org.mule.runtime.http.api.domain.entity

Interface HttpEntity

All Known Implementing Classes:

ByteArrayHttpEntity, EmptyHttpEntity, InputStreamHttpEntity, MultipartHttpEntity

public interface HttpEntity

An entity that can be sent or received via an HttpRequest or HttpResponse.

There are three distinct types of entities, depending on their content:

• streamed: The content is received from a stream.
• composed: The content is made of several parts.
• neither of the above: The content is in memory and whole.

These will determine how the content can be accessed although there may overlap.

Since:

4.0

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
byte[]	getBytes() Provides the entity's content as bytes.
InputStream	getContent() Provides the entity's content as a stream.
Collection<HttpPart>	getParts() Provides the entity's content parts.
boolean	isComposed() Tells whether or not this entity is composed of several parts, in which case they should be available through getParts().
boolean	isStreaming() Tells whether this entity's content is stream based.

Method Detail

isStreaming

boolean isStreaming()

Tells whether this entity's content is stream based. Streamed entities can only provide their content once, regardless of the access method.

Returns:

true if content is streamed, false otherwise

See Also:

getContent()

isComposed

boolean isComposed()

Tells whether or not this entity is composed of several parts, in which case they should be available through getParts().

Returns:

true if there are several content parts, false otherwise

getContent

InputStream getContent()

Provides the entity's content as a stream. All streaming entities should provide their stream.

Returns:

an InputStream representing this entity's content or null if such representation is not possible

getBytes

byte[] getBytes()
         throws IOException

Provides the entity's content as bytes. If the entity is stream based, then the stream will be consumed as a consequence.

Returns:

a byte array representing this entity's content or null if such representation is not possible

Throws:

IOException - if an error occurs creating the byte array

getParts

Collection<HttpPart> getParts()
                       throws IOException

Provides the entity's content parts. If the entity is stream based, then the stream will be consumed as a consequence. Non composed entities should return an empty collection.

Returns:

a collection of HttpParts representing this entity's content parts, if present

Throws:

IOException - if an error occurs handling the parts

See Also:

isComposed()