HTTP Request in Kotlin

Question

I'm completely new to Kotlin. I want to do a login validation using POST method and to get some information using GET method. I've URL, server Username and Password already of my previous project. I didn't find any proper example project which uses this thing. Anyone please suggest me any working example where I can use GET and POST method in HTTP request

Answer 1

If you are using Kotlin, you might as well keep your code as succinct as possible. The run method turns the receiver into this and returns the value of the block. this as HttpURLConnection creates a smart cast. bufferedReader().readText() avoids a bunch of boilerplate code.

return URL(url).run {
        openConnection().run {
            this as HttpURLConnection
            inputStream.bufferedReader().readText()
        }
}

You can also wrap this into an extension function.

fun URL.getText(): String {
    return openConnection().run {
                this as HttpURLConnection
                inputStream.bufferedReader().readText()
            }
}

And call it like this

return URL(url).getText()

Finally, if you are super lazy, you can extend the String class instead.

fun String.getUrlText(): String {
    return URL(this).run {
            openConnection().run {
                this as HttpURLConnection
                inputStream.bufferedReader().readText()
            }
    }
}

And call it like this

return "http://somewhere.com".getUrlText()

Answer 2

You can use kohttp library. It is a Kotlin DSL HTTP client. It supports the features of square.okhttp and provides a clear DSL for them. KoHttp async calls are powered by coroutines.

httpGet extension function

val response: Response = "https://google.com/search?q=iphone".httpGet()

you can also use async call with coroutines

val response: Deferred<Response> = "https://google.com/search?q=iphone".asyncHttpGet()

or DSL function for more complex requests

val response: Response = httpGet {
    host = "google.com"
    path = "/search"
    param {
       "q" to "iphone"
       "safe" to "off"
   }
}

You can find more details in docs

To get it with gradle use

implementation 'io.github.rybalkinsd:kohttp:0.10.0'

Answer 3

Send HTTP POST/GET request with parameters using HttpURLConnection :

POST with Parameters:

fun sendPostRequest(userName:String, password:String) {

    var reqParam = URLEncoder.encode("username", "UTF-8") + "=" + URLEncoder.encode(userName, "UTF-8")
    reqParam += "&" + URLEncoder.encode("password", "UTF-8") + "=" + URLEncoder.encode(password, "UTF-8")
    val mURL = URL("<Your API Link>")

    with(mURL.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection) {
        // optional default is GET
        requestMethod = "POST"

        val wr = OutputStreamWriter(getOutputStream());
        wr.write(reqParam);
        wr.flush();

        println("URL : $url")
        println("Response Code : $responseCode")

        BufferedReader(InputStreamReader(inputStream)).use {
            val response = StringBuffer()

            var inputLine = it.readLine()
            while (inputLine != null) {
                response.append(inputLine)
                inputLine = it.readLine()
            }
            it.close()
            println("Response : $response")
        }
    }
}

GET with Parameters:

fun sendGetRequest(userName:String, password:String) {

        var reqParam = URLEncoder.encode("username", "UTF-8") + "=" + URLEncoder.encode(userName, "UTF-8")
        reqParam += "&" + URLEncoder.encode("password", "UTF-8") + "=" + URLEncoder.encode(password, "UTF-8")

        val mURL = URL("<Yout API Link>?"+reqParam)

        with(mURL.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection) {
            // optional default is GET
            requestMethod = "GET"

            println("URL : $url")
            println("Response Code : $responseCode")

            BufferedReader(InputStreamReader(inputStream)).use {
                val response = StringBuffer()

                var inputLine = it.readLine()
                while (inputLine != null) {
                    response.append(inputLine)
                    inputLine = it.readLine()
                }
                it.close()
                println("Response : $response")
            }
        }
    }

Answer 4

GET and POST using OkHttp

private const val CONNECT_TIMEOUT = 15L
private const val READ_TIMEOUT = 15L
private const val WRITE_TIMEOUT = 15L

private fun performPostOperation(urlString: String, jsonString: String, token: String): String? {
    return try {
        val client = OkHttpClient.Builder()
            .connectTimeout(CONNECT_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .writeTimeout(WRITE_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .readTimeout(READ_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .build()

        val body = jsonString.toRequestBody("application/json; charset=utf-8".toMediaTypeOrNull())

        val request = Request.Builder()
            .url(URL(urlString))
            .header("Authorization", token)
            .post(body)
            .build()

        val response = client.newCall(request).execute()
        response.body?.string()
    }
    catch (e: IOException) {
        e.printStackTrace()
        null
    }
}

private fun performGetOperation(urlString: String, token: String): String? {
    return try {
        val client = OkHttpClient.Builder()
            .connectTimeout(CONNECT_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .writeTimeout(WRITE_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .readTimeout(READ_TIMEOUT, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
            .build()

        val request = Request.Builder()
            .url(URL(urlString))
            .header("Authorization", token)
            .get()
            .build()

        val response = client.newCall(request).execute()
        response.body?.string()
    }
    catch (e: IOException) {
        e.printStackTrace()
        null
    }
}

Object serialization and deserialization

@Throws(JsonProcessingException::class)
fun objectToJson(obj: Any): String {
    return ObjectMapper().writeValueAsString(obj)
}

@Throws(IOException::class)
fun jsonToAgentObject(json: String?): MyObject? {
    return if (json == null) { null } else {
        ObjectMapper().readValue<MyObject>(json, MyObject::class.java)
    }
}

Dependencies

Put the following lines in your gradle (app) file. Jackson is optional. You can use it for object serialization and deserialization.

implementation 'com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:4.3.1'
implementation 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-core:2.9.8'
implementation 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-annotations:2.9.8'
implementation 'com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-databind:2.9.8'

Answer 5

For Android, Volley is a good place to get started. For all platforms, you might also want to check out ktor client.

However, you can use standard libraries you would use in Java. For example, with HttpURLConnection you can do:

fun sendGet() {
    val url = URL("http://www.google.com/")

    with(url.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection) {
        requestMethod = "GET"  // optional default is GET

        println("\nSent 'GET' request to URL : $url; Response Code : $responseCode")

        inputStream.bufferedReader().use {
            it.lines().forEach { line ->
                println(line)
            }
        }
    }
}

Or simpler:

URL("https://google.com").readText()

Answer 6

Maybe the simplest GET

For everybody stuck with NetworkOnMainThreadException for the other solutions: use AsyncTask or, even shorter, (yet still experimental) Coroutines:

launch {

    val jsonStr = URL("url").readText()

}

---

If you need to test with plain http don't forget to add to your manifest: android:usesCleartextTraffic="true"

---

For the experimental Coroutines you have to add to build.gradle as of 10/10/2018:

kotlin {
    experimental {
        coroutines 'enable'
    }
}
dependencies {
    implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core:0.24.0"
    implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-android:0.24.0"
    ...