HTTPRequest.java

package twitter;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.*;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.*;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.params.HttpMethodParams;

import java.io.*;

public class HTTPRequest {

	public String getHTTPResponse(String query) {
		String response = null;
		HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
		GetMethod method = new GetMethod(query);
		method.getParams().setParameter(HttpMethodParams.RETRY_HANDLER,
				new DefaultHttpMethodRetryHandler(3, false));
		try {
			int statusCode = client.executeMethod(method);
			if (statusCode != HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
				System.err.println("Method failed: " + method.getStatusLine());
			}

			byte[] responseBody = method.getResponseBody();
			response = (new String(responseBody));
		} catch (HttpException e) {
			System.err.println("Fatal protocol violation: " + e.getMessage());
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			System.err.println("Fatal transport error: " + e.getMessage());
			e.printStackTrace();
		} finally {
			method.releaseConnection();
		}

		return response;

	}
}