[sde]

i forgot to post before i left work yesterday. here is the solution:

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;

...

URL nameURLRequest = new URL("http://mysite.com/webservice.php?name=sde");
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
  nameURLRequest.openStream()));

String nameURLResponse;

if((nameURLResponse = in.readLine()) == null)
  nameURLResponse = "0";

in.close();