How do I write to an OutputStream using DefaultHttpClient?

Question

How do I get an OutputStream using org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient?

I\'m looking to write a long string to an output stream.

Answer 1

I wrote an inversion of Apache's HTTP Client API [PipedApacheClientOutputStream] which provides an OutputStream interface for HTTP POST using Apache Commons HTTP Client 4.3.4.

Calling-code looks like this:

// Calling-code manages thread-pool
ExecutorService es = Executors.newCachedThreadPool(
  new ThreadFactoryBuilder()
  .setNameFormat("apache-client-executor-thread-%d")
  .build());


// Build configuration
PipedApacheClientOutputStreamConfig config = new      
  PipedApacheClientOutputStreamConfig();
config.setUrl("http://localhost:3000");
config.setPipeBufferSizeBytes(1024);
config.setThreadPool(es);
config.setHttpClient(HttpClientBuilder.create().build());

// Instantiate OutputStream
PipedApacheClientOutputStream os = new     
PipedApacheClientOutputStream(config);

// Write to OutputStream
os.write(...);

try {
  os.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
  logger.error(e.getLocalizedMessage(), e);
}

// Do stuff with HTTP response
...

// Close the HTTP response
os.getResponse().close();

// Finally, shut down thread pool
// This must occur after retrieving response (after is) if interested   
// in POST result
es.shutdown();

Note - In practice the same client, executor service, and config will likely be reused throughout the life of the application, so the outer prep and close code in the above example will likely live in bootstrap/init and finalization code rather than directly inline with the OutputStream instantiation.