How to write a java desktop app that can interact with my website's API?
<p>It's a big question but I just need a push in the right direction. </p>

<p>I have a website being released soon. One of the services it provides is image hosting. I'm thinking about writing a desktop app in Java to help facilitate mass uploads as well as forcing me to use Java for real-world experience.</p>

<p>How does java send "requests" to an API? I'm using codeigniter for the website, and for those who are unfamiliar, the urls are broken down into 3 parts.<br>
<code>/controller/action/id</code>
So for example : <code>http://google.com/users/addphoto/23</code>
would access the "users" controller, which contains the function "addphoto" and $id would be set to the value "23". </p>

<p>I'm assuming I will need to get java to access an API using the above url structure, but how do I "do that"? How do I tell the application that accessing this url (ex. "user/authenticate") with x parameters will yield the information (ex "authentication token") it needs?</p>

<p>I know this question probably makes no sense but I'm lacking the basic ideas of how Java interacts with anything outside its own project folder. I can write the php stuff just fine, but I don't want to start until I know what java is capable of.</p>

<p>I did search around a bit before asking, but a lot of people are java developers struggling with php, and I'm in the complete opposite position.</p>
