Get a URL in Java

gistfile1.java

public static String GetUrl(String url) throws Exception
	{
		URL serverAddress = null;
		HttpURLConnection connection = null;
		// OutputStreamWriter wr = null;
		BufferedReader rd = null;
		StringBuilder sb = null;
		String line = null;

		try
		{
			serverAddress = new URL(url);
			// set up out communications stuff
			connection = null;

			// Set up the initial connection
			connection = (HttpURLConnection) serverAddress.openConnection();
			connection.setRequestMethod("GET");
			connection.setDoOutput(true);
			connection.setReadTimeout(10000);

			connection.setConnectTimeout(10000);
			connection.connect();

			// read the result from the server
			rd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
					connection.getInputStream()));
			sb = new StringBuilder();

			while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null)
			{
				sb.append(line);
			}

			return sb.toString();

		}
		catch (Exception e)
		{
			throw e;
			// Swallow
		}
		finally
		{
			// close the connection, set all objects
			// to null
			connection.disconnect();
			rd = null;
			sb = null;
			// wr = null;
			connection = null;
		}

	}