How to POST to an HTTPS Site in android

Question

I am new to android programming as I have been given a side project. I have this web page https://travelads.katakwe.co.za/androidlogin It has a username and password field, I want to use this to log in in my android application.
So I have 2 questions:
1) Can it be done
2) How do I do it

I have found the following questions:

http://www.xyzws.com/javafaq/how-to-use-httpurlconnection-post-data-to-web-server/139
android-developers.googleblog.com/2011/09/androids-http-clients.html
stackoverflow.com/questions/5629122/defaulthttpclient-certificates-https-and-posting-problem?rq=1

The problems I have had with all these is that they do not explain all the methods they implement and I don't know how to apply this to my own webpage

URL url =new URL("https://travelads.katakwe.co.za/androidlogin");

        HttpsURLConnection connection= (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();
        String urlParameters="sn=C02G8416DRJM&cn=&locale=&caller=&num=12345";
        connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
        connection.setRequestProperty("Username","name");
        connection.setRequestProperty("Password","pass");

        connection.setDoOutput(true);
        DataOutputStream dStream =new DataOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());

        dStream.writeBytes(urlParameters);
        dStream.flush();
        dStream.close();

        int responseCode=connection.getResponseCode();
        ret=responseCode;

Possible duplicate of [How to do an HTTPS POST from Android?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16504527/how-to-do-an-https-post-from-android) — Denny, May 03 '17 at 12:55
the problem is it still doesn't explain all the methods and how they work, I was hoping for a more indepth understanding — Dario vieira, May 03 '17 at 12:59
what do you mean by methods they implement? are you familiar with HTTP? — nandsito, May 03 '17 at 13:07
I also want to know if the web page I am posting to is in the correct format or If this question is even valid — Dario vieira, May 03 '17 at 13:07
I will post my code, but it is just an implementation of the above links — Dario vieira, May 03 '17 at 13:12
is there a problem in the request? is the server rejecting the request? does the client receive an unexpected response? — nandsito, May 03 '17 at 13:20
It's an empty link just for testing, The username and password are real, I will change them though, sorry The client receives 404 — Dario vieira, May 03 '17 at 13:25
by the way your username and password are still accessible in the revision history — nandsito, May 03 '17 at 13:41

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 03 '17 at 13:37

I have written a function for all POST/PUT/GET request to HTTPS server

a. You have to Self-signed certificate stuff to be handled. Please include that for sure.

b. You have to tell which type of content-Type to want to send to server.

c. Depending upon server configuration. What ever request you are sending to server check through POSTMAN or curl command to verify if is working, before working on Android request.

public String createConnection (String urlS, String methodInvoked,String patchBody, String postBody,String putBody){
        URL url ;
        BufferedReader br = null;
        String toBeReturned="";
        try {
            url = new URL(urlS);

            HostnameVerifier hostnameVerifier = new HostnameVerifier() {
                @Override
                public boolean verify(String hostname, SSLSession session) {
                    return true;
                }
            };
            TrustManager[] trustAllCerts = new TrustManager[]{
                    new X509TrustManager() {
                        public X509Certificate[] getAcceptedIssuers() {
                            X509Certificate[] myTrustedAnchors = new X509Certificate[0];
                            return myTrustedAnchors;
                        }
                        @Override
                        public void checkClientTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
                        }
                        @Override
                        public void checkServerTrusted(X509Certificate[] certs, String authType) {
                        }
                    }
            };

            // Create an SSLContext that uses our TrustManager
            SSLContext sc = SSLContext.getInstance("SSL");
            sc.init(null, trustAllCerts, null);


            HttpsURLConnection  connection = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();
            connection.setConnectTimeout(60000);
            HttpsURLConnection.setDefaultHostnameVerifier(hostnameVerifier);
            connection.setSSLSocketFactory(sc.getSocketFactory());
            connection.setHostnameVerifier(hostnameVerifier);


            if (patchBody  != null ){
                Log.i(TAG, " createConnection with PATH with body" );
                connection.setRequestMethod("PATCH");
                connection.setRequestProperty("data",patchBody);
                connection.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
                DataOutputStream dStream = new DataOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());
                dStream.writeBytes(patchBody);
                dStream.flush();
                dStream.close();
            }
            if (methodInvoked.equalsIgnoreCase("PATCH") && patchBody == null ){
                Log.i(TAG, " createConnection with PATH without body" );
                connection.setRequestMethod("PATCH");
//              connection.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
//              connection.setDoOutput(true);
            }
            if (postBody != null){
                Log.i(TAG, " createConnection with POST with body" );
                connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
                connection.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
                connection.setDoOutput(true);
                DataOutputStream dStream = new DataOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());
                dStream.writeBytes(postBody);
                dStream.flush();
                dStream.close();
            }

            if (methodInvoked.equalsIgnoreCase("POST") && postBody == null ){
                Log.i(TAG, " createConnection with POST without body" );
                connection.setRequestMethod("POST");
                connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); 
                //connection.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
            }

            if (putBody != null){
                Log.i(TAG, " createConnection with PUT with body" );
                connection.setRequestMethod("PUT");
                connection.setDoOutput(true);
                connection.addRequestProperty("Content-Type", "application/json");
                DataOutputStream dStream = new DataOutputStream(connection.getOutputStream());
                dStream.writeBytes(putBody);
                dStream.flush();
                dStream.close();
            }



            responseCode = connection.getResponseCode();
            InputStream in= null;
            if(responseCode >= HttpsURLConnection.HTTP_BAD_REQUEST)
            {   

                in = connection.getErrorStream();
                br = new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(connection.getErrorStream()));
                StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                String line = null; 
                while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
                    sb.append(line+"\n");
                }
                 String toBeReturned_1 = sb.toString();
                 Log.i(TAG, " createConnetion error received " +  responseCode  + "  " + toBeReturned_1) ;

            }
            else{


                br = new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader(connection.getInputStream()));
                StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
                String line = null; 
                while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
                    sb.append(line+"\n");
                }
                toBeReturned = sb.toString();


            }


        } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
            error = e.getMessage();
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            error = e.getMessage();
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (KeyManagementException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        finally{
            try {
                if (br!=null)
                    br.close();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }

        }
        Log.i(TAG, " createConnetion  finally returned" +  toBeReturned );
        return toBeReturned; 
    }

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/143361/discussion-on-answer-by-inder-r-singh-how-to-post-to-an-https-site-in-android). — Bhargav Rao, May 04 '17 at 07:01
@Dariovieira Can you upVote answer also , you have just accepted it. — Inder R Singh, May 04 '17 at 22:25
Hi, I thought it was working because I was getting a 200 response code, but It is not, when I try read the toBeReturned value, it is just the original html page. Have I done something incorrectly? — Dario vieira, May 05 '17 at 14:41
POST means you added something in server. Its on server what is respond. — Inder R Singh, May 05 '17 at 15:21
Could you have a look at the web page that I use, and maybe point me in the right direction of how to solve the issue? — Dario vieira, May 05 '17 at 15:25

How to POST to an HTTPS Site in android

1 Answers1