamp API through Android/Java? or Please provide me a right way to do so.

Answer 1

The HttpClient can't take the login creditals from the URI.
You have to give them with specified methods.

If you use HttpClient 4.x have a look on this:
http://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-client-ga/tutorial/html/authentication.html

But notice if you don't want to use the new version on the HttpClient (Android uses version 3.x), you should look here:
http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/authentication.html

That was the theory, now we use them:
Basically we use HTTP, but if you want to use HTTPS, you have to edit the following assignment new HttpHost("www.google.com", 80, "http") into new HttpHost("www.google.com", 443, "https").

Furthermore you have to edit the host (www.google.com) for your concerns.
Notice: Only the full qualified domain name (FQDN) is needed not the full URI.

HttpClient 3.x:

package com.test;

import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class Test2aActivity extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        try {
            HttpHost targetHost = new HttpHost("www.google.com", 80, "http");

            DefaultHttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
            try {
                // Store the user login
                httpclient.getCredentialsProvider().setCredentials(
                        new AuthScope(targetHost.getHostName(), targetHost.getPort()),
                        new UsernamePasswordCredentials("user", "password"));

                // Create request
                // You can also use the full URI http://www.google.com/
                HttpGet httpget = new HttpGet("/");
                // Execute request
                HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(targetHost, httpget);

                HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();
                System.out.println(EntityUtils.toString(entity));
            } finally {
                httpclient.getConnectionManager().shutdown();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

---

HttpClient 4.x:

Attention: You will need the new HttpClient from Apache and additionally you must rearrange the order, that the jar-file is before the Android library.

package com.test;

import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.http.auth.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
import org.apache.http.client.AuthCache;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.client.protocol.ClientContext;
import org.apache.http.impl.auth.BasicScheme;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.BasicAuthCache;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.protocol.BasicHttpContext;
import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class TestActivity extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        try {
            HttpHost targetHost = new HttpHost("www.google.com", 80, "http");

            DefaultHttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
            try {
                // Store the user login
                httpclient.getCredentialsProvider().setCredentials(
                        new AuthScope(targetHost.getHostName(), targetHost.getPort()),
                        new UsernamePasswordCredentials("user", "password"));

                // Create AuthCache instance
                AuthCache authCache = new BasicAuthCache();
                // Generate BASIC scheme object and add it to the local
                // auth cache
                BasicScheme basicAuth = new BasicScheme();
                authCache.put(targetHost, basicAuth);

                // Add AuthCache to the execution context
                BasicHttpContext localcontext = new BasicHttpContext();
                localcontext.setAttribute(ClientContext.AUTH_CACHE, authCache);

                // Create request
                // You can also use the full URI http://www.google.com/
                HttpGet httpget = new HttpGet("/");
                // Execute request
                HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(targetHost, httpget, localcontext);

                HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();
                System.out.println(EntityUtils.toString(entity));
            } finally {
                httpclient.getConnectionManager().shutdown();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}