http-rest-client

A simple & easy to use REST client written in Java and levarging the HttpClient 4.3 library.

Important Note: This library only supports JSON payloads. You are more than welcome to add XML support and send me a pull request. I have no future plans to add XML support.

Cheers!

SBT / Maven Dependency

SBT

resolvers += "java-utils" at "http://dl.bintray.com/g00dnatur3/java-utils/"

libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
  "g00dnatur3" %% "http-rest-client" % "1.0.21"
)

Maven

<repository>
	<id>java-utils</id>
	<url>http://dl.bintray.com/g00dnatur3/java-utils/</url>
</repository>

<dependency>
	<groupId>g00dnatur3</groupId>
	<artifactId>http-rest-client_2.10</artifactId>
	<version>1.0.21</version>
</dependency>

Getting Started

This is the simplest way to construct a RestClient

RestClient client = RestClient.builder().build();

This example executes a GET request to the google geocoder api:

RestClient client = RestClient.builder().build();

String geocoderUrl = "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json";

Map<String, String> params = Maps.newHashMap();
params.put("address", "1980 W. Bayshore Rd. 94303");
params.put("sensor", "false");

JsonNode node = client.get(geocoderUrl, params, JsonNode.class);

Execute a GET Request to get a single object

String url = ...
Map<String, String> queryParams = ...

Person person = client.get(url, queryParams, Person.class);

Execute a GET Request to get a list of objects

String url = ...
Map<String, String> queryParams = ...

List<Person> people = client.get(url, queryParams, new TypeReference<List<Person>>() {});

Execute a POST Request on a single object

String url = ...
Person person = ...

Header header = client.create(url, person);

if (header != null) {
	System.out.println("Location header is: " + header.value());
}

Execute a POST Request on a list of objects

String url = ...
List<Person> people = ...

Header header = client.create(url, people);

if (header != null) {
	System.out.println("Location header is: " + header.value());
}

Execute a PUT Request on a single object

String url = ...
Person person = ...

client.update(url, person);

Execute a PUT Request on a list of objects

String url = ...
List<Person> people = ...

client.update(url, people);

Add Headers with RequestInterceptor

In order to add headers on a request you need to use the RequestInterceptor.

This is an example of a RequestInterceptor that will "intercept" all requests sent from a RestClient and add an Authorization header to them.

final String credentials = ...
RequestInterceptor authorize = new RequestInterceptor() {
	@Override
	public void intercept(HttpRequestBase request) {
		request.addHeader("Authorization", credentials);
	}
};
RestClient client = RestClient.builder().requestInterceptor(authorize).build();

All the get,create,update,delete methods are overloaded with a RequestInterceptor.

This example of RequestInterceptor will "intercept" on a per request basis to add a header:

public RequestInterceptor authorize(final String credentials) {
	return new RequestInterceptor() {
		@Override
		public void intercept(HttpUriRequest request) {
			request.addHeader("Authorization", credentials);
		}
	};
}

public Person getPerson(String credentials, url) {
    return client.get(authorize(credentials), url, null, Person.class); //queryParams=null
}

public Header createPerson(String credentials, Person person, url) {
    return client.create(authorize(credentials), url, person);
}

Look at test.integration.RequestInterceptorTest to see working examples.

Configure the Request with RequestInterceptor

Similar with how we can add headers on a per request basis, we can also do some config on a per request basis.

public RequestInterceptor connectTimeout(final int timeout) {
	return new RequestInterceptor() {
		@Override
		public void intercept(HttpUriRequest request) {
			request.setConfig(
				RequestConfig.custom()
				.setConnectTimeout(timeout).build());
		}
	};
}

client.create(connectTimeout(1000), url, person);

Configuration (Proxy, SSL...)

The following system properties are taken into account by this library:

ssl.TrustManagerFactory.algorithm
javax.net.ssl.trustStoreType
javax.net.ssl.trustStore
javax.net.ssl.trustStoreProvider
javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword
java.home
ssl.KeyManagerFactory.algorithm
javax.net.ssl.keyStoreType
javax.net.ssl.keyStore
javax.net.ssl.keyStoreProvider
javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword
http.proxyHost
http.proxyPort
http.nonProxyHosts
http.keepAlive
http.maxConnections

For example, if you wanted to configure the proxy you could do:

System.setProperty("http.proxyHost","somehost.com")
System.setProperty("http.proxyPort","8080")

Handling failed Requests

If your request fails, have no fear, you can get your hands on the HttpResonse and handle it however you need.

The get,create,update,delete methods throw a RestClientException when they fail to execute.

The RestClientException contains the actual "ready-to-consume" HttpResponse object.

try {
	Person p = client.get(url, queryParams, Person.class)	
} catch (RestClientException e) {

	HttpResponse response = e.response();
	if (response != null) {
	
	    // if the payload contains error information you can get it
	    String errorInfo = client.contentAsString(response);

	    client.consume(response); //closes the response
	}
}

Expected Response Status

The default expected response status for get,update,delete is 200 and for create it's 201.

The RestClient will throw a RestClientException if the actual response status is not equal to the expected status.

All the methods in the RestClient are overloaded with int expectedStatus so you can specify the expected response status if it deviates from the default.

For example, the create has a default expected status of 201. However, if the server sends back a 200 response instead, you can do the following:

String url = ...
Person person = ...

try {
	Header header = client.create(url, person, 200);
} catch (RestClientException e) {
	// here if the response status is not 200 or the request failed to execute.
}

Injecting your own HttpClient

Because I am using the builder pattern, it is quite easy to inject your own HttpClient instance:

HttpClient myHttpClient = ...

RestClient.builder().httpClient(myHttpClient).build();

Set Cookies with your own HttpClient

In order to set cookies, you need create your own HttpClient like so:

BasicCookieStore cookieStore = new BasicCookieStore();
BasicClientCookie cookie = new BasicClientCookie("JSESSIONID", "1234");
	cookie.setDomain(".github.com");
	cookie.setPath("/");
	cookieStore.addCookie(cookie);
	
//notice the useSystemPoperties() -> enables configuration (Proxy, SSL...) via system properties
HttpClient myHttpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create()
				.setDefaultCookieStore(cookieStore)
				.useSystemProperties()
				.build();

RestClient client = RestClient.builder().httpClient(myHttpClient).build();

Injecting your own RestClient!

Yup, your read right, you can even inject your own RestClient implementation thru the builder.

// you can override any of the RestClient methods you desire

public class MyRestClient extends RestClient {
	protected MyRestClient(RestClientBuilder builder) {
		super(builder);
	}
	
	@Override
	protected HttpGet newHttpGet(String url) {
		...
	}
}

RestClient client = RestClient.builder().restClientClass(MyRestClient.class).build();

Look at test.integration.CustomRestClientTest to a see working example.

Next Steps

Add more tests & a plugin to get code coverage.

Currently there are 9 tests, 5 integration, and 4 unit.

Cheers!