How to send post request with x-www-form-urlencoded body

Question

Request in postman

How in java, can I send a request with x-www-form-urlencoded header. I don't understand how to send a body with a key-value, like in the above screenshot.

I have tried this code:

String urlParameters =
  cafedra_name+ data_to_send;
URL url;
    HttpURLConnection connection = null;  
    try {
      //Create connection
      url = new URL(targetURL);
      connection = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
      connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
      connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", 
           "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");

      connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Length", "" + 
               Integer.toString(urlParameters.getBytes().length));
      connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Language", "en-US");  

      connection.setUseCaches (false);
      connection.setDoInput(true);
      connection.setDoOutput(true);

      //Send request
      DataOutputStream wr = new DataOutputStream (
                  connection.getOutputStream ());
      wr.writeBytes (urlParameters);
      wr.flush ();
      wr.close ();

But in the response, I don't receive the correct data.

Have you captured what was sent with a tool like Wireshark to confirm that the header is actually absent? — Joe C, Nov 13 '16 at 16:13

score 118 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 03 '17 at 04:46

As you set application/x-www-form-urlencoded as content type so data sent must be like this format.

String urlParameters  = "param1=data1&param2=data2&param3=data3";

Sending part now is quite straightforward.

byte[] postData = urlParameters.getBytes( StandardCharsets.UTF_8 );
int postDataLength = postData.length;
String request = "<Url here>";
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 );
}

Or you can create a generic method to build key value pattern which is required for application/x-www-form-urlencoded.

private String getDataString(HashMap<String, String> params) throws UnsupportedEncodingException{
    StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
    boolean first = true;
    for(Map.Entry<String, String> entry : params.entrySet()){
        if (first)
            first = false;
        else
            result.append("&");    
        result.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getKey(), "UTF-8"));
        result.append("=");
        result.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getValue(), "UTF-8"));
    }    
    return result.toString();
}

Hey Mari! What did you do to make it work? I tried the same (and many different things for 10 hours), but it does not work :( — Hello-World, Mar 14 '17 at 01:02
Finally I found the solution: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/39937240/android-post-request-not-working — Hello-World, Mar 14 '17 at 16:18
Can someone explain the `"charset", "utf-8"` part to me? I think this might be wrong as it should be part of the Content-Type header and not a header by itself. — dreua, Dec 28 '17 at 12:07
how to i send this way using retrofit any idea #Navoneel Talukdar — Mohammad Zeeshan, Sep 07 '21 at 11:31
Faced issue where different format was been send by the server — Zahid Khan, Oct 08 '22 at 18:31

score 36 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 08 '17 at 07:07

36

For HttpEntity, the below answer works

HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED);

MultiValueMap<String, String> map= new LinkedMultiValueMap<String, String>();
map.add("email", "first.last@example.com");

HttpEntity<MultiValueMap<String, String>> request = new HttpEntity<MultiValueMap<String, String>>(map, headers);

ResponseEntity<String> response = restTemplate.postForEntity( url, request , String.class );

For reference: How to POST form data with Spring RestTemplate?

edited Aug 08 '17 at 07:07

RBK

2,481
2
30
52

answered Aug 07 '17 at 07:50

Nutan

1,287
11
15

I like this solution, but I don't see why we need a LinkedMultiValueMap instead of just a Map. – MiguelMunoz Nov 02 '22 at 01:39

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 01 '22 at 09:34

Use Java 11 HttpClient

The HTTP Client was added in Java 11. It can be used to request HTTP resources over the network. It supports HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2, both synchronous and asynchronous programming models, handles request and response bodies as reactive-streams, and follows the familiar builder pattern.

https://openjdk.java.net/groups/net/httpclient/intro.html

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();;
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
        .uri(new URI(targetUrl))
        .POST(urlParameters)
        .headers("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
        .build();
HttpResponse<String> response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 10 '22 at 07:06

Problem with the Response!

I had a similar issue when I was sending the request of media type application/x-www-form-urlencoded from Postman I was receiving a correct response.

However, when sending the request using code, I was receiving jargon somewhat like:

�-�YO�`:ur���g�
.n��l���u)�i�h3J%Gl�?����k

What I tried:

Out of frustration for multiple days tried all the possible solutions from changing character sets to changing header values to code changes and whatnot.

Solution lies in Postman.

Select Java-OkHttp

Copy the code and paste it into IDE.

That's it.

Reference for HttpOk: https://www.vogella.com/tutorials/JavaLibrary-OkHttp/article.html

If you are reading this - you are close. Just scroll to the bottom. — malkoto1, Feb 16 '23 at 20:55

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 20 '21 at 13:30

string urlParameters = "param1=value1&param2=value2";
string _endPointName = "your url post api";

var httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(_endPointName);

httpWebRequest.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
httpWebRequest.Method = "POST";
httpWebRequest.Headers["ContentType"] = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";

System.Net.ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback +=
                                                  (se, cert, chain, sslerror) =>
                                                  {
                                                      return true;
                                                  };


using (var streamWriter = new StreamWriter(httpWebRequest.GetRequestStream()))
                {
                    streamWriter.Write(urlParameters);
                    streamWriter.Flush();
                    streamWriter.Close();
                }
var httpResponse = (HttpWebResponse)httpWebRequest.GetResponse();

using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(httpResponse.GetResponseStream()))
                {
                    var result = streamReader.ReadToEnd();
                }

Add some context to your answer and restrict yourself to posting the exact code snippet eg. in your case the `httpWebRequest.Headers["ContentType"]` so, that it is easier to follow — shyam, Jan 20 '21 at 14:09

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 09 '22 at 20:54

Building off of Navoneel's answer, I like to use StreamEx's EntryStream.

Here is Naveoneel's method re-written.

private String getDataString(HashMap<String, String> params)
{
   return EntryStream.
      of(data).
      mapKeys(key -> URLEncoder.encode(key, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).        // Encode the keys
      mapValues(value -> URLEncoder.encode(value, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).  // Encode the values
      join("=").                                                             // Create a key=value
      joining("&");                                                          // Assemble into key1=value1&key2=value2...
}

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Jul 21 '23 at 12:46

HttpClient httpClient = HttpClientBuilder.create().build();
HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(uri);
httpPost.setHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); // Alterado para x-www-form-urlencoded

HttpResponse response;

List<NameValuePair> params = new ArrayList<>();
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("email", usuario));
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("password", senha));
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair("tenantId", tenantId));

UrlEncodedFormEntity urlEncodedFormEntity = new UrlEncodedFormEntity(params);

httpPost.getRequestLine();
httpPost.setEntity(urlEncodedFormEntity);

MainActivity.logMainRequest("UriRequest:" + uri);
MainActivity.logMainRequest("JsonRequest:" + params);

response = httpClient.execute(httpPost);