Question

I am trying to pull information from another site. When I try and do

URL url = new URL("theSite");
url.getContent();

It throws a Connection refused: connect exception. Does this mean the site will not allow automated connections? Is there another way to get this information?

Answer 1

It can mean several things:

• The site is having problems and is actively dropping connections (Refused is different from timed out, where no response was received at all)
• An intermediary may have refused your connection, e.g. a Firewall, although if you can access the site via a browser then this is not likely the case
• You are using the wrong port, i.e. did you mean http:// when you typed https:// or vice versa?
• Your browser is accessing the site via a proxy. Check the browsers proxy settings and use them in url.openConnection(Proxy)

telnet is your friend, what happens when you:

telnet thesite 80 [or whatever port you require]
GET /URL HTTP/1.0
Host: thesite