Java - sending HTTP parameters via POST method eas

Question

I am successfully using this code to send HTTP requests with some parameters via GET method

void sendRequest(String request)
{
    // i.e.: request = "http://example.com/index.php?param1=a&param2=b&param3=c";
    URL url = new URL(request); 
    HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();           
    connection.setDoOutput(true); 
    connection.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false); 
    connection.setRequestMethod("GET"); 
    connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "text/plain"); 
    connection.setRequestProperty("charset", "utf-8");
    connection.connect();
}

Now I may need to send the parameters (i.e. param1, param2, param3) via POST method because they are very long. I was thinking to add an extra parameter to that method (i.e. String httpMethod).

How can I change the code above as little as possible to be able to send paramters either via GET or POST?

I was hoping that changing

connection.setRequestMethod("GET");

to

connection.setRequestMethod("POST");

would have done the trick, but the parameters are still sent via GET method.

Has HttpURLConnection got any method that would help? Is there any helpful Java construct?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

GET and POST method set like this... Two types for api calling 1)get() and 2) post() . get() method to get value from api json array to get value & post() method use in our data post in url and get response.

 public class HttpClientForExample {

    private final String USER_AGENT = "Mozilla/5.0";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

        HttpClientExample http = new HttpClientExample();

        System.out.println("Testing 1 - Send Http GET request");
        http.sendGet();

        System.out.println("\nTesting 2 - Send Http POST request");
        http.sendPost();

    }

    // HTTP GET request
    private void sendGet() throws Exception {

        String url = "http://www.google.com/search?q=developer";

        HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
        HttpGet request = new HttpGet(url);

        // add request header
        request.addHeader("User-Agent", USER_AGENT);

        HttpResponse response = client.execute(request);

        System.out.println("\nSending 'GET' request to URL : " + url);
        System.out.println("Response Code : " + 
                       response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode());

        BufferedReader rd = new BufferedReader(
                       new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));

        StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
        String line = "";
        while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
            result.append(line);
        }

        System.out.println(result.toString());

    }

    // HTTP POST request
    private void sendPost() throws Exception {

        String url = "https://selfsolve.apple.com/wcResults.do";

        HttpClient client = new DefaultHttpClient();
        HttpPost post = new HttpPost(url);

        // add header
        post.setHeader("User-Agent", USER_AGENT);

        List<NameValuePair> urlParameters = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
        urlParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("sn", "C02G8416DRJM"));
        urlParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("cn", ""));
        urlParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("locale", ""));
        urlParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("caller", ""));
        urlParameters.add(new BasicNameValuePair("num", "12345"));

        post.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(urlParameters));

        HttpResponse response = client.execute(post);
        System.out.println("\nSending 'POST' request to URL : " + url);
        System.out.println("Post parameters : " + post.getEntity());
        System.out.println("Response Code : " + 
                                    response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode());

        BufferedReader rd = new BufferedReader(
                        new InputStreamReader(response.getEntity().getContent()));

        StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
        String line = "";
        while ((line = rd.readLine()) != null) {
            result.append(line);
        }

        System.out.println(result.toString());

    }

}

Answer 2

Hello pls use this class to improve your post method

public static JSONObject doPostRequest(HashMap<String, String> data, String url) {

    try {
        RequestBody requestBody;
        MultipartBuilder mBuilder = new MultipartBuilder().type(MultipartBuilder.FORM);

        if (data != null) {


            for (String key : data.keySet()) {
                String value = data.get(key);
                Utility.printLog("Key Values", key + "-----------------" + value);

                mBuilder.addFormDataPart(key, value);

            }
        } else {
            mBuilder.addFormDataPart("temp", "temp");
        }
        requestBody = mBuilder.build();


        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .post(requestBody)
                .build();

        OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
        Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();
        String responseBody = response.body().string();
        Utility.printLog("URL", url);
        Utility.printLog("Response", responseBody);
        return new JSONObject(responseBody);

    } catch (UnknownHostException | UnsupportedEncodingException e) {

        JSONObject jsonObject=new JSONObject();

        try {
            jsonObject.put("status","false");
            jsonObject.put("message",e.getLocalizedMessage());
        } catch (JSONException e1) {
            e1.printStackTrace();
        }
        Log.e(TAG, "Error: " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
        JSONObject jsonObject=new JSONObject();

        try {
            jsonObject.put("status","false");
            jsonObject.put("message",e.getLocalizedMessage());
        } catch (JSONException e1) {
            e1.printStackTrace();
        }
        Log.e(TAG, "Other Error: " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
    }
    return null;
}

Answer 3

I higly recomend http-request built on apache http api.

For your case you can see example:

private static final HttpRequest<String.class> HTTP_REQUEST = 
      HttpRequestBuilder.createPost("http://example.com/index.php", String.class)
           .responseDeserializer(ResponseDeserializer.ignorableDeserializer())
           .build();

public void sendRequest(String request){
     String parameters = request.split("\\?")[1];
     ResponseHandler<String> responseHandler = 
            HTTP_REQUEST.executeWithQuery(parameters);

   System.out.println(responseHandler.getStatusCode());
   System.out.println(responseHandler.get()); //prints response body
}

If you are not interested in the response body

private static final HttpRequest<?> HTTP_REQUEST = 
     HttpRequestBuilder.createPost("http://example.com/index.php").build();

public void sendRequest(String request){
     ResponseHandler<String> responseHandler = 
           HTTP_REQUEST.executeWithQuery(parameters);
}

For general sending post request with http-request: Read the documentation and see my answers HTTP POST request with JSON String in JAVA, Sending HTTP POST Request In Java, HTTP POST using JSON in Java

Answer 4

Appears that you also have to callconnection.getOutputStream() "at least once" (as well as setDoOutput(true)) for it to treat it as a POST.

So the minimum required code is:

    URL url = new URL(urlString);
    HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
    //connection.setRequestMethod("POST"); this doesn't seem to do anything at all..so not useful
    connection.setDoOutput(true); // set it to POST...not enough by itself however, also need the getOutputStream call...
    connection.connect();
    connection.getOutputStream().close(); 

You can even use "GET" style parameters in the urlString, surprisingly. Though that might confuse things.

You can also use NameValuePair apparently.