Apache HttpComponents Core HTTP/1.1 5.2.4 · org.apache.hc.core5.http.HttpEntity

An entity that can be sent or received with an HTTP message.

There are three distinct types of entities in HttpCore, depending on where their content originates:

streamed: The content is received from a stream, or generated on the fly. In particular, this category includes entities being received from a connection. Streamed entities are generally not repeatable.
self-contained: The content is in memory or obtained by means that are independent from a connection or other entity. Self-contained entities are generally repeatable.
wrapping: The content is obtained from another entity.

This distinction is important for connection management with incoming entities. For entities that are created by an application and only sent using the HTTP components framework, the difference between streamed and self-contained is of little importance. In that case, it is suggested to consider non-repeatable entities as streamed, and those that are repeatable (without a huge effort) as self-contained.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
public InputStream	Returns: content stream of the entity. getContent() Returns a content stream of the entity.
public Supplier<List<? extends Header>>	getTrailers() Returns supplier of message trailers - headers sent after message body.
public boolean	Returns: true if the entity is repeatable, false otherwise. isRepeatable() Tells if the entity is capable of producing its data more than once.
public boolean	Returns: `true` if the entity content is streamed, `false` otherwise isStreaming() Tells whether this entity depends on an underlying stream.
public void	writeTo(OutputStream the output stream to write entity content to outStream) Writes the entity content out to the output stream.

Inherited from java.io.Closeable:: close
Inherited from org.apache.hc.core5.http.EntityDetails:: getContentEncoding getContentLength getContentType getTrailerNames isChunked

Method Detail

getContent back to summary

getContent	back to summary
public InputStream getContent() throws IOException, UnsupportedOperationException Returns a content stream of the entity. `Repeatable` entities are expected to create a new instance of `InputStream` for each invocation of this method and therefore can be consumed multiple times. Entities that are not `repeatable` are expected to return the same `InputStream` instance and therefore may not be consumed more than once. If this entity belongs to an incoming HTTP message, calling `InputStream#close()` on the returned `InputStream` will try to consume the complete entity content to keep the connection alive. In cases where this is undesired, e.g. when only a small part of the content is relevant and consuming the complete entity content would be too inefficient, only the HTTP message from which this entity was obtained should be closed (if supported). Important Note Please note all entity implementations must ensure that all allocated resources are properly deallocated after the `InputStream#close()` method is invoked. Returns:InputStream content stream of the entity. Exceptions IOException: if the stream could not be created UnsupportedOperationException: if entity content cannot be represented as `java.io.InputStream`. See Also `isRepeatable()`

public InputStream getContent() throws IOException, UnsupportedOperationException

Returns a content stream of the entity. Repeatable entities are expected to create a new instance of InputStream for each invocation of this method and therefore can be consumed multiple times. Entities that are not repeatable are expected to return the same InputStream instance and therefore may not be consumed more than once.

If this entity belongs to an incoming HTTP message, calling InputStream#close() on the returned InputStream will try to consume the complete entity content to keep the connection alive. In cases where this is undesired, e.g. when only a small part of the content is relevant and consuming the complete entity content would be too inefficient, only the HTTP message from which this entity was obtained should be closed (if supported).

Important Note

Please note all entity implementations must ensure that all allocated resources are properly deallocated after the InputStream#close() method is invoked.

Returns:InputStream

content stream of the entity.

Exceptions

IOException:: if the stream could not be created
UnsupportedOperationException:: if entity content cannot be represented as java.io.InputStream.

See Also

isRepeatable()

getTrailers back to summary

getTrailers	back to summary
public Supplier<List<? extends Header>> getTrailers() Returns supplier of message trailers - headers sent after message body. May return `null` if trailers are not available. Since 5.0

public Supplier<List<? extends Header>> getTrailers()

Returns supplier of message trailers - headers sent after message body. May return null if trailers are not available.

Since: 5.0

isRepeatable	back to summary
public boolean isRepeatable() Tells if the entity is capable of producing its data more than once. A repeatable entity's getContent() and writeTo(OutputStream) methods can be called more than once whereas a non-repeatable entity's can not. Returns:boolean true if the entity is repeatable, false otherwise.

isRepeatable

back to summary

public boolean isRepeatable()

Tells if the entity is capable of producing its data more than once. A repeatable entity's getContent() and writeTo(OutputStream) methods can be called more than once whereas a non-repeatable entity's can not.

Returns:boolean: true if the entity is repeatable, false otherwise.

isStreaming back to summary

isStreaming	back to summary
public boolean isStreaming() Tells whether this entity depends on an underlying stream. Streamed entities that read data directly from the socket should return `true`. Self-contained entities should return `false`. Wrapping entities should delegate this call to the wrapped entity. Returns:boolean `true` if the entity content is streamed, `false` otherwise

public boolean isStreaming()

Tells whether this entity depends on an underlying stream. Streamed entities that read data directly from the socket should return true. Self-contained entities should return false. Wrapping entities should delegate this call to the wrapped entity.

Returns:boolean: true if the entity content is streamed, false otherwise

writeTo	back to summary
public void writeTo(OutputStream outStream) throws IOException Writes the entity content out to the output stream. Important Note Please note all entity implementations must ensure that all allocated resources are properly deallocated when this method returns. Parameters outStream:OutputStream the output stream to write entity content to Exceptions IOException: if an I/O error occurs

writeTo

back to summary

public void writeTo(OutputStream outStream) throws IOException

Writes the entity content out to the output stream.

Important Note

Please note all entity implementations must ensure that all allocated resources are properly deallocated when this method returns.

Parameters

outStream:OutputStream: the output stream to write entity content to

Exceptions

IOException:: if an I/O error occurs

public Interface HttpEntity

Method Summary

Method Detail