Java - sending HTTP parameters via POST method easily

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4205980

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.

Was it helpful?

Solution

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 );
}

OTHER TIPS

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();

I couldn't get Alan's example to actually do the post, so I ended up with this:

String urlParameters = "param1=a&param2=b&param3=c";
URL url = new URL("http://example.com/index.php");
URLConnection conn = url.openConnection();

conn.setDoOutput(true);

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

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

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

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

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.

I see some other answers have given the alternative, I personally think that intuitively you're doing the right thing ;). Sorry, at devoxx where several speakers have been ranting about this sort of thing.

That's why I personally use Apache's HTTPClient/HttpCore libraries to do this sort of work, I find their API to be easier to use than Java's native HTTP support. YMMV of course!

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
 }
}

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();

    }

}

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());

    }

}

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"));
        }
    }

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;
}

here i sent jsonobject as parameter //jsonobject={"name":"lucifer","pass":"abc"}//serverUrl = "http://192.168.100.12/testing" //host=192.168.100.12 

  public static String getJson(String serverUrl,String host,String jsonobject){

    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

    String http = serverUrl;

    HttpURLConnection urlConnection = null;
    try {
        URL url = new URL(http);
        urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
        urlConnection.setDoOutput(true);
        urlConnection.setRequestMethod("POST");
        urlConnection.setUseCaches(false);
        urlConnection.setConnectTimeout(50000);
        urlConnection.setReadTimeout(50000);
        urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
        urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Host", host);
        urlConnection.connect();
        //You Can also Create JSONObject here 
        OutputStreamWriter out = new OutputStreamWriter(urlConnection.getOutputStream());
        out.write(jsonobject);// here i sent the parameter
        out.close();
        int HttpResult = urlConnection.getResponseCode();
        if (HttpResult == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
                    urlConnection.getInputStream(), "utf-8"));
            String line = null;
            while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
                sb.append(line + "\n");
            }
            br.close();
            Log.e("new Test", "" + sb.toString());
            return sb.toString();
        } else {
            Log.e(" ", "" + urlConnection.getResponseMessage());
        }
    } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (JSONException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        if (urlConnection != null)
            urlConnection.disconnect();
    }
    return null;
}

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

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;
}

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

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");
}

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.

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