End of life

The Commons HttpClient project is now end of life, and is no longer being developed. It has been replaced by the Apache HttpComponents project in its HttpClient and HttpCore modules, which offer better performance and more flexibility.

User Guide

The HttpClient user guide is designed to help developers use HttpClient in their applications. While the concept of a user guide being for developers may seem strange, the term developer is already in use for people helping to develop HttpClient.

If you are new to HttpClient, make sure to work through the Tutorial and have a look at the Sample Code. Before reporting problems, read about Trouble Shooting

Overview

Document Description
Authentication Guide This document describes the authentication schemes supported by HttpClient and how to use them.
Character Encodings Guidelines for correctly detecting the character encoding to use when sending and receiving data with HttpClient.
Redirects Handling Provide sample code for custom redirects handling.
Exception Handling This document outlines common types of errors that the users may encounter and describes the exception handling framework used by HttpClient.
Logging Guide This document describes the logging mechanism used by HttpClient and how to control what it outputs.
Methods This document describes the various methods that are provided by HttpClient and how to use them.
Optimization Guide This document outlines HttpClient performance optimization techniques.
Preference Architecture This document explains the preference architecture used by HttpClient and enumerates standard HttpClient parameters.
Sample Code This is a link to the sample code for using HttpClient that is stored in the Subversion repository and is available in source releases of HttpClient.
Trouble Shooting This document provides hints and tips for debugging problems with HttpClient.
Tutorial This document provides a simple introductory tutorial for new users of HttpClient.