Java PostMethod with xml

Question

I am trying to post XML data as a body to a REST api.

I have a method that creates the request called doREST.

String url = null;
        HttpMethod method;
        LOG.info("QUERY: " + query);
        if (StringUtil.isEmpty(query)) {
            url = BuildRequestURL("/issues.ashx/issues/mywork");
            method = doREST(url, false);
        } else {
            url = BuildRequestURL("/issues.ashx/issues/filters");
            //method = doREST(url, true);
            method = doREST(url, true);
            String xml = "<IssuesFilterEN>" +
                    "<IssueID>" + query + "</IssueID>" +
                    "</IssuesFilterEN>";
            RequestEntity entity = new StringRequestEntity(xml,"text/xml; charset=iso-8859-1", null);


method.setRequestEntity(entity);
    }

and the doREST method

private HttpMethod doREST(String request, boolean post) throws Exception {
        String uri = request;
        HttpMethod method = post ? new PostMethod(uri) : new GetMethod(uri);
        configureHttpMethod(method);
        HttpClient client = getHttpClient();
        client.getParams().setParameter(HttpClientParams.SO_TIMEOUT, timeoutLength);
        client.executeMethod(method);
        return method;
    }

My issue is the method.setRequestEntity is saying that the method could not be found.

I have

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethod;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.*;

If i set method = PostMethod instead of method = doREST it works but I don't want to have to do that in all my other methods just to create queries.

Is there something I am missing as to why the method.setRequestEntity is not working the way it is right now?

EDIT: I got my information for using setRequestEntity from PostMethod setRequestBody(String) deprecated - why?

EDIT 2: Here is what I ended up doing.

private HttpMethod doREST(String request, RequestEntity entity) throws Exception {
        String uri = request;
        HttpMethod method;
        if ( entity != null ){
            method = new PostMethod(uri);
            ((PostMethod) method).setRequestEntity(entity);

        } else {
            method = new GetMethod(uri);
        }
        configureHttpMethod(method);
        HttpClient client = getHttpClient();
        client.getParams().setParameter(HttpClientParams.SO_TIMEOUT, timeoutLength);
        client.executeMethod(method);
        return method;
    }

What version of httpclient are you using? There are some API naming changes between 3.x (apache-commons httpclient) and 4.x (apache httpcomponents httpclient). — ataylor
– ataylor, Commented Apr 29, 2011 at 17:29

laz · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-29 19:22:06Z

3

You should modify doREST to accept the RequestEntity instead of a boolean. Pass in null for a GET and a value for POST. Use that as the check to see if you need a PostMethod or a GetMethod. Then you can have the specific type so you can call the PostMethod only setRequestEntity().

EDIT:

You can avoid the cast like this:

private HttpMethod doREST(String request, RequestEntity entity) throws Exception {
    String uri = request;
    HttpMethod method;
    if ( entity != null ){
        PostMethod postMethod = new PostMethod(uri);
        postMethod.setRequestEntity(entity);
        method = postMethod;
    } else {
        method = new GetMethod(uri);
    }
    configureHttpMethod(method);
    HttpClient client = getHttpClient();
    client.getParams().setParameter(HttpClientParams.SO_TIMEOUT, timeoutLength);
    client.executeMethod(method);
    return method;
}

edited Apr 29, 2011 at 19:22

answered Apr 29, 2011 at 16:56

laz

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2 Comments

Bot Over a year ago

Don't think that will work because in doREST I would need to return a PostMethod instead of HttpMethod.

Bot Over a year ago

I went with this approach but was still having issues so I ended up casting the method to PostMethod if an entity was passed then setting the setRequestEntity.

ataylor · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-29 16:55:28Z

1

The method you should be calling is setEntity, not setRequestEntity. Also, your body should be wrapped in a StringEntity, not a StringRequestEntity, imported from org.apache.http.entity.

answered Apr 29, 2011 at 16:55

ataylor

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