Question

Is there a way to read a response of a simple http-get made like below, if getResponseCode() == 404 and thus getInputStream() would throw an exception? I’d prefer to stay with java.net, if it’s possible.

HttpURLConnection c = (HttpURLConnection)new URL("http://somesite.com").openConnection;
c.openInputStream();

Thing is, that I have (indeed) a site I want to read out with java that responds with 404, but displays in a browser, because it obviously caries a response anyway.

Answer 1

You want to use the getErrorStream() method if the getResponseCode() == 404.

HttpURLConnection c = (HttpURLConnection)new URL("http://somesite.com").openConnection();
InputStream in = null;
if (c.getResponseCode() >= 400) {
   in = c.getErrorStream();
}  
else {
   in = c.getInputStream();
}