JSP request object has no parameters

Question

I have a JSP file, create.jsp, which receives a POST request from an Ext grid containing a data parameter. Firebug displays a POST like this:

{"data":{"a":"","b":"","c":""}}

When I try to retrieve the data from the request object in create.jsp using this method,

request.getParameter("data");

it returns null. In fact the request object contains no parameters or attributes.

I've tested create.jsp with a POST that contains xaction:read and then the request.getParameter("xaction") returns "read", as expected.

Answer 1

It seems that data has more than one value, so try:

request.getParameterValues("data");

Answer 2

Ended up using the request.getReader() method to parse the request manually.

Answer 3

That's a JSON string. Is it really been sent as request parameter? I.e.

data={"data":{"a":"","b":"","c":""}}

Those things are usually sent "plain vanilla" as request body which you need to process by HttpServletRequest#getInputStream() or HttpServletRequest#getReader().

Update: sorry, didn't see that you already figured it out. I had this topic apparently open for too long in a browser tab. But indeed, you need to parse the request body yourself whenever the request is not been sent by a "normal" HTML form. Please keep the character encodings in mind else you will go in trouble.