Metacat

import java.util.HashMap;

import java.util.Set;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpException;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;

	/**

	 * Post a request and return the response body

	 * 

	 * @param httpClient

	 *            The HttpClient to use in the post.  This is passed in because

     * 			  the same client may be used in several posts

	 * @param url

	 *            the url to post to

	 * @param paramMap

	 *            map of parameters to add to the post

	 * @returns a string holding the response body

	 */

	public static String post(HttpClient httpClient, String url,

			HashMap<String, String> paramMap) throws IOException, HttpException {

		PostMethod method = new PostMethod(url);

		// Configure the form parameters

		if (paramMap != null) {

			Set<String> paramNames = paramMap.keySet();

			for (String paramName : paramNames) {

				method.addParameter(paramName, paramMap.get(paramName));

			}

		}

		// Execute the POST method

		int statusCode = httpClient.executeMethod(method);

		if (statusCode != -1) {

			String contents = method.getResponseBodyAsString();

			method.releaseConnection();

			return (contents);

		}

		return null;

	}