How to prevent apache http client from following a redirect

Question

I\'m connecting to a remote server with apache http client. the remote server sends a redirect, and i want to achieve that my client isn\'t following the redirect automatica

Answer 1

The magic, thanks to macbirdie , is:

params.setParameter("http.protocol.handle-redirects",false);

Imports are left out, here's a copy paste sample:

HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
HttpContext localContext = new BasicHttpContext();

// HTTP parameters stores header etc.
HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams();
params.setParameter("http.protocol.handle-redirects",false);

// Create a local instance of cookie store
CookieStore cookieStore = new BasicCookieStore();

// Bind custom cookie store to the local context
localContext.setAttribute(ClientContext.COOKIE_STORE, cookieStore);

// connect and receive 
HttpGet httpget = new HttpGet("http://localhost/web/redirect");
httpget.setParams(params);
response = httpclient.execute(httpget, localContext);

// obtain redirect target
Header locationHeader = response.getFirstHeader("location");
if (locationHeader != null) {
    redirectLocation = locationHeader.getValue();
  System.out.println("loaction: " + redirectLocation);
} else {
  // The response is invalid and did not provide the new location for
  // the resource.  Report an error or possibly handle the response
  // like a 404 Not Found error.
}

Answer 2

this worked for me CloseableHttpClient client = HttpClientBuilder.create().disableRedirectHandling().build()

Answer 3

Rather than use the property directly you can use:

final HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams();
HttpClientParams.setRedirecting(params, false);

Answer 4

Before HttpClient 4.3

In older versions of the Http Client (before 4.3), we can configure what the client does with redirects as follows:

@Test
public void givenRedirectsAreDisabled_whenConsumingUrlWhichRedirects_thenNotRedirected() 
  throws ClientProtocolException, IOException {
    DefaultHttpClient instance = new DefaultHttpClient();

    HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams();
    params.setParameter(ClientPNames.HANDLE_REDIRECTS, false);
    // HttpClientParams.setRedirecting(params, false); // alternative

    HttpGet httpGet = new HttpGet("http:/testabc.com");
    httpGet.setParams(params);
    CloseableHttpResponse response = instance.execute(httpGet);

    assertThat(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode(), equalTo(301));
}

Notice the alternative API that can be used to configure the redirect behavior without using setting the actual raw http.protocol.handle-redirects parameter:

HttpClientParams.setRedirecting(params, false);

Also notice that, with follow redirects disabled, we can now check that the Http Response status code is indeed 301 Moved Permanently – as it should be.

After HttpClient 4.3

HttpClient 4.3 introduced a cleaner, more high level API to build and configure the client:

@Test
public void givenRedirectsAreDisabled_whenConsumingUrlWhichRedirects_thenNotRedirected() 
  throws ClientProtocolException, IOException {
    HttpClient instance = HttpClientBuilder.create().disableRedirectHandling().build();
    HttpResponse response = instance.execute(new HttpGet("http://testabc.com"));

    assertThat(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode(), equalTo(301));
}

Note that the new API configures the entire client with this redirect behavior – not just the individual request. Reference: http://www.baeldung.com/httpclient-stop-follow-redirect

Answer 5

Using HttpClient 4.3 and Fluent:

final String url = "http://...";
final HttpClient client = HttpClientBuilder.create()
    .disableRedirectHandling()
    .build();
final Executor executor = Executor.newInstance(client);
final HttpResponse response = executor.execute(Request.Get(url))
    .returnResponse();

Answer 6

This worked for me:

HttpGet httpGet = new HttpGet("www.google.com");
HttpParams params = httpGet.getParams();
params.setParameter(ClientPNames.HANDLE_REDIRECTS, Boolean.FALSE);
httpGet.setParams(params);