Added OkHttp and used it to clean up the HTTP calls in the demo and then moved those new functions to a util lib.

build.gradle

@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ dependencies {
     compile "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-reflect:$kotlin_version"
     compile "org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-test:$kotlin_version"
     compile "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-support-jdk8:0.2"
+    compile 'com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:3.3.1'
 
     // Unit testing helpers.
     testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'

src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/demos/IRSDemo.kt

@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ import java.nio.file.Paths
 import java.util.*
 import kotlin.concurrent.fixedRateTimer
 import kotlin.system.exitProcess
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils
+import com.r3corda.demos.utilities.*
 
 // IRS DEMO
 //
@@ -421,77 +423,6 @@ private fun runUploadRates(host: HostAndPort) {
     })
 }
 
-// Todo: Use a simpler library function for this and handle timeout exceptions
-private fun sendJson(url: URL, data: String, method: String) : Boolean {
-    val connection = url.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection
-    connection.doOutput = true
-    connection.useCaches = false
-    connection.requestMethod = method
-    connection.connectTimeout = 5000
-    connection.readTimeout = 60000
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Connection", "Keep-Alive")
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json")
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", data.length.toString())
-
-    try {
-        val outStream = DataOutputStream(connection.outputStream)
-        outStream.writeBytes(data)
-        outStream.close()
-
-        return when (connection.responseCode) {
-            200 -> true
-            201 -> true
-            else -> {
-                println("Failed to " + method + " data. Status Code: " + connection.responseCode + ". Message: " + connection.responseMessage)
-                false
-            }
-        }
-    } catch(e: SocketTimeoutException) {
-        println("Server took too long to respond")
-        return false
-    }
-}
-
-private fun putJson(url: URL, data: String) : Boolean {
-    return sendJson(url, data, "PUT")
-}
-
-private fun postJson(url: URL, data: String) : Boolean {
-    return sendJson(url, data, "POST")
-}
-
-// Todo: Use a simpler library function for this and handle timeout exceptions
-private fun uploadFile(url: URL, file: String) : Boolean {
-    val boundary = "===" + System.currentTimeMillis() + "==="
-    val hyphens = "--"
-    val clrf = "\r\n"
-
-    val connection = url.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection
-    connection.doOutput = true
-    connection.doInput = true
-    connection.useCaches = false
-    connection.requestMethod = "POST"
-    connection.connectTimeout = 5000
-    connection.readTimeout = 60000
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Connection", "Keep-Alive")
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Cache-Control", "no-cache")
-    connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary)
-
-    val request = DataOutputStream(connection.outputStream)
-    request.writeBytes(hyphens + boundary + clrf)
-    request.writeBytes("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"rates\" filename=\"example.rates.txt\"$clrf")
-    request.writeBytes(clrf)
-    request.writeBytes(file)
-    request.writeBytes(clrf)
-    request.writeBytes(hyphens + boundary + hyphens + clrf)
-
-    if (connection.responseCode == 200) {
-        return true
-    } else {
-        println("Could not upload file. Status Code: " + connection + ". Message: " + connection.responseMessage)
-        return false
-    }
 }
 
 private fun getNodeConfig(cliParams: CliParams.RunNode): NodeConfiguration {

src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/demos/utilities/HttpUtils.kt

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+package com.r3corda.demos.utilities
+
+import okhttp3.*
+import java.net.URL
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+
+/**
+ * A small set of utilities for making HttpCalls, aimed at demos.
+ */
+private val client = OkHttpClient.Builder()
+        .connectTimeout(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+        .readTimeout(15, TimeUnit.SECONDS).build();
+
+fun putJson(url: URL, data: String) : Boolean {
+    val body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8"), data)
+    return makeRequest(Request.Builder().url(url).put(body).build())
+}
+
+fun postJson(url: URL, data: String) : Boolean {
+    val body = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8"), data)
+    return makeRequest(Request.Builder().url(url).post(body).build())
+}
+
+fun uploadFile(url: URL, file: String) : Boolean {
+    val body = MultipartBody.Builder()
+            .setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
+            .addFormDataPart("rates", "example.rates.txt", RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("text/plain"), file))
+            .build();
+    return makeRequest(Request.Builder().url(url).post(body).build())
+}
+
+private fun makeRequest(request: Request): Boolean {
+    val response = client.newCall(request).execute();
+
+    if (!response.isSuccessful) {
+        println("Could not fulfill HTTP request. Status Code: ${response.code()}. Message: ${response.body()}")
+    }
+    return response.isSuccessful
+}