如何使用java.net.URLConnection设置会话属性？

Question

how do you set session attributes with java.net.URLConnection or its subclasses?

In other words, what is the equivalent of HttpSession.setAttribute(String, Object) in Java.net.URLConnection ? URLConnection does have setRequestProperty(String, String) , but it does not help me as I need similar functionality as session.setAttribute(String, Object) for setting a timestamp.

In other words, how do you express following call with URLConnection?
HttpSession.setAttribute("timestamp", timestamp);

I cant change the contract with the third party, that is my request must have an timestamp attribute with a java.util.Date value.

Any help appreciated.

Answer 1

You can't. The session is kept, privately, at server-side, and is not available from the client. It's not part of the HTTP protocol at all, but is just something that nearly all server-side webapp APIs offer to allow keeping state associated to one particular user of the application.

Basically, what you're asking is the equivalent of "what can I put in my email to store some text in the C:\\session.txt file on the hard drive of the recipient?":

• there is perhaps no C:\\session.txt file
• you can't access the hard drive of a recipient by writing something in an email. It would constitute a big security problem