org.apache.http.HttpEntity Maven / Gradle / Ivy
Show all versions of httpcore Show documentation
/*
* ====================================================================
* Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
* or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
* distributed with this work for additional information
* regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
* to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
* "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
* with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
* software distributed under the License is distributed on an
* "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
* KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
* specific language governing permissions and limitations
* under the License.
* ====================================================================
*
* This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
* individuals on behalf of the Apache Software Foundation. For more
* information on the Apache Software Foundation, please see
*
* There are three distinct types of entities in HttpCore,
* depending on where their {@link #getContent 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 {@link HttpConnection connection}.
* {@link #isStreaming Streamed} entities are generally not
* {@link #isRepeatable 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 {@link #isRepeatable 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.
*
* @since 4.0
*/
public interface HttpEntity {
/**
* 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.
* @return true if the entity is repeatable, false otherwise.
*/
boolean isRepeatable();
/**
* Tells about chunked encoding for this entity.
* The primary purpose of this method is to indicate whether
* chunked encoding should be used when the entity is sent.
* For entities that are received, it can also indicate whether
* the entity was received with chunked encoding.
*
* The behavior of wrapping entities is implementation dependent,
* but should respect the primary purpose.
*
*
* @return {@code true} if chunked encoding is preferred for this
* entity, or {@code false} if it is not
*/
boolean isChunked();
/**
* Tells the length of the content, if known.
*
* @return the number of bytes of the content, or
* a negative number if unknown. If the content length is known
* but exceeds {@link java.lang.Long#MAX_VALUE Long.MAX_VALUE},
* a negative number is returned.
*/
long getContentLength();
/**
* Obtains the Content-Type header, if known.
* This is the header that should be used when sending the entity,
* or the one that was received with the entity. It can include a
* charset attribute.
*
* @return the Content-Type header for this entity, or
* {@code null} if the content type is unknown
*/
Header getContentType();
/**
* Obtains the Content-Encoding header, if known.
* This is the header that should be used when sending the entity,
* or the one that was received with the entity.
* Wrapping entities that modify the content encoding should
* adjust this header accordingly.
*
* @return the Content-Encoding header for this entity, or
* {@code null} if the content encoding is unknown
*/
Header getContentEncoding();
/**
* Returns a content stream of the entity.
* {@link #isRepeatable Repeatable} entities are expected
* to create a new instance of {@link InputStream} for each invocation
* of this method and therefore can be consumed multiple times.
* Entities that are not {@link #isRepeatable repeatable} are expected
* to return the same {@link InputStream} instance and therefore
* may not be consumed more than once.
*
* IMPORTANT: Please note all entity implementations must ensure that
* all allocated resources are properly deallocated after
* the {@link InputStream#close()} method is invoked.
*
* @return content stream of the entity.
*
* @throws IOException if the stream could not be created
* @throws UnsupportedOperationException
* if entity content cannot be represented as {@link java.io.InputStream}.
*
* @see #isRepeatable()
*/
InputStream getContent() throws IOException, UnsupportedOperationException;
/**
* Writes the entity content out to the output stream.
*
* IMPORTANT: Please note all entity implementations must ensure that
* all allocated resources are properly deallocated when this method
* returns.
*
* @param outstream the output stream to write entity content to
*
* @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs
*/
void writeTo(OutputStream outstream) throws IOException;
/**
* Tells whether this entity depends on an underlying stream.
* Streamed entities that read data directly from the socket should
* return {@code true}. Self-contained entities should return
* {@code false}. Wrapping entities should delegate this call
* to the wrapped entity.
*
* @return {@code true} if the entity content is streamed,
* {@code false} otherwise
*/
boolean isStreaming(); // don't expect an exception here
/**
* This method is deprecated since version 4.1. Please use standard
* java convention to ensure resource deallocation by calling
* {@link InputStream#close()} on the input stream returned by
* {@link #getContent()}
*
* This method is called to indicate that the content of this entity
* is no longer required. All entity implementations are expected to
* release all allocated resources as a result of this method
* invocation. Content streaming entities are also expected to
* dispose of the remaining content, if any. Wrapping entities should
* delegate this call to the wrapped entity.
*
* This method is of particular importance for entities being
* received from a {@link HttpConnection connection}. The entity
* needs to be consumed completely in order to re-use the connection
* with keep-alive.
*
* @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs.
*
* @deprecated (4.1) Use {@link org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils#consume(HttpEntity)}
*
* @see #getContent() and #writeTo(OutputStream)
*/
@Deprecated
void consumeContent() throws IOException;
}