Android JSON HttpClient to send data to PHP server with HttpResponse

Question

I am currently trying to send some data from and Android application to a php server (both are controlled by me).

There is alot of data collected on a form in the app, this is written to the database. This all works.

In my main code, firstly I create a JSONObject (I have cut it down here for this example):

JSONObject j = new JSONObject();
j.put("engineer", "me");
j.put("date", "today");
j.put("fuel", "full");
j.put("car", "mine");
j.put("distance", "miles");

Next I pass the object over for sending, and receive the response:

String url = "http://www.server.com/thisfile.php";
HttpResponse re = HTTPPoster.doPost(url, j);
String temp = EntityUtils.toString(re.getEntity());
if (temp.compareTo("SUCCESS")==0)
{
    Toast.makeText(this, "Sending complete!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

The HTTPPoster class:

public static HttpResponse doPost(String url, JSONObject c) throws ClientProtocolException, IOException 
{
    HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
    HttpPost request = new HttpPost(url);
    HttpEntity entity;
    StringEntity s = new StringEntity(c.toString());
    s.setContentEncoding(new BasicHeader(HTTP.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/json"));
    entity = s;
    request.setEntity(entity);
    HttpResponse response;
    response = httpclient.execute(request);
    return response;
}

This gets a response, but the server is returning a 403 - Forbidden response.

I have tried changing the doPost function a little (this is actually a little better, as I said I have alot to send, basically 3 of the same form with different data - so I create 3 JSONObjects, one for each form entry - the entries come from the DB instead of the static example I am using).

Firstly I changed the call over a bit:

String url = "http://www.myserver.com/ServiceMatalan.php";
Map<String, String> kvPairs = new HashMap<String, String>();
kvPairs.put("vehicle", j.toString());
// Normally I would pass two more JSONObjects.....
HttpResponse re = HTTPPoster.doPost(url, kvPairs);
String temp = EntityUtils.toString(re.getEntity());
if (temp.compareTo("SUCCESS")==0)
{
    Toast.makeText(this, "Sending complete!", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

Ok so the changes to the doPost function:

public static HttpResponse doPost(String url, Map<String, String> kvPairs) throws ClientProtocolException, IOException 
{
    HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
    HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost(url);
    if (kvPairs != null && kvPairs.isEmpty() == false) 
    {
        List<NameValuePair> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>(kvPairs.size());
        String k, v;
        Iterator<String> itKeys = kvPairs.keySet().iterator();
        while (itKeys.hasNext()) 
        {
            k = itKeys.next();
            v = kvPairs.get(k);
            nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair(k, v));
        }             
        httppost.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(nameValuePairs));
    }
    HttpResponse response;
    response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
    return response;
}

Ok So this returns a response 200

int statusCode = re.getStatusLine().getStatusCode();

However the data received on the server cannot be parsed to a JSON string. It is badly formatted I think (this is the first time I have used JSON):

If in the php file I do an echo on $_POST['vehicle'] I get the following:

{\"date\":\"today\",\"engineer\":\"me\"}

Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong, or if there is a better way to achieve what I am trying to do? Hopefully the above makes sense!

Answer 1

After lots of reading and searching I have found the problem to be with, I beleive magic_quotes_gpc being enabled on the server.

Thus, using:

json_decode(stripslashes($_POST['vehicle']));

In my example above removes the slashes and allows the JSON to be decoded properly.

Still not sure why sending a StringEntity causes a 403 error?