URLConnection.setConnectTimeout(): how to use?

Question

I wonder how to use URLConnection.setConnectTimeout()? I need to have a URLConnection object (in my case: HttpURLConnection). But the only way to do this for an URL is:
HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection(); right? But then it's too late to set a connection timeout. HttpURLConnection has only a protected constructor, so I can't use it. Is ther another way?

Answer 1

I don't call connect():
                con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection(); //can take forever
                con.setConnectTimeout(timeout);
                con.setReadTimeout(timeout);
                //avoid "java.io.IOException: HTTPS hostname wrong:  should be <217.5.135.142>"
                if (con instanceof HttpsURLConnection) { //HTTPS URL?
                    ((HttpsURLConnection) con).setHostnameVerifier(new HostnameVerifier() {
                        public boolean verify(String hostname, SSLSession session) {
                            return true;
                String contentEncoding = con.getContentEncoding();
                is = con.getInputStream();
                //get correct input stream for compressed data:
                if (contentEncoding != null && contentEncoding.equalsIgnoreCase("gzip")) {
                    is = new GZIPInputStream(is); //reads 2 bytes to determin GZIP stream!
                Utils.writeStream(is, outputStream);