Java - sending HTTP parameters via POST method easily

Question

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

void sendRequest(String request)
{
            


        

Answer 1

I find HttpURLConnection really cumbersome to use. And you have to write a lot of boilerplate, error prone code. I needed a lightweight wrapper for my Android projects and came out with a library which you can use as well: DavidWebb.

The above example could be written like this:

Webb webb = Webb.create();
webb.post("http://example.com/index.php")
        .param("param1", "a")
        .param("param2", "b")
        .param("param3", "c")
        .ensureSuccess()
        .asVoid();

You can find a list of alternative libraries on the link provided.

Answer 2

I had the same issue. I wanted to send data via POST. I used the following code:

    URL url = new URL("http://example.com/getval.php");
    Map<String,Object> params = new LinkedHashMap<>();
    params.put("param1", param1);
    params.put("param2", param2);

    StringBuilder postData = new StringBuilder();
    for (Map.Entry<String,Object> param : params.entrySet()) {
        if (postData.length() != 0) postData.append('&');
        postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(param.getKey(), "UTF-8"));
        postData.append('=');
        postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(String.valueOf(param.getValue()), "UTF-8"));
    }
    String urlParameters = postData.toString();
    URLConnection conn = url.openConnection();

    conn.setDoOutput(true);

    OutputStreamWriter writer = new OutputStreamWriter(conn.getOutputStream());

    writer.write(urlParameters);
    writer.flush();

    String result = "";
    String line;
    BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));

    while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
        result += line;
    }
    writer.close();
    reader.close()
    System.out.println(result);

I used Jsoup for parse:

    Document doc = Jsoup.parseBodyFragment(value);
    Iterator<Element> opts = doc.select("option").iterator();
    for (;opts.hasNext();) {
        Element item = opts.next();
        if (item.hasAttr("value")) {
            System.out.println(item.attr("value"));
        }
    }

Answer 3

I took Boann's answer and used it to create a more flexible query string builder that supports lists and arrays, just like php's http_build_query method:

public static byte[] httpBuildQueryString(Map<String, Object> postsData) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
    StringBuilder postData = new StringBuilder();
    for (Map.Entry<String,Object> param : postsData.entrySet()) {
        if (postData.length() != 0) postData.append('&');

        Object value = param.getValue();
        String key = param.getKey();

        if(value instanceof Object[] || value instanceof List<?>)
        {
            int size = value instanceof Object[] ? ((Object[])value).length : ((List<?>)value).size();
            for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
            {
                Object val = value instanceof Object[] ? ((Object[])value)[i] : ((List<?>)value).get(i);
                if(i>0) postData.append('&');
                postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(key + "[" + i + "]", "UTF-8"));
                postData.append('=');            
                postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(String.valueOf(val), "UTF-8"));
            }
        }
        else
        {
            postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(key, "UTF-8"));
            postData.append('=');            
            postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(String.valueOf(value), "UTF-8"));
        }
    }
    return postData.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");
}

Answer 4

For those having trouble receiving the request on a php page using $_POST because you expect key-value pairs:

While all the answers where very helpful, I lacked some basic understanding on which string actually to post, since in the old apache HttpClient I used

new UrlEncodedFormEntity(nameValuePairs); (Java)

and then could use $_POST in php do get the key-value pairs.

To my understanding now one has build that string manually before posting. So the string needs to look like

val data = "key1=val1&key2=val2"

but instead just adding it to the url it is posted (in the header).

The alternative would be to use a json-string instead:

val data = "{\"key1\":\"val1\",\"key2\":\"val2\"}" // {"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"}

and pull it in php without $_POST:

$json_params = file_get_contents('php://input');
// echo_p("Data: $json_params");
$data = json_decode($json_params, true);

Here you find a sample code in Kotlin:

class TaskDownloadTest : AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void>() {
    override fun doInBackground(vararg params: Void): Void? {
        var urlConnection: HttpURLConnection? = null

        try {

            val postData = JsonObject()
            postData.addProperty("key1", "val1")
            postData.addProperty("key2", "val2")

            // reformat json to key1=value1&key2=value2
            // keeping json because I may change the php part to interpret json requests, could be a HashMap instead
            val keys = postData.keySet()
            var request = ""
            keys.forEach { key ->
                // Log.i("data", key)
                request += "$key=${postData.get(key)}&"
            }
            request = request.replace("\"", "").removeSuffix("&")
            val requestLength = request.toByteArray().size
            // Warning in Android 9 you need to add a line in the application part of the manifest: android:usesCleartextTraffic="true"
            // https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45940861/android-8-cleartext-http-traffic-not-permitted
            val url = URL("http://10.0.2.2/getdata.php")
            urlConnection = url.openConnection() as HttpURLConnection
            // urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded") // apparently default
            // Not sure what these are for, I do not use them
            // urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json")
            // urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Key","Value")
            urlConnection.readTimeout = 5000
            urlConnection.connectTimeout = 5000
            urlConnection.requestMethod = "POST"
            urlConnection.doOutput = true
            // urlConnection.doInput = true
            urlConnection.useCaches = false
            urlConnection.setFixedLengthStreamingMode(requestLength)
            // urlConnection.setChunkedStreamingMode(0) // if you do not want to handle request length which is fine for small requests

            val out = urlConnection.outputStream
            val writer = BufferedWriter(
                OutputStreamWriter(
                    out, "UTF-8"
                )
            )
            writer.write(request)
            // writer.write("{\"key1\":\"val1\",\"key2\":\"val2\"}") // {"key1":"val1","key2":"val2"} JsonFormat or just postData.toString() for $json_params=file_get_contents('php://input'); json_decode($json_params, true); in php
            // writer.write("key1=val1&key2=val2") // key=value format for $_POST in php
            writer.flush()
            writer.close()
            out.close()

            val code = urlConnection.responseCode
            if (code != 200) {
                throw IOException("Invalid response from server: $code")
            }

            val rd = BufferedReader(
                InputStreamReader(
                    urlConnection.inputStream
                )
            )
            var line = rd.readLine()
            while (line != null) {
                Log.i("data", line)
                line = rd.readLine()
            }
        } catch (e: Exception) {
            e.printStackTrace()
        } finally {
            urlConnection?.disconnect()
        }

        return null
    }
}

Answer 5

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 6

In a GET request, the parameters are sent as part of the URL.

In a POST request, the parameters are sent as a body of the request, after the headers.

To do a POST with HttpURLConnection, you need to write the parameters to the connection after you have opened the connection.

This code should get you started:

String urlParameters  = "param1=a&param2=b&param3=c";
byte[] postData       = urlParameters.getBytes( StandardCharsets.UTF_8 );
int    postDataLength = postData.length;
String request        = "http://example.com/index.php";
URL    url            = new URL( request );
HttpURLConnection conn= (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();           
conn.setDoOutput( true );
conn.setInstanceFollowRedirects( false );
conn.setRequestMethod( "POST" );
conn.setRequestProperty( "Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); 
conn.setRequestProperty( "charset", "utf-8");
conn.setRequestProperty( "Content-Length", Integer.toString( postDataLength ));
conn.setUseCaches( false );
try( DataOutputStream wr = new DataOutputStream( conn.getOutputStream())) {
   wr.write( postData );
}