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

Here is a simple example that submits a form then dumps the result page to System.out. Change the URL and the POST params as appropriate, of course:

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

class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        URL url = new URL("http://example.net/new-message.php");
        Map<String,Object> params = new LinkedHashMap<>();
        params.put("name", "Freddie the Fish");
        params.put("email", "fishie@seamail.example.com");
        params.put("reply_to_thread", 10394);
        params.put("message", "Shark attacks in Botany Bay have gotten out of control. We need more defensive dolphins to protect the schools here, but Mayor Porpoise is too busy stuffing his snout with lobsters. He's so shellfish.");

        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"));
        }
        byte[] postDataBytes = postData.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");

        HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
        conn.setRequestMethod("POST");
        conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
        conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", String.valueOf(postDataBytes.length));
        conn.setDoOutput(true);
        conn.getOutputStream().write(postDataBytes);

        Reader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream(), "UTF-8"));

        for (int c; (c = in.read()) >= 0;)
            System.out.print((char)c);
    }
}

---

If you want the result as a String instead of directly printed out do:

        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        for (int c; (c = in.read()) >= 0;)
            sb.append((char)c);
        String response = sb.toString();

Answer 2

i have read above answers and have created a utility class to simplify HTTP request. i hope it will help you.

Method Call

  // send params with Hash Map
    HashMap<String, String> params = new HashMap<String, String>();
    params.put("email","me@example.com");
    params.put("password","12345");

    //server url
    String url = "http://www.example.com";

    // static class "HttpUtility" with static method "newRequest(url,method,callback)"
    HttpUtility.newRequest(url,HttpUtility.METHOD_POST,params, new HttpUtility.Callback() {
        @Override
        public void OnSuccess(String response) {
        // on success
           System.out.println("Server OnSuccess response="+response);
        }
        @Override
        public void OnError(int status_code, String message) {
        // on error
              System.out.println("Server OnError status_code="+status_code+" message="+message);
        }
    });

Utility Class

import java.io.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import static java.net.HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK;

public class HttpUtility {

 public static final int METHOD_GET = 0; // METHOD GET
 public static final int METHOD_POST = 1; // METHOD POST

 // Callback interface
 public interface Callback {
  // abstract methods
  public void OnSuccess(String response);
  public void OnError(int status_code, String message);
 }
 // static method
 public static void newRequest(String web_url, int method, HashMap < String, String > params, Callback callback) {

  // thread for handling async task
  new Thread(new Runnable() {
   @Override
   public void run() {
    try {
     String url = web_url;
     // write GET params,append with url
     if (method == METHOD_GET && params != null) {
      for (Map.Entry < String, String > item: params.entrySet()) {
       String key = URLEncoder.encode(item.getKey(), "UTF-8");
       String value = URLEncoder.encode(item.getValue(), "UTF-8");
       if (!url.contains("?")) {
        url += "?" + key + "=" + value;
       } else {
        url += "&" + key + "=" + value;
       }
      }
     }

     HttpURLConnection urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) new URL(url).openConnection();
     urlConnection.setUseCaches(false);
     urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); // handle url encoded form data
     urlConnection.setRequestProperty("charset", "utf-8");
     if (method == METHOD_GET) {
      urlConnection.setRequestMethod("GET");
     } else if (method == METHOD_POST) {
      urlConnection.setDoOutput(true); // write POST params
      urlConnection.setRequestMethod("POST");
     }

     //write POST data 
     if (method == METHOD_POST && params != null) {
      StringBuilder postData = new StringBuilder();
      for (Map.Entry < String, String > item: params.entrySet()) {
       if (postData.length() != 0) postData.append('&');
       postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(item.getKey(), "UTF-8"));
       postData.append('=');
       postData.append(URLEncoder.encode(String.valueOf(item.getValue()), "UTF-8"));
      }
      byte[] postDataBytes = postData.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");
      urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", String.valueOf(postDataBytes.length));
      urlConnection.getOutputStream().write(postDataBytes);

     }
     // server response code
     int responseCode = urlConnection.getResponseCode();
     if (responseCode == HTTP_OK && callback != null) {
      BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(urlConnection.getInputStream()));
      StringBuilder response = new StringBuilder();
      String line;
      while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
       response.append(line);
      }
      // callback success
      callback.OnSuccess(response.toString());
      reader.close(); // close BufferReader
     } else if (callback != null) {
      // callback error
      callback.OnError(responseCode, urlConnection.getResponseMessage());
     }

     urlConnection.disconnect(); // disconnect connection
    } catch (IOException e) {
     e.printStackTrace();
     if (callback != null) {
      // callback error
      callback.OnError(500, e.getLocalizedMessage());
     }
    }
   }
  }).start(); // start thread
 }
}

Answer 3

This answer covers the specific case of the POST Call using a Custom Java POJO.

Using maven dependency for Gson to serialize our Java Object to JSON.

Install Gson using the dependency below.

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
  <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
  <version>2.8.5</version>
  <scope>compile</scope>
</dependency>

For those using gradle can use the below

dependencies {
implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.8.5'
}

Other imports used:

import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.CloseableHttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpGet;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.entity.*;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient;
import com.google.gson.Gson;

Now, we can go ahead and use the HttpPost provided by Apache

private CloseableHttpClient httpclient = HttpClients.createDefault();
HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost("https://example.com");

Product product = new Product(); //custom java object to be posted as Request Body
    Gson gson = new Gson();
    String client = gson.toJson(product);

    httppost.setEntity(new StringEntity(client, ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON));
    httppost.setHeader("RANDOM-HEADER", "headervalue");
    //Execute and get the response.
    HttpResponse response = null;
    try {
        response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
    } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new InternalServerErrorException("Post fails");
    }
    Response.Status responseStatus = Response.Status.fromStatusCode(response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode());
    return Response.status(responseStatus).build();

The above code will return with the response code received from the POST Call

Answer 4

Try this pattern:

public static PricesResponse getResponse(EventRequestRaw request) {

    // String urlParameters  = "param1=a&param2=b&param3=c";
    String urlParameters = Piping.serialize(request);

    HttpURLConnection conn = RestClient.getPOSTConnection(endPoint, urlParameters);

    PricesResponse response = null;

    try {
        // POST
        OutputStreamWriter writer = new OutputStreamWriter(conn.getOutputStream());
        writer.write(urlParameters);
        writer.flush();

        // RESPONSE
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader((conn.getInputStream()), StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
        String json = Buffering.getString(reader);
        response = (PricesResponse) Piping.deserialize(json, PricesResponse.class);

        writer.close();
        reader.close();

    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    conn.disconnect();

    System.out.println("PricesClient: " + response.toString());

    return response;
}

public static HttpURLConnection getPOSTConnection(String endPoint, String urlParameters) {

    return RestClient.getConnection(endPoint, "POST", urlParameters);

}


public static HttpURLConnection getConnection(String endPoint, String method, String urlParameters) {

    System.out.println("ENDPOINT " + endPoint + " METHOD " + method);
    HttpURLConnection conn = null;

    try {
        URL url = new URL(endPoint);
        conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
        conn.setRequestMethod(method);
        conn.setDoOutput(true);
        conn.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "text/plain");

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

    return conn;
}

Answer 5

import java.net.*;

public class Demo{

  public static void main(){

       String data = "data=Hello+World!";
       URL url = new URL("http://localhost:8084/WebListenerServer/webListener");
       HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
       con.setRequestMethod("POST");
       con.setDoOutput(true);
       con.getOutputStream().write(data.getBytes("UTF-8"));
       con.getInputStream();

    }

}