Retrofit 2.0-beta-2 is adding literal quotes to MultiPart values - httpclient

Question

Went to upgrade to Retrofit 2.0 and running into this weird problem.
I have a method to log a user in
public interface ApiInterface {
#Multipart
#POST("user/login/")
Call<SessionToken> userLogin(#Part("username") String username, #Part("password") String password);
}
When I look at the key value POST params on the server side they print like this
username : "brian"
password : "password"
The same method using retrofit 1.9 the K:V pairs look like
username : brian
password : password
It's adding literal quotes to the POST variables
If I use any other rest client the variables print like the second way without the quotes.
Here is how I build the Retrofit instance with an interceptor
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
client.interceptors().add(new Interceptor() {
#Override
public Response intercept(Chain chain) throws IOException {
Request original = chain.request();
// Customize the request
Request request = original.newBuilder()
.header("Accept", "application/json")
.header("Authorization", myPrefs.accessToken().getOr(""))
.method(original.method(), original.body())
.build();
Response response = chain.proceed(request);
// Customize or return the response
return response;
}
});
Ok2Curl.set(client);
Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl(apiEndpoint)
.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())
.client(client)
.build();
I imagine i'm doing something wrong with the converter but not sure what.
Has anyone else ran into this problem yet? I know its in beta but it's pretty widly used.

Answer 1

This is because it's running through the JSON converter.
Solution1:
use RequestBody instead of String
public interface ApiInterface {
#Multipart
#POST("user/login/")
Call<SessionToken> userLogin(#Part("username") RequestBody username, #Part("password") RequestBody password);
}
Build RequestBody:
RequestBody usernameBody = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("text/plain"), usernameStr);
RequestBody passwordBody = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("text/plain"), passwordStr);
Launch network operation:
retrofit.create(ApiInterface.class).userLogin(usernameBody , passwordBody).enqueue()....
Solution2: Create a custom ConverterFactory to dispose String part value.
For: Retrofit2 final release not beta. (com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.0.0)
Create your StringConverterFactory:
public class StringConverterFactory extends Converter.Factory {
private static final MediaType MEDIA_TYPE = MediaType.parse("text/plain");
public static StringConverterFactory create() {
return new StringConverterFactory();
}
#Override
public Converter<ResponseBody, ?> responseBodyConverter(Type type, Annotation[] annotations, Retrofit retrofit) {
if (String.class.equals(type)) {
return new Converter<ResponseBody, String>() {
#Override
public String convert(ResponseBody value) throws IOException {
return value.string();
}
};
}
return null;
}
#Override
public Converter<?, RequestBody> requestBodyConverter(Type type, Annotation[] parameterAnnotations, Annotation[] methodAnnotations, Retrofit retrofit) {
if(String.class.equals(type)) {
return new Converter<String, RequestBody>() {
#Override
public RequestBody convert(String value) throws IOException {
return RequestBody.create(MEDIA_TYPE, value);
}
};
}
return null;
}
}
Add to your retrofit instance:
retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl(SERVER_URL)
.client(client)
.addConverterFactory(StringConverterFactory.create())
.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())
.addCallAdapterFactory(RxJavaCallAdapterFactory.create())
.build();
Attention: StringConverterFactory should add before GsonConverterFactory!
then you can use String as part value directly.
You can find more information about this issue in https://github.com/square/retrofit/issues/1210

Answer 2

I have the same problem, and how it solved:
1) Add to build.gradle:
compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-scalars:2.1.0' // Remember to add the same version
2) Add one line here:
Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl(URL_BASE)
.addConverterFactory(ScalarsConverterFactory.create()) // this line
.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create(gson))
.client(getUnsafeOkHttpClient())
.build();

Answer 3

What about to do in that way?
RequestBody caption = RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("text/plain"), new String("caption"));

Answer 4

Here is how to resolve it,
Firstly:
return new Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl(Env.GetApiBaseUrl())
.addConverterFactory(new GsonStringConverterFactory())
.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create(gson))
.client(getHttpClient())
.build();
Create a CustomConverter like this one, this is needed by Retrofit 2, unless some fix the "feature" added in v2.
public class GsonStringConverterFactory extends Converter.Factory {
private static final MediaType MEDIA_TYPE = MediaType.parse("text/plain");
#Override
public Converter<?, RequestBody> toRequestBody(Type type, Annotation[] annotations) {
if (String.class.equals(type))// || (type instanceof Class && ((Class<?>) type).isEnum()))
{
return new Converter<String, RequestBody>() {
#Override
public RequestBody convert(String value) throws IOException {
return RequestBody.create(MEDIA_TYPE, value);
}
};
}
return null;
}
}

Answer 5

I've found another one solution except those. Worked with Retrofit 2.1.0. (Rx adapter is optional here)
My retrofit interface looks like this:
#POST("/children/add")
Observable<Child> addChild(#Body RequestBody requestBody);
And in ApiManager I use it like this:
#Override
public Observable<Child> addChild(String firstName, String lastName, Long birthDate, #Nullable File passportPicture) {
MultipartBody.Builder builder = new MultipartBody.Builder()
.setType(MultipartBody.FORM)
.addFormDataPart("first_name", firstName)
.addFormDataPart("last_name", lastName)
.addFormDataPart("birth_date", birthDate + "");
//some nullable optional parameter
if (passportPicture != null) {
builder.addFormDataPart("certificate", passportPicture.getName(), RequestBody.create(MediaType.parse("image/*"), passportPicture));
}
return api.addChild(builder.build());
}
It is similar to Solution1 from Loyea but I think that it's little a bit more elegant.

Answer 6

If your UI is showing your responses with quotes, you can use getAsString instead of toString

Answer 7

I don't know if it is too late, but we can also send requests with RequestBody.
Example:
public interface ApiInterface {
#Multipart
#POST("user/login/")
Call<SessionToken> userLogin(#Part("username") String username, #Part("password") String password);
}
We can convert as below:
public interface ApiInterface {
#Multipart
#POST("user/login/")
Call<SessionToken> userLogin(#Part("username") RequestBody username, #Part("password") String password);
}