How can I read a text file (not HTML) from URL in Android?

Question

I request a text file from a server. The url does not end in some_file.txt, because the file is created dynamically per the request (not sure if that is even relevant). When I use the code below, I do not read in the text (though I do read in html, if pointed to a url that has html).

            String text = "RESULTS:\n";

            try {  

                String urlString = 
                    "http://appdata.mysite.com/httpauth/" +
                    "hub/DAR_param1_RTQB?" + 
                    "method=query&list=param2"; 

                // Create a URL 
                URL url = new URL(urlString);

                // Read all the text returned by the server
                in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream()));

                String line;
                while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
                    text = text + line;
                }                    
            } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
            } catch (IOException e) {
            } catch (Exception e) {
            } finally {
                if ( in != null ) {
                    try {
                        in.close();
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                        Log.e(TAG, "Exception trying to close BufferedReader");
                    }
                }
            } 

            return text;

This returns only "RESULTS:", but none of the text. What am I missing?

Edit: Here is an example of the file. This is displayed in a browser if the url is pasted into the address bar:

20120120_1734
20120120_1725
20120120_1715
20120120_1705
20120120_1655

Can you post an example of a file this request will generate? — Dan W
– Dan W, Commented Jan 20, 2012 at 17:35

Jon Egerton · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-20 17:58:14Z

4

You are swallowing all the potential errors that you need to see to troubleshoot this.

In your catch clauses, try adding some code to see the errors. Something along the lines of:

System.out.println("Error: ", e.getMessage());

edited Jan 20, 2012 at 17:58

Jon Egerton

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answered Jan 20, 2012 at 17:49

oldingn

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1 Comment

Hap Over a year ago

OK. Good point. I was getting a File not Found exception. Turns out is was an authentication issue.

volk · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-20 17:53:26Z

0

Did you add the Internet permissions in the manifest? The code looks fine, but you're clearly getting some error and not outputting the errors since you dont have a print message in the catch clause.

Log.i("--->","e.getMessage()); //just like oldingn said

answered Jan 20, 2012 at 17:53

volk

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