URLConnection : what does setAllowUserInteraction do?

[Renard Desmon]

in the URLConnection i came across an method called setAllowUserInteraction(boolean enable). What does this method do?

Does it have something to do with Basic[User name & password] authentication where an GUI is displayed asking the user to enter his name & password?

So far i make an dumb get request to the server as follows

private static void decode(HttpURLConnection con)throws IOException
{
  System.out.println(con.getResponseCode()+"/"+con.getResponseMessage());
  
  System.out.println("====================");
  con.getHeaderFields().forEach((key,values)->
  {
   if(key==null){return;}
   
   System.out.println(key+"="+values);
  });
  
  System.out.println("====================");
  try
  { 
   InputStream err=con.getErrorStream();
   if(err!=null)
   {
    try(err)
    {
     System.err.println(new String(err.readAllBytes()));
    }  
   }  
   else
   {
    try(InputStream is=con.getInputStream())
    {
     System.out.println(new String(is.readAllBytes()));
    }
   }
  }
  catch(IOException ex){throw ex;}
  finally
  {
   con.disconnect();
   System.out.println("***********************");
  }
 }

public static void main(String[] args)
{
 HttpURLConnection con=(HttpURLConnection)new URL("http://localhost:5000/Yolo")
                        .openConnection();

 decode(con);
}

And i make my server return an unauthorized response requesting for Basic authenication as follows

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
content-length : 0
Server : Test/1.0
www-authenticate : Basic
Date : Wed, 25 May 2022 21:24:33 +0530

Client just throws an error saying error response code and terminates. But if i specify an Authenticator as follows

  con.setAuthenticator(new Authenticator()
  {
   @Override
   protected PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() 
   {
    return new PasswordAuthentication("Test","123".toCharArray());
   }  
  });

Then authentication works.

is setUserInteraction() meant to make this whole process GUI based  where password and username are entered in text fields and submitted thus eliminating the need for an Authenticator? If so how would i do that here?

What response does the server need to send and what parameter's need to be set in the HttpURLConnection to see this method in action?

[Paul Clapham]

That docs page actually tells you what its purpose is, in the Field Summary section. You are on the right track, it says

If true, this URL is being examined in a context in which it makes sense to allow user interactions such as popping up an authentication dialog.

[Renard Desmon]

I see .I Missed that statement.  How do I make it show the prompt? What is the context?

[Paul Clapham]

Well, first of all you don't make it show a prompt. You code should do that, since you're the one who knows what the prompt should look like.

About the context: it's always been obvious to me whether my code is in a context where popping up a dialog is appropriate. I didn't even know this attribute existed until today.