Passing JSON string in the URL parameters using Spring & Robospice

Question

I am writing a rest client application and the way the server has been set up (beyond my control) is to perform specific filters the query string has a raw json attached as follows:

http://www.someurl.com/api/user?filter=[{"field1":"value1","field2":"value2","field3":"value3"}]

Currently I am using Robospice/Spring to handle the network requests and for regular queries (i.e. no json paramters) it works pretty well. However, whenever I try and process a GET request with the above described url, I keep receiving 500 server error. I tried the same request using This android-async-library, which seems to be able to handle the parameters a little better (200 OK etc). This has lead me to believe the issue is with the way the URL is formed/parsed.

My question is can Spring handle URLs of this format? or if anyone knows the best way to handle/encode it that will be usable for spring?

Answer 1

Yes possibly your url should be encoded especially when you post json in parameters(because of ", :, }, ' notations) use this for creating your url

String url = Uri.parse("http://youradres.com")
                .buildUpon()
                .appendQueryParameter("filter", "[{\"field1\":\"value1\",\"field2\":\"value2\",\"field3\":\"value3\"}]")
                .build().toString();

Answer 2

It is probably not a good idea. I would pass those values like this:

http://www.someurl.com/api/user?field1=value1&field2=value2&field3=value3

And manage those values on your controller. I think it is more rest-ish. However, going straight to your question. I think the problem is you need to "encode" your URL before you send those values. And then decode it back in your server.

I can not give you code because I don't use Java but this might help you to get on the right track.