A simple way to make connection to a service

Connection.java

package net.shereef.connection;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;

/**
 * @author Shereef Marzouk
 * 
 */
public class Connection {

  private static final String UTF_8 = "UTF-8";
	private static final String TAG = "Connection";

	/**
	 * @param args
	 */
	public static void main(String[] args) {

	}

	/**
	 * @param url
	 *            : the url to connect to<br/>
	 * @param method
	 *            : the method (GET, POST...etc)<br/>
	 * @param parameters
	 *            : the parameters to be sent in the message body
	 * @return
	 */
	public static String connect(final String url, final String method,
			final String data) {
		final StringBuffer text = new StringBuffer();
		HttpURLConnection conn = null;
		OutputStream out = null;
		InputStreamReader in = null;
		BufferedReader buff = null;
		try {
			final URL page = new URL(url);
			conn = (HttpURLConnection) page.openConnection();
			conn.setDoInput(true);
			conn.setUseCaches(false);
			conn.setRequestMethod(method);
			if (!"GET".equals(method) && data && data.length() > 0) {
				conn.setDoOutput(true);
				out = conn.getOutputStream();
				final byte[] postData = data.getBytes(
						Connection.UTF_8);
				out.write(postData);
				out.flush();
				out.close();
			}
			final int responseCode = conn.getResponseCode();
			if (responseCode == 401 || responseCode == 403) {
				// Authorization Error
				 Log.e(TAG, "Authorization error in " + url + "("
				 + data.toString() + ")");
				 throw new Exception("Authorization Error in " + url + "("
				 + data.toString() + ")");
				return null;
			}
			if (responseCode == 404) {
				// Authorization Error
				 Log.e(TAG, "Not found error in " + url + "("
				 + data.toString() + ")");
				 throw new Exception("Authorization Error in " + url + "("
				 + data.toString() + ")");
				return null;
			}

			if (responseCode >= 500 && responseCode <= 504) {
				// Server Error
				 Log.e(TAG, "Internal server error in " + url + "("
				 + data.toString() + ")");
				 throw new Exception("Internal Server Error in " + url +
				 "("
				 + data.toString() + ")");
				return null;
			}
			in = new InputStreamReader((InputStream) conn.getContent());
			buff = new BufferedReader(in);
			String line;
			while (null != (line = buff.readLine()) && !"null".equals(line)) {
				text.append(line + "\n");
			}
			buff.close();
			buff = null;
			in.close();
			in = null;
			conn.disconnect();
			conn = null;
		} catch (final Exception e) {
			 Log.e(TAG,
			 "Exception while getting " + method + " from " + url
			 + " with parameters: "
			 + data + ", exception: " + e.toString()
			 + ", cause: " + e.getCause() + ", message: "
			 + e.getMessage());
			e.printStackTrace();
			return null;
		} finally {
			if (null != out) {
				try {
					out.close();
				} catch (final IOException e1) {
				}
				out = null;
			}
			if (null != buff) {
				try {
					buff.close();
				} catch (final IOException e1) {
				}
				buff = null;
			}
			if (null != in) {
				try {
					in.close();
				} catch (final IOException e1) {
				}
				in = null;
			}
			if (null != conn) {
				conn.disconnect();
				conn = null;
			}
		}
		if (text.length() > 0) {
			return text.toString();
		}
		 Log.w(TAG,
		 "Warning: " + url + "(" + data.toString()
		 + "), text = " + text.toString());
		return null;
	}

}