Solution to pulling dotCMS's /JSONContent with Apache Commons HttpClient

gistfile1.java

String stVarName = "UXThursdayEvents";
String url = "http://aquent.com/JSONContent?type=json&limit=1000&offset=0&q=";
  	try {
			url = url + URLEncoder.encode("+structureName:"+stVarName+" +live:true +deleted:false", "UTF-8");
		} catch (Exception e) {
			failed.put(stVarName, "Unable to encode the url to fetch the data: "+e.getMessage());
			throw new Exception();
		}
		
		Logger.info(this, "The url we are fetching: "+url);
		
		DefaultHttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
		client.setRedirectStrategy(new DefaultRedirectStrategy() {
            private static final String REDIRECT_LOCATIONS = "http.protocol.redirect-locations";

			public URI getLocationURI(HttpRequest request, HttpResponse response, HttpContext context) throws ProtocolException {
				//get the location header to find out where to redirect to
                Header locationHeader = response.getFirstHeader("location");
                if (locationHeader == null) {
                    // got a redirect response, but no location header
                    throw new ProtocolException("Received redirect response " + response.getStatusLine() + " but no location header");
                }
                
                // The magic happens here:
                String location = locationHeader.getValue().replaceAll(":","%3A").replaceAll("\\+","%2B").replaceAll (" ", "%20");
                Logger.info(this, "The url we are redirecting to: "+location);

                URI uri;
                try {
                    uri = new URI(location);            
                } catch (Exception ex) {
                    throw new ProtocolException("Invalid redirect URI: " + location, ex);
                }

                HttpParams params = response.getParams();
                // rfc2616 demands the location value be a complete URI
                // Location       = "Location" ":" absoluteURI
                if (!uri.isAbsolute()) {
                    if (params.isParameterTrue(ClientPNames.REJECT_RELATIVE_REDIRECT)) {
                        throw new ProtocolException("Relative redirect location '" + uri + "' not allowed");
                    }
                    // Adjust location URI
                    HttpHost target = (HttpHost) context.getAttribute(ExecutionContext.HTTP_TARGET_HOST);
                    if (target == null) {
                        throw new IllegalStateException("Target host not available in the HTTP context");
                    }
                    Logger.info(this, "The target Host is "+target.getHostName());

                    try {
                        URI requestURI = new URI(request.getRequestLine().getUri());
                        URI absoluteRequestURI = URIUtils.rewriteURI(requestURI, target, true);
                        uri = URIUtils.resolve(absoluteRequestURI, uri); 
                    } catch (Exception ex) {
                        throw new ProtocolException(ex.getMessage(), ex);
                    }
                }

                if (params.isParameterFalse(ClientPNames.ALLOW_CIRCULAR_REDIRECTS)) {

                    RedirectLocations redirectLocations = (RedirectLocations) context.getAttribute(REDIRECT_LOCATIONS);

                    if (redirectLocations == null) {
                        redirectLocations = new RedirectLocations();
                        context.setAttribute(REDIRECT_LOCATIONS, redirectLocations);
                    }

                    URI redirectURI;
                    if (uri.getFragment() != null) {
                        try {
                            HttpHost target = new HttpHost(uri.getHost(), uri.getPort(), uri.getScheme());
                            redirectURI = URIUtils.rewriteURI(uri, target, true);
                        } catch (Exception ex) {
                            throw new ProtocolException(ex.getMessage(), ex);
                        }
                    } else {
                        redirectURI = uri;
                    }

                    if (redirectLocations.contains(redirectURI)) {
                        throw new CircularRedirectException("Circular redirect to '" + redirectURI + "'");
                    } else {
                        redirectLocations.add(redirectURI);
                    }
                }

                return uri;
			}
		});
		HttpGet method = new HttpGet(url);
		
		HttpResponse response;
		try {
			response = client.execute(method);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			Logger.error(this, "Unable to fetch the data ("+url+")", e);
			failed.put(stVarName, "Unable to fetch the data ("+url+"): "+e.getMessage());
			throw new Exception();
		}
		
		InputStream inStream = response.getEntity().getContent();
		StringWriter writer = new StringWriter();
		IOUtils.copy(inStream, writer, "UTF-8");
		String dataString = writer.toString();
		
		JSONObject data;
		JSONArray contentlets;
		try {
			data = new JSONObject(dataString);
			contentlets = data.getJSONArray("contentlets");
		} catch (Exception e) {
			failed.put(stVarName, "Unable to get the data from the json: "+e.getMessage());
			throw new Exception();
		}