Proxy automatic configuration with PAC script file

Question

Dears,
Regarding HTTP communications, I would like to auto-detect proxy settings based on system settings.
I can get information on manually configured proxy, using the following code:
import java.net.Proxy;
import java.net.ProxySelector;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.util.List;
public class Test {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          System.setProperty("java.net.useSystemProxies", "true");
          try {
               List<Proxy> list = ProxySelector.getDefault().select(new URI("http://www.google.be/"));
               for(int i=0; i<list.size(); i++){
                    System.out.println(list.get(i));
          } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
               e.printStackTrace();
}But ...
I haven't found a way yet to get proxy information from automatic proxy configuration script (pac files).
Has anyone encountered/solved this problem yet?
Many thanks for your help,
Eric

Answer 1

well the simple fact, as far as i know, is there just is no autoproxydetection out of the box library for standalone java apps.
there are some libraries out there, but none of which integrate all the functionality as the java plugin/webstart does. and i could not be able to integrate the webstart jar (javaws.jar, deploy.jar, etc.) into a standalone app. a promising project is the "proxy vole" project on kenai, but that's only beta and not all necessary stuff is there.
i noticed that the eclipse project has some proxy autodetection code and there are a few hints & tricks sites out on the web, explaining how you can do proxy autodetection yourself, like reading, at least for windows, registry keys and a dll to process a proxy pac file, but for instance, no support for windows WAPD through DNS/DHCP.
I've spent quite some hours to do research on all these things, and it's just missing for standalone apps. i was really surprised that sun does not provide the same stuff for standalone apps as they do for webstart apps, which in my opinion is really really dissapointing. maybe they plan to do that, but i wasn't able to find any information about that.
well, that's all i know so far.