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

Question

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.

Answer 1

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();
}