Unsertain On Handing Http Requests as Json Format

Question

I am new to the Kotlin langue and have tried to learn from various YouTube tutorials and other articles online. I took what I learned from a video and followed the steps to create a straightforward currency converter using a free API currency rate. The following is the function for getting the result of the currency rate.

private fun getApiResult(){

     var baseCurrency = "EUR"
     var convertedToCurrency = "USD"
     var conversionRate = 0f

    if(et_firstConversion != null && et_firstConversion.text.isNotEmpty() && et_firstConversion.text.isNotBlank()){

        val API = "http://data.fixer.io/api/latest?access_key=a22e608d4311d9ade9221a2abadb111e&symbols=$convertedToCurrency,AUD,CAD,PLN,MXN&format=1"

        if(baseCurrency == convertedToCurrency){
            Toast.makeText(applicationContext,"Cannot convert the same currency", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
        } else {
            GlobalScope.launch(Dispatchers.IO){
                try {
                    val apiResult = URL(API).readText()
                    val jsonObject = JSONObject(apiResult)

                    conversionRate = jsonObject.getJSONObject("rates").getString(convertedToCurrency).toFloat()

                    Log.d("Main", "$conversionRate")
                    Log.d("Main", apiResult)

                    withContext(Dispatchers.Main){
                        val text = ((et_firstConversion.text.toString().toFloat()) * conversionRate).toString()
                        et_secondConversion?.setText(text)
                    }
                } catch (e:Exception){
                    Log.e("Main", "$e")
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

The problem is that the Exception gets triggered and says the following: cleartext http traffic is not permitted

In the Manifest.xml, I have set the following:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>

The free API is very restricted toward free users and does not allow for Https. I am also not sure if the coding(the way it is implemented) is doing what I am trying to achieve in the right way. Any suggestions/improvements to the code are appreciated.

Android 5.0 API 21

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 08 '21 at 07:31

cleartext HTTP traffic is disabled by default in Android 9 and above.

For any http urls to work, you have to add a Network security configuration.

Add a file named network_security_config.xml at res > xml > network_security_config.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<network-security-config>
    <domain-config cleartextTrafficPermitted="true">
        <domain includeSubdomains="true">data.fixer.io</domain>
    </domain-config>
</network-security-config>

In AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest ...>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>
    <application
        ...
        android:networkSecurityConfig="@xml/network_security_config">
        ...
    </application>
</manifest>

You can also set whole app to use cleartext HTTP on any domain. For this, set android:usesCleartextTraffic to true in application tag.

In AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest ...>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>
    <application
        ...
    android:usesCleartextTraffic="true">
        ...
    </application>
</manifest>

You can read more about it on this codelabs tutorial.

Unsertain On Handing Http Requests as Json Format

1 Answers1