Make an HTTP request with android

Question

I have searched everywhere but I couldn't find my answer, is there a way to make an simple HTTP request? I want to request an PHP page / script on one of my website but I don't want to show the webpage.

If possible I even want to do it in the background (in an BroadcastReceiver)

Answer 1

I made this for a webservice to requerst on URL, using a Gson lib:

Client:

public EstabelecimentoList getListaEstabelecimentoPorPromocao(){

        EstabelecimentoList estabelecimentoList  = new EstabelecimentoList();
        try{
            URL url = new URL("http://" +  Conexao.getSERVIDOR()+ "/cardapio.online/rest/recursos/busca_estabelecimento_promocao_android");
            HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();

            if (con.getResponseCode() != 200) {
                    throw new RuntimeException("HTTP error code : "+ con.getResponseCode());
            }

            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader((con.getInputStream())));
            estabelecimentoList = new Gson().fromJson(br, EstabelecimentoList.class);
            con.disconnect();

        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return estabelecimentoList;
}

Answer 2

unless you have an explicit reason to choose the Apache HttpClient, you should prefer java.net.URLConnection. you can find plenty of examples of how to use it on the web.

we've also improved the Android documentation since your original post: http://developer.android.com/reference/java/net/HttpURLConnection.html

and we've talked about the trade-offs on the official blog: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/09/androids-http-clients.html

Answer 3

Note: The Apache HTTP Client bundled with Android is now deprecated in favor of HttpURLConnection. Please see the Android Developers Blog for more details.

Add <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> to your manifest.

You would then retrieve a web page like so:

URL url = new URL("http://www.android.com/");
HttpURLConnection urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
try {
     InputStream in = new BufferedInputStream(urlConnection.getInputStream());
     readStream(in);
}
finally {
     urlConnection.disconnect();
}

I also suggest running it on a separate thread:

class RequestTask extends AsyncTask<String, String, String>{

@Override
protected String doInBackground(String... uri) {
    String responseString = null;
    try {
        URL url = new URL(myurl);
        HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
        if(conn.getResponseCode() == HttpsURLConnection.HTTP_OK){
            // Do normal input or output stream reading
        }
        else {
            response = "FAILED"; // See documentation for more info on response handling
        }
    } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
        //TODO Handle problems..
    } catch (IOException e) {
        //TODO Handle problems..
    }
    return responseString;
}

@Override
protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
    super.onPostExecute(result);
    //Do anything with response..
}
}

See the documentation for more information on response handling and POST requests.

Answer 4

With a thread:

private class LoadingThread extends Thread {
    Handler handler;

    LoadingThread(Handler h) {
        handler = h;
    }
    @Override
    public void run() {
        Message m = handler.obtainMessage();
        try {
            BufferedReader in = 
                new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream()));
            String page = "";
            String inLine;

            while ((inLine = in.readLine()) != null) {
                page += inLine;
            }

            in.close();
            Bundle b = new Bundle();
            b.putString("result", page);
            m.setData(b);
        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        handler.sendMessage(m);
    }
}

Answer 5

Look at this awesome new library which is available via gradle :)

build.gradle: compile 'com.apptakk.http_request:http-request:0.1.2'

Usage:

new HttpRequestTask(
    new HttpRequest("http://httpbin.org/post", HttpRequest.POST, "{ \"some\": \"data\" }"),
    new HttpRequest.Handler() {
      @Override
      public void response(HttpResponse response) {
        if (response.code == 200) {
          Log.d(this.getClass().toString(), "Request successful!");
        } else {
          Log.e(this.getClass().toString(), "Request unsuccessful: " + response);
        }
      }
    }).execute();

https://github.com/erf/http-request