android app connected to a server

[skarosg3]

Hi all.
I am currently working on an android app that needs to connect to a server and get some data.
What is the protocol used for such communication? I have been testing it on my local machine, so i created a java socket server. But when i tried to upload it on the web in order to test it, i realised that it is not so easy/cheap to do it, so i turned to servlet. Curently i am at the prosess of changing my socket server to a servlet, but i would hate doing it twice, i thought to ask first if there is a better alternative.

Thanks, ilias

[Norm]

You might be able to test the client/server code on a LAN via wifi. Start the server, get its IP address and see if the client can connect to it. For example, there is a free app on Play Store (WiFi file transfer) that has a server that runs on one android tablet that a browser on another tablet can connect to for copying files from the server.

[skarosg3]

Either i didnt explain properly, or you didnt get it right... or i didnt understand your answer.

My android app needs to connect to a server, sent some data and get a reply. Actually it is an apointment system. I need to ask for an apointment, lets say Friday @ 11:00 and the server would say apointment set, or if the slot is taken to ask from the user for an other slot.

My question is what technology to use for this communication

[Norm]

A standard way to connect to a server is with HTTP. What protocols does your server support?

[skarosg3]

Its my server, I am coding the server as well.
I am planning to do it in Java, cos i am more familiar with it than other languages.

[Norm]

Is the server going to run in Android on a tablet/phone?

[skarosg3]

No, it will be a pc.

[Norm]

There are several packages available from Apache that could be useful. Or look at the Java SE classes.
The HTTP server I wrote long ago as a learning exercise used Sockets. That meant I had to write code to handle many things that the current classes probably provide.

[skarosg3]

So an http server using doPost would be an acceptable solution for an android client connected to a server.

I was thinking my architecture to be something like that,
on a trigger the client (android) will sent a string as a command to the server (for example "apointment=Doc&time=11:00&date=11/11/2014")
This will be read from the server and depending on the value of apointment to execute a different group of commands, returning the apropirate data to the client.

How does that look like?

[Norm]

I think HTTP POST would be fine.

[skarosg3]

Sorry, i presed send with out really looking.

Thanks for the help. I will go on and use http and see how it goes.

[Norm]

I think HTTP POST would be fine.

That looks like an exact repeat of the previous post.

[Pbox]

HTTP POST should do the job, but you may to use to use tomcat as well depending on the complexity of your project