Getting request payload from POST request in Java servlet

Question

I have a javascript library that is sending a POST request to my Java servlet, but in the doPost method, I can't seem to get the contents of the request payload. In chrome Developer Tools, all the content is in the Request Payload section in the headers tab, and the content is there, and I know that the POST is being received by the doPost method, but it just comes up blank.

For the HttpServletRequest object, what way can I get the data in the request payload?

Doing request.getParameter() or request.getAttributes() both end up with no data

Answer 1

Simple answer:
Use getReader() to read the body of the request

More info:
There are two methods for reading the data in the body:

1. getReader() returns a BufferedReader that will allow you to read the body of the request.

2. getInputStream() returns a ServletInputStream if you need to read binary data.

Note from the docs: "[Either method] may be called to read the body, not both."

Answer 2

String payloadRequest = getBody(request);

Using this method

public static String getBody(HttpServletRequest request) throws IOException {

    String body = null;
    StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    BufferedReader bufferedReader = null;

    try {
        InputStream inputStream = request.getInputStream();
        if (inputStream != null) {
            bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));
            char[] charBuffer = new char[128];
            int bytesRead = -1;
            while ((bytesRead = bufferedReader.read(charBuffer)) > 0) {
                stringBuilder.append(charBuffer, 0, bytesRead);
            }
        } else {
            stringBuilder.append("");
        }
    } catch (IOException ex) {
        throw ex;
    } finally {
        if (bufferedReader != null) {
            try {
                bufferedReader.close();
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                throw ex;
            }
        }
    }

    body = stringBuilder.toString();
    return body;
}

Answer 3

You can use Buffer Reader from request to read

    // Read from request
    StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
    BufferedReader reader = request.getReader();
    String line;
    while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
        buffer.append(line);
        buffer.append(System.lineSeparator());
    }
    String data = buffer.toString()

Answer 4

Java 8 streams

String body = request.getReader().lines()
    .reduce("", (accumulator, actual) -> accumulator + actual);

Answer 5

With Apache Commons IO you can do this in one line.

IOUtils.toString(request.getReader())

Answer 6

If the contents of the body are a string in Java 8 you can do:

String body = request.getReader().lines().collect(Collectors.joining());

Answer 7

If you are able to send the payload in JSON, this is a most convenient way to read the playload:

Example data class:

public class Person {
    String firstName;
    String lastName;
    // Getters and setters ...
}

Example payload (request body):

{ "firstName" : "John", "lastName" : "Doe" }

Code to read payload in servlet (requires com.google.gson.*):

Person person = new Gson().fromJson(request.getReader(), Person.class);

That's all. Nice, easy and clean. Don't forget to set the content-type header to application/json.

Answer 8

Using Java 8 try with resources:

    StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder();
    try(BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(request.getInputStream()))) {
        char[] charBuffer = new char[1024];
        int bytesRead;
        while ((bytesRead = bufferedReader.read(charBuffer)) > 0) {
            stringBuilder.append(charBuffer, 0, bytesRead);
        }
    }

Answer 9

You only need

request.getParameterMap()

for getting the POST and GET - Parameters.

The Method returns a Map<String,String[]>.

You can read the parameters in the Map by

Map<String, String[]> map = request.getParameterMap();
//Reading the Map
//Works for GET && POST Method
for(String paramName:map.keySet()) {
    String[] paramValues = map.get(paramName);

    //Get Values of Param Name
    for(String valueOfParam:paramValues) {
        //Output the Values
        System.out.println("Value of Param with Name "+paramName+": "+valueOfParam);
    }
}