Java - sending HTTP parameters via POST method easily

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 );
}

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();         

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", "[email protected]");
        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();