Sending JSON as HTTP POST parameter (Android/Java)

Question

I'm trying to send a JSON object which contains a JSON array with JSON objects inside via HTTP POST parameters.

The format of the parameter (what the server expects) is something like:

{""team"":[
    {""teamid"":""179228"",""position"":1},
    {""teamid"":""218036"",""position"":2},
    {""teamid"":""88109"",""position"":3},
    {""teamid"":""88111"",""position"":4},
    {""teamid"":""165536"",""position"":5},
    {""teamid"":""224645"",""position"":6}
]}

nevertheless, what gets sent is:

{"team":"[
\"{\\\"position\\\":0,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"88107\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":1,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"88109\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":2,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"156714\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":3,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"138877\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":4,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"168730\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":5,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"88110\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":6,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"88111\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":7,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"134431\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":8,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"88112\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":9,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"138507\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":10,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"138880\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":11,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"138881\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":12,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"151465\\\"}\",\"{\\\"position\\\":13,\\\"teamid\\\":\\\"151464\\\"}\
"]"}

The way I build that JSON object is the following:

            JSONArray teamArray = new JSONArray();
            JSONObject jsonRoot = new JSONObject();
            for (int i = 0; i < mTeams.size(); i++) {
                String teamId = null;
                BaseModel data = mTeams.get(i);
                if (data != null && data instanceof TeamModel) {
                    teamId = ((TeamModel) data).getId();
                }
                JSONObject teamObject = new JSONObject();
                try {
                    teamObject.put(
                            getResources().getString(
                                    R.string.sendResortedTeamsPosition), i);
                    teamObject.put(
                            getResources().getString(
                                    R.string.sendResortedTeamsTeamId), teamId);
                    teamArray.put(teamObject);
                } catch (NotFoundException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                } catch (JSONException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
            try {
                jsonRoot.put("team", teamArray);
                mNameValuePairs.put("teams", jsonRoot);
                    } catch (JSONException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }

In the last but one line (jsonRoot.put("team", teamArray);) it has the same format as what gets sent in the last line, but with one less \, so one less times "parsed" apparently.

Part of my HTTP code:

String postBody = json.toString();
Log.d("HTTPHelper", "posting JSON: " + postBody);
((HttpPost) httpRequest).setEntity(new StringEntity(postBody));

Why is this happening? Is it Java? Any ideas how could I build the correct JSON? or any work around?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Answer 1

I gave this up, and decided to go the dirty-way: replacing chars manually the following way:

json = new JSONObject(nameValuePairs.toString().replace("\"", "'"));
json = new JSONObject(json.toString().replace("\"", ""));

It's ugly, probably dangerous or risky, but it works...