Unable to read InputStream in Signed Applet when interacting with ISA proxy

Question

Background info:
We have an applet that we use for incremental refresh of data items.
The applet model works for all but one of our customers
Client info:
VeriSIgn signed applet.
IE 6.0 browser
Java JRE version: 1.5.0_06-b05
OS: Windows XP Version 2002 service pack 2
Problem description:
I am consistently getting a premature EOF exception when trying to read from a BufferedInputStream.
The stack trace, if captured ends up in the ChunkedInputStream reader.
I have tried a variety of request header settings to no avail.
Connection: close
Connection: Keep-Alive
etc...
Any comments are welcome
Thanks for reading and considering
Kurt

Answer 1

We are using the HttpURLConnection. If I have to go down the stack to the Socket object, well I guess I have to re event the wheel so to speak.
I have tried both Connection: close and Connection: Keep-Alive. Not at the same time :) but in different intrim releases of test applet.
// Here is the current incarnation of how I am trying to connect.
URL url = new URL(sURL);
trace("attempting to connect to URL: " + sURL, DEBUG);
connection = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
connection.setDoOutput(true);
connection.setDoInput( true );
connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
connection.setUseCaches( false );
connection.setInstanceFollowRedirects( true );
connection.setAllowUserInteraction( false );
connection.setRequestProperty("Pragma", "no-cache");
connection.setRequestProperty("Expires", "-1");
connection.setRequestProperty("Connection", "Keep-Alive");
connection.connect();
// Now I write our form POST data and flush and close the output stream.
BufferedOutputStream bos = new BufferedOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());
bos.write(sForm.getBytes());
          bos.flush();
bos.close();
// Get the input and read
bis = new BufferedInputStream(connection.getInputStream());
trace( "reading input stream for action: " + sAction );
byte[] responseBuffer = new byte[4096];
int bytesRead = 0;
while( (bytesRead = bis.read( responseBuffer, 0, responseBuffer.length )) != -1 )
sbResponse.append( new String( responseBuffer, 0, bytesRead ));
totalBytesRead += bytesRead;
catch (Throwable e)
e.printStackTrace();
try
m_connections.remove( sAction );
connection.disconnect();
catch ( Throwable t ) {}
finally
if ( bis != null )
try
bis.close();
catch( Throwable t ) {}
With the above code in place what I am now seeing, as opposed to a premature EOF exception, is blocking behavior on the read.