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FTPClient connection with Java on AWS Virtual Machine

I'm trying to connect to my FTP server in Java SE 1.8. To do so I use this method :
private void connectFTP() {
String server = "ftp.XXXXXXXXXX.site";
int port = 21;
String user = "XXXX";
String pass = "XXXX";
if(!ftpConnexionSuccess.get())
{
client = new FTPClient();
client.configure(new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_UNIX));
try {
client.connect(server, port);
ftpConnexionSuccess.set(client.login(user, pass));
if (!ftpConnexionSuccess.get()) {
System.out.println("Could not login to the server");
return;
}
else
{
System.out.println("LOGGED IN SERVER");
client.changeWorkingDirectory("/crypto");
listenedFile = getListenedFile();
System.out.println(listenedFile.getName());
if(listenedFile != null)
{
baseFileTimeStamp.set(listenedFile.getTimestamp().getTimeInMillis());
}
System.out.println(baseFileTimeStamp);
}
} catch (Exception ex) {
System.err.println("FTP connection error : Sleeping for 5 seconds before trying again (" + ex.getMessage() + ")");
ex.printStackTrace();
try {
Thread.sleep(5000);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {e.printStackTrace();}
try {
client.disconnect();
} catch (IOException e) {e.printStackTrace();}
connectFTP();
}
}
}
It works great when I'm on Eclipse and when I export the app on my Windows 10.
Nonetheless, when I try to launch the app on my AWS Webmachine I get a null pointer exception at "listenedFile". The method to listen to this file is the one below.
private FTPFile getListenedFile() {
FTPFile returnedFile = null;
try {
for(FTPFile file : client.listFiles())
{
if(file.getName().contains("filetolisten.txt"))
returnedFile = file;
}
} catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
e.printStackTrace();
try {
client.disconnect();
} catch (IOException e1) {e1.printStackTrace();}
connectFTP();
return getListenedFile();
}
return returnedFile;
}
I thought it was because of the line
client.configure(new FTPClientConfig(FTPClientConfig.SYST_UNIX));
I tried to delete the line, and to replace SYST_UNIX with SYST_NT, but nothing worked.
I tried to delete the line, and to replace SYST_UNIX with SYST_NT, but nothing worked. Also updated Java, updated the common-nets library. Nothing worked

Can't send objects using Sockets

Hello Im writing an app in which client sends name of room to server, server creates it and then sends back whole list of rooms. I have problem with receiving this object from server also whats interesting when I close clients' app and open again I have list of rooms just like it should be. I refresh room list in client app but its always empty only reopening helps that's pretty weird and I don't know an issue of this.
On client side:
getIs() method is returning is object
getOs() method returning os object
this.os = new ObjectOutputStream(clientSocket.getOutputStream());
this.is = new ObjectInputStream(clientSocket.getInputStream());
private void createRoom(ActionEvent event) {
String roomName = "CreateRoom ";
roomName += setRoomName();
String response = null;
try {
client.getOs().writeObject(roomName);
response = (String) client.getIs().readObject();
System.out.println(response);
} catch (IOException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void refreshRooms() {
String response = null;
try {
client.getOs().writeObject("RefreshRooms");
response = (String) client.getIs().readObject();
System.out.println(response);
rooms = (Rooms) client.getIs().readObject();
System.out.println("Print in client: ");
rooms.printAllRooms();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Server:
this.os = new ObjectOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());
this.is = new ObjectInputStream(connection.getInputStream());
public void run() {
String inputRequest = null;
try {
while((inputRequest = (String) ois.readObject()) != null) {
System.out.println(inputRequest);
handleRequest(inputRequest);
}
} catch (IOException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("Client has disconnected.");
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void handleRequest(String request) {
String response = null;
String[] msg = request.split(" ");
if(msg[0].equals("CreateRoom")) {
try {
oos.writeObject("You want create a room.");
Room newRoom = new Room(msg[1]);
rooms.addRoom(newRoom);
System.out.println("Created room: " + newRoom.getName());
System.out.println("\n Print after creation: ");
rooms.printAllRooms();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}else if (msg[0].equals("RefreshRooms")) {
try {
oos.writeObject("You want list of rooms.");
System.out.println("Print before send.");
rooms.printAllRooms();
oos.writeObject(rooms);
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
///EDIT:
So I removed PrintWriter and BufferedReader objects and now Im using only Object Streams. What doesn't work now is:
I create some rooms one after another and then refresh rooms list on clients app - in that case I get all rooms
But when I create one room refresh then create another and refresh I get only 1 room after 2nd refresh, so basically when I refresh server sends me always the same object from 1st send and I don't know how to change it.
Also Im printing these rooms on server side and always get all rooms so room creation is OK.

You could try to flush the buffered streams:
os.flush()
This will force the stream to actually send the bytes of the serialized object. Without that, the BufferedOutputStream might just wait around and buffer data, as the name says. This is done so that the size of the sent packets does not become too small, which would result in a lot of overhead if you want to send multiple objects.
If you are done, you should close the stream anyway.

establishing communication between Java desktop app and Java browser applet via sockets

I'm new to network I/O programming, and I've run into a snag-- basically what I want to do is have a desktop app talk to the google maps javascript API. In order to facilitate this, I have built a java applet which will act as a bridge between the desktop app and the browser javascript app. When I run the desktop app and applet together in Eclipse they can communicate perfectly, and I am able to invoke applet functions by writing strings to a Socket bound to the same port the applet has established a ServerSocket connection with. For testing purposes in Eclipse, I send the string "sendJSAlertTest" to the socket's outputstream, then derive a Method instance using the java.lang.reflect API from the ServerSocket inputstream, and then finally invoke the resulting method in the applet. When the applet is running in a browser I write "sendJSAlert" to the socket instead since it leads to the actual invocation of javascript. The result in Eclipse using the appletviewer is that the desktop application context prints the output "awesome sendJSAlert" and the applet context prints the output from the sendJSAlertTest() method, "Hello Client, I'm a Server!". The result of passing "sendJSAlert" to the applet running in the browser is that the desktop application prints null, suggesting that for some reason the inputstream of the ServerSocket is empty, and the browser itself does nothing when it should generate a javascript alert box with the text "Hello Client, I'm a Server!". The browser I'm using is Google Chrome, and for the moment I am simply running everything on the local machine (e.g. no remote server involved yet)
Below is the relevant Java code and HTML:
SocketClient.java
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
public class SocketClient {
Socket socket = null;
PrintWriter out = null;
BufferedReader in = null;
private InetAddress myAddress;
private String remoteFunction;
public SocketClient(){
}
public void listenSocket(int portNum){
//Create socket connection
try{
System.out.println("#Client Trying to create socket bound to port " + portNum);
socket = new Socket(<my hostname here as a string>, portNum);
System.out.println("the attached socket port is " + socket.getLocalPort());
System.out.flush();
out = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), true);
out.println("sendJSAlertTest");
in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(socket.getInputStream()));
String line = in.readLine();
System.out.println("#CLient side Text received from server: " + line);
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
System.out.println("Unknown host: <my hostname here as a string>.eng");
System.exit(1);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("No I/O");
e.printStackTrace();
System.exit(1);
}
}
public void setRemoteFunction(String funcName){
remoteFunction = funcName;
}
public String getRemoteFunction(){
return remoteFunction;
}
}
SocketServer.java
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.net.*;
class SocketServer {
ServerSocket server = null;
Socket client = null;
BufferedReader in = null;
PrintWriter out = null;
String line;
private NetComm hNet;
private Method serverMethod;
SocketServer(NetComm netmain){
hNet = netmain;
}
public void listenSocket(int portNum){
try{
System.out.println("#server Trying to create socket bound to port " + portNum);
server = new ServerSocket(portNum);
System.out.println("the attached socket port is " + server.getLocalPort());
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Could not listen on port " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try{
client = server.accept();
System.out.println("Connection accepted!");
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try{
in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(client.getInputStream()));
out = new PrintWriter(client.getOutputStream(), true);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
while(true){
try{
System.out.println("trying to read from inputstream...");
line = in.readLine();
System.out.println(line);
//Now that we have a method name, invoke it
try {
serverMethod = hNet.getClass().getDeclaredMethod(line,
String.class);
} catch (SecurityException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
try {
serverMethod.invoke(hNet, "Hello Client, I'm a Server!");
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
//Send data back to client
out.println("awesome " + line);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Read failed");
System.out.flush();
System.exit(-1);
}
}
}
protected void finalize(){
//Clean up
try{
in.close();
out.close();
server.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Could not close.");
System.exit(-1);
}
}
public int getBoundLocalPort(){
return server.getLocalPort();
}
}
NetComm.java
import cresco.ai.att.ccm.core.CCMMain;
import cresco.ai.att.ccm.gui.DataPanel;
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.applet.*;
public class NetComm extends JApplet{//HttpServlet{
private CCMMain hMain;
private DataPanel dpLocal;
private SocketServer sockserver;
private Method serverMethod;
String testStr;
Integer testInt; /*integer */
Character testChar; /*character*/
//Testing this...
ServerSocket server = null;
Socket client = null;
BufferedReader in = null;
PrintWriter out = null;
String line;
#Override
public void init(){
sockserver = new SocketServer(this);
//For offline debug (should be disabled in a release to the webapp):
//initSocketServer is commented out in the release version and
//invoked in the Eclipse testbed version. In the webapp,
//initSocketServer is invoked from javascript (see below js sockPuppet())
//////initSocketServer(0);
String msg = "Hello from Java (using javascript alert)";
try {
getAppletContext().showDocument(new URL("javascript:doAlert(\"" +
msg +"\")"));
}
catch (MalformedURLException me) { }
}
public void sendJSAlertTest(String message){
System.out.println("sendJSAlert remotely invoked, with message: " +
message);
}
public void sendJSAlert(String message){
try {
getAppletContext().showDocument(new URL("javascript:doAlert(\"" +
message +"\")"));
}
catch (MalformedURLException me) { }
}
public void initSocketServer(int portNum){
sockserver.listenSocket(portNum);
}
public void finalizeSocketServer(){
sockserver.finalize();
}
public int socket2Me(int portNum){
try {
socks.add(new ServerSocket(portNum));
return 0; //socket opened successfully
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
return -1; //socket failed to open
}
}
public int getSocketServerPort(){
return sockserver.getBoundLocalPort();
}
public void showRectTest(){
try {
getAppletContext().showDocument(new
URL("javascript:overlayRect()"));
}
catch (MalformedURLException me) { }
}
public void setGUI(DataPanel d){
dpLocal = d;
}
}
MapViz.html
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome to Geographic Midpoint Map Vizualization!</title>
<meta name="viewport"
content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<link href="https://google-developers.appspot.com/maps/documentation/javascript
/examples/default.css"
rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
...google maps stuff omitted...
<script type="text/javascript">
<script type="text/javascript">
function overlayRect(){
var c=document.getElementById("myCanvas");
var ctx=c.getContext("2d");
ctx.fillStyle="#FF0000";
ctx.fillRect(0,0,150,75);
}
function doAlert(s){
alert(s);
}
function testJava(){
document.ccmApplet.showRectTest();
}
function sockPuppet(){
var i = parseInt(document.getElementById("args").value,10);
alert("parsing the input args... got " + i);
if(i == NaN || i == null){
i = 0;
}
alert("passed NaN OR null block, i is " + i);
//i = 6672; //because $%*& you, that's why!
document.ccmApplet.initSocketServer(i);
//document.ccmApplet.listenSocket(i);
alert("inittializing socket server...");
//queryPort();
alert("querying port...");
document.ccmApplet.finalizeSocketServer();
//document.ccmApplet.finalize();
alert("finalizing socket server...");
}
function queryPort(){
var d = document.getElementById("debug");
var s1 = "Last port opened was: ";
//var s2 = document.ccmApplet.getLastBoundPort();
var s2 = document.ccmApplet.getSocketServerPort();
var sFinal = s1.concat(s2);
d.value = sFinal;
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<applet width="500" height="50" name="ccmApplet" archive="CCM.jar"
code="cresco.ai.att.ccm.io.NetComm" MAYSCRIPT></applet>
<p></p>
<canvas id="myCanvas" width="200" height="100"></canvas>
<div id="map_canvas"></div>
<input id="args" type="textentry" value="" />
<button height="50" width="50" onClick="sockPuppet()">Test Socket
Creation</button>
<input id="debug" type="debugthingy" value="debug area..." />
<button height="50" width="50" onClick="testJava()">Test Java Callback</button>
</body>
</html>
In the webapp, I fill in the args input with a valid port number on the local machine and press the Test Socket Connection button which invokes the sockPuppet() javascript. This should create a ServerSocket and bind it to the specified port, which I then separately connect my desktop client app to via SocketClient.listenSocket. The result from Eclipse in the desktop app context is "awesome sendJSAlertTest" and in the appletviewer context is the output "sendJSAlert remotely invoked, with message: Hello Client, I'm a Server!". The webapp, invoking sendJSAlert(), should call the javascript alert function on the same message, creating a popup box with the message "sendJSAlert remotely invoked, with message: Hello Client, I'm a Server!" but instead nothing happens in the browser (nor the Chrome java or javascript debug consoles), and the desktop app output is null instead of "awesome sendJSAlert" as expected
So the question: What might be the cause of the different results? I know the browser's security sandbox could be an issue, but I've included a permissions file which should allow communication via sockets on any localhost port:
grant {
permission java.net.SocketPermission
"localhost:1024-",
"accept, connect, listen, resolve";
};
It's certainly possible though that I have not applied the permissions properly (I used the sun policytool gui); what exactly needs to be done in the applet code (if anything) to apply the permissions? Could a security problem result in the lack of response I'm seeing? I'd expect an exception to be reported in Chrome's java debug console, but there weren't any...
any help would be much appreciated, thanks!
-CCJ
UPDATE:
Okay, some new information: I ran the applet again in Chrome with the javascript console open (could have sworn I tried this before without effect, but evidently not) and received the following console output--
"Uncaught Error: java.security.AccessControlException: access denied
("java.net.SocketPermission" "<myipaddress>:4218" "accept,resolve") MapVizApp.html:154
sockPuppet MapVizApp.html:154 onclick MapVizApp.html:179 Uncaught Error: Error
calling method on NPObject. sockPuppet onclick "
So the question now is why am I tripping this security exception? The policy file with the permissions given above is in the same working directory as the html page and the jar file containing the applet, and I added the following to my system's JRE security policy file
//Grants my NetComm applet the ability to accept, connect, and listen on unpriv. ports
grant codeBase "file:${user.home}\Desktop\dev\invention\ATT\MapViz\CCM.jar" {
permission java.net.SocketPermission
"localhost:1024-",
"accept, connect, listen, resolve";
};
I haven't yet signed the applet, but it was my understanding that if the policy files are in order an applet doesn't need to be signed... if I'm wrong on that please let me know. Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions as to why this security exception is being thrown despite the policy files having the above granted permissions? Is there a naming convention for policy files in working directories that the JRE looks for? My working directory policy file for now is just named ccmPolFile, but I'm not clear on how the JRE is supposed to locate it; is there something I need to add to the applet code to point the JRE at the intended working directory policy file? Further, shouldn't the system policy file grant that I added be enough by itself to satisfy socket permissions for my applet inside CCM.jar?
UPDATE 2:
I signed the applet and added the line policy.url.3=file:${user.home}\Desktop\dev\invention\ATT\MapViz\ccmPolFile.policy to my java.security file in ${java.home}/lib/security (via http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/security/tour2/step4.html#Approach2 this is apparently how the JRE locates policy files to load)... sadly, the result is exactly the same security exception. The only thing left that I know of is
AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction() {
public Object run() {
// perform the security-sensitive operation here
return null;
}
});
which should let me do almost anything since the applet is now signed. I wanted to keep signing out of the equation, but policy files aren't working for some reason. I'll be back shortly with how that works out

righto, so following my update 2 above, I change the listenSocket() method in SocketServer.java code to
public void listenSocket(int portNum){
AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction() {
public Object run() {
int portNum = 4444;
try{
System.out.println("#server Trying to create socket bound to port " + portNum);
server = new ServerSocket(portNum);
System.out.println("the attached socket port is " + server.getLocalPort());
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Could not listen on port " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try{
client = server.accept();
System.out.println("Connection accepted!");
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try{
in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(client.getInputStream()));
out = new PrintWriter(client.getOutputStream(), true);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
while(portNum==4444){
try{
System.out.println("trying to read from inputstream...");
line = in.readLine();
System.out.println(line);
//Now that we have a method name, invoke it
try {
serverMethod = hNet.getClass().getDeclaredMethod(line,
String.class);
} catch (SecurityException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
try {
serverMethod.invoke(hNet, "Hello from Javascript invoked by the
desktop app!");
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
//Send data back to client
out.println("awesome " + line);
//System.out.println(line);
//System.out.flush();
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Read failed");
System.out.flush();
System.exit(-1);
}
}
return null;
}
});//end doPrivileged
}
obviously this is an unsafe kludge, but it does the trick-- I receive no security exception, and the desktop app prints "awesome sendJSAlert" so I know IO is working between the client and server contexts via sockets. The actual js alert function didn't fire, but I think that has something to do with the horrid infinite while loop in listenSocket() above...
Take home message: for some reason, to establish socket connections from an applet in google chrome I needed to sign the applet AND use AccessController.doPrivileged() to invoke my security sensitive code, despite having set my local policy and security files to grant my applet those permissions
googlers see refs:
http://www.coderanch.com/how-to/java/HowCanAnAppletReadFilesOnTheLocalFileSystem
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/security/AccessController.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lsiden/tutorials/signed-applet/signed-applet.html
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/security/tour2/step4.html
UPDATE: Finally working 100% :D I changed the listenSocket() method above in SocketServer.java to this:
public void listenSocket(int portNum){
AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction() {
public Object run() {
int portNum = 4444;
try{
System.out.println("#server Trying to create socket bound to port " + portNum);
server = new ServerSocket(portNum);
System.out.println("the attached socket port is " + server.getLocalPort());
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Could not listen on port " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try{
client = server.accept();
System.out.println("Connection accepted!");
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try{
in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(client.getInputStream()));
out = new PrintWriter(client.getOutputStream(), true);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("Accept failed: " + portNum);
System.exit(-1);
}
try {
line = in.readLine();
System.out.println("line is " + line + " from the inputstream to the
serversocket");
} catch (IOException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
if(line != null){
System.out.println("trying to read from non-null inputstream...");
//line = in.readLine();
System.out.println(line);
//Now that we have a method name, invoke that bitch!
try {
serverMethod = hNet.getClass().getDeclaredMethod(line, String.class);
} catch (SecurityException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
try {
serverMethod.invoke(hNet, "Hello From Javascript invoked by a desktop
app!");
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (InvocationTargetException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
//Send data back to client
out.println("awesome " + line);
//System.out.println(line);
//System.out.flush();
}
return null;
}
});//end doPrivileged
}
The server.accept() method blocks until a connection is made anyway, so for this scenario where I only want to pass one command at a time to the serversocket inputstream a while loop didn't make sense. The change to an if allowed the program to actually continue on to the java.reflect stuff which invokes a method in the applet which invokes javascript functions directly. Since the port is still hard-coded and the applet utilizes doPrivileged(...) this is still not a great solution, but it does satisfy the use case of invoking javascript in a web browser from a desktop java application via a java applet bridge so it makes for a good springboard into more robust implementations!

Is it acceptable practice in Java to nest try/catch statements?

I am trying to create an IP address in Android from a passed in value (using Bundle), and if it fails I'm creating it using a default IP address that is hard coded. If that fails then I am exiting the app.
What I'd like to know is if its ok to nest try/catch's as I have done here, or is there a better way.
try {
// serverSettings is the Bundle name that was passed in.
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(serverSettings.getString("serverIp"));
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Failed to create IP, trying default");
try {
// DEFAULT_IP is the hard-coded default fall-back address
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(DEFAULT_IP);
} catch (UnknownHostException e1) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Total fail, exiting");
e1.printStackTrace();
finish();
}
}

It's legal Java. It looks clunky to me, and I'd probably do it differently, but it's valid and works.
Here's how I'd do it:
public InetAddress getServerAddress() {
for (String address : new String[] {serverSettings.getString("serverIp"), DEFAULT_IP}) {
try {
return InetAddress.getByName(address);
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "Cannot resolve " + address);
}
}
Log.e("ERROR:", "Total fail, exiting");
finish();
return null; // not reached
}

I think it's going to be debatable what way is better, but here's another option that some may consider to be a bit more "expressive" and readable, though it's more lines of code:
public InetAddress tryHost(String hostName) {
InetAddress address = null;
try {
address = InetAddress.getByName(hostName);
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
Then in your code, just do:
InetAddress address = null;
address = tryHost(serverSettings.getString("serverIp"));
if (address = null)
address = tryHost(DEFAULT_IP);
if (address = null) {
// handle error, throw exception
}
finish();

Another variation is to set the default first:
ipAddress = null;
try {
// serverSettings is the Bundle name that was passed in.
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(DEFAULT_IP); // Set default address
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(serverSettings.getString("serverIp")); // Try passed-in address
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
if (ipAddress == null) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Total fail, exiting");
e1.printStackTrace();
finish();
}
}
If the call using the Bundle'd value fails, then the exception is thrown before ipAddress is modified, so ipAddress is already set to the default. Of course, this is only a valid pattern if DEFAULT_IP should always be resolvable.

It's OK. You could also use a boolean flag which gets turned on in the 1st catch, so you execute the request by IP outside the catch, if your boolean flag is turned on.
boolean failed = false;
try {
// serverSettings is the Bundle name that was passed in.
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(serverSettings.getString("serverIp"));
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
failed = true;
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Failed to create IP, trying default");
}
if(failed){
try {
// DEFAULT_IP is the hard-coded default fall-back address
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(DEFAULT_IP);
} catch (UnknownHostException e1) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Total fail, exiting");
e1.printStackTrace();
finish();
}
}
}

I prefer this. It's a bit cleaner and doesn't involve extra flags.
InetAddress ipAddress = null;
try {
// serverSettings is the Bundle name that was passed in.
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(serverSettings.getString("serverIp"));
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Failed to create IP, trying default");
}
if(ipAddress==null){
try {
// DEFAULT_IP is the hard-coded default fall-back address
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(DEFAULT_IP);
} catch (UnknownHostException e1) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Total fail, exiting");
e1.printStackTrace();
finish();
}
}

Yet another variation I like when working through a larger set of tests (on a first-wins basis):
ipAddress = null;
// serverSettings is the Bundle name that was passed in.
String[] addresses = { DEFAULT_IP,
serverSettings.getString("serverIp") };
int i = 0;
do {
try {
ipAddress = InetAddress.getByName(addresses[i]);
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Failed to create IP, trying next");
}
} while (ipAddress == null && i < addresses.length);
if (ipAddress == null) {
Log.e("ERROR:", "IOException: Total fail, exiting");
e1.printStackTrace();
finish();
}
This is probably more appropriate in my normal use case (looping through SimpleDateFormats to match 3rd-party date strings)

Java URL Connection blank input stream

The application I am working on has a terribly slow loading web page. If I run the following code it works fine but only because of the call to sleep. If I don't sleep then the InputStream is just a bunch of spaces, probably due to the application it is calling from. Is there any non-hack way around this?
public class PublishTool extends Thread {
private URL publishUrl;
private String filerLocation;
public PublishTool() {
}
public PublishTool(String publishUrl, String filerLocation) throws NibException {
try {
this.publishUrl = new URL(publishUrl);
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
throw new NibException("Publish Url :" + publishUrl + " is not valid. ");
}
this.filerLocation = filerLocation;
}
public void run() {
File filerFile = new File(filerLocation);
BufferedWriter writer = null;
try {
URLConnection conn = publishUrl.openConnection();
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(new BufferedInputStream(conn.getInputStream())));
writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(filerLocation));
Thread.sleep(1000l);
while (reader.ready()) {
writer.write(reader.readLine() + "\n");
}
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
throw new IllegalStateException("Malformed URL for : " + publishUrl + " " + filerLocation, e);
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new IllegalStateException("IO Exception for : " + publishUrl + " " + filerLocation, e);
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
throw new IllegalStateException("Thread was interrupted early... publishing might have failed.");
} catch (NibException e) {
throw new IllegalStateException("Publishing File Copy failed : " + filerLocation + ".bak" + " to " + filerLocation);
} finally {
try {
writer.flush();
writer.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

Don't use reader.ready(). Just call readLine() and let readLine() block until the data's ready. The end of the data will generally be signalled with a null line.
In case its helpful, a couple of code examples on my web site: reading from a URL.

Firstly, it would be helpful if you posted your actual code.
My guess the problem is calling Reader.ready. Similar to InputStream.available, that returns true if there is already buffered input. If it needs to wait for, say, a socket the it will return false. Generally you don't need ready. Use readLine, and break out of the loop if it returns null (for end of stream).