Java HTTP Request Occasionally Hangs

Question

For the majority of the time, my HTTP Requests work with no problem. However, occasionally they will hang.

The code that I am using is set up so that if the request succeeds (with a response code of 200 or 201), then call screen.requestSucceeded(). If the request fails, then call screen.requestFailed().

When the request hangs, however, it does so before one of the above methods are called. Is there something wrong with my code? Should I be using some sort of best practice to prevent any hanging?

The following is my code. I would appreciate any help. Thanks!

HttpConnection connection = (HttpConnection) Connector.open(url
                    + connectionParameters);

            connection.setRequestMethod(method);
            connection.setRequestProperty("WWW-Authenticate",
                    "OAuth realm=api.netflix.com");
            if (method.equals("POST") && postData != null) {
            connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type",
                    "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
            connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", Integer
                    .toString(postData.length));
            OutputStream requestOutput = connection.openOutputStream();
            requestOutput.write(postData);
            requestOutput.close();
        }
            int responseCode = connection.getResponseCode();
            System.out.println("RESPONSE CODE: " + responseCode);
            if (connection instanceof HttpsConnection) {
                HttpsConnection secureConnection = (HttpsConnection) connection;
                String issuer = secureConnection.getSecurityInfo()
                        .getServerCertificate().getIssuer();
                UiApplication.getUiApplication().invokeLater(
                        new DialogRunner(
                                "Secure Connection! Certificate issued by: "
                                        + issuer));

            }

            if (responseCode != 200 && responseCode != 201) {
                screen.requestFailed("Unexpected response code: "
                        + responseCode);
                connection.close();
                return;
            }

            String contentType = connection.getHeaderField("Content-type");
            ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();

            InputStream responseData = connection.openInputStream();
            byte[] buffer = new byte[20000];
            int bytesRead = 0;
            while ((bytesRead = responseData.read(buffer)) > 0) {
                baos.write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
            }
            baos.close();
            connection.close();
            screen.requestSucceeded(baos.toByteArray(), contentType);
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            screen.requestFailed(ex.toString());
        }

Answer 1

Without any trace, I am just shooting in the dark.

Try to add this 2 calls,

System.setProperty("http.keepAlive", "false");

connection.setRequestProperty("Connection", "close");

Keep-alive is a common cause for stale connections. These calls will disable it.