Apache HttpClient 4.3.x has no default host? - apache-httpclient-4.x

Question

HttpClient 4.3.x issue.
There does not seem to be a way to attach a default host on CloseableHttpClient for 4.3.x.
This is frustrating as it requires all of your request builders to know up front all the host info, rather than just building up the request parts specific to the call and letting the client fill in any left out defaults (eg. like a default host, port, etc).
With 4.2.x and previous, you could set the default host on the client and any request just needs a subpath + parameters.
But with 4.3.x you have confusing layers of setRoutePlanner(x) (which could have proxy settings) and setProxy(x) (which could be overridden by route-planner) and I'm confused how they settle with the actual client instance. And debugging it shows that route-planner will not get used for default_host, and the 4.3.2 version actually expects the deprecated ClientPNames.DEFAULT_HOST to be set (for case with null target host) which is maybe a defect.
I am finding apache httpclient to be going off a deep edge with all these changes.
Also the examples do not fully clarify http client usage unfortunately.
As an aside: the new design is such mud, why not just have setDefaultHost(x) ? and clear up the confusion on proxy layering(s).
Unless I'm missing something, how does one set the default host in http client 4.3.x?
Why do you think they changed and decided to make everything up front in the request objects vs. defaults in the client?

Answer 1

This how one can provide a default target host using a custom route planner
HttpRoutePlanner routePlanner = new DefaultRoutePlanner(DefaultSchemePortResolver.INSTANCE) {
#Override
public HttpRoute determineRoute(
final HttpHost target,
final HttpRequest request,
final HttpContext context) throws HttpException {
return super.determineRoute(
target != null ? target : new HttpHost("some.default.host", 80),
request, context);
}
};
CloseableHttpClient client = HttpClients.custom()
.setRoutePlanner(routePlanner)
.build();