Android Retrofit Tutorial to Insert into MySQL Database

November 5, 2015 by Belal Khan 46 Comments

In the last android retrofit tutorial I explained how to retrieve JSON using HTTP GET request. In this android retrofit tutorial we will use post request.

So today we will insert some values from our android app to our MySQL Database.

In this tutorial I will be using Hostinger. Though you can use any hosting or local server (using wamp/xampp) as well.

So lets begin our android retrofit post request example. 🙂

Follow Updated Tutorial from this Link
Retrofit Android Tutorial – Using Retrofit 2.2 with PHP Restful API

Creating MySQL Database and PHP Scripts

As I told that I am using Hostinger. And this is the snapshot of my database.

mysql db

This is my database, you should create the same database if you are going to copy my code. 😛
Now we will create a script to connect to our database. I have created dbConnect.php.

<?php
	//Change the values according to your database
	
	define('HOST','mysql.hostinger.in');
	define('USER','u502452270_andro');
	define('PASS','belal_123');
	define('DB','u502452270_andro');
	
	$con = mysqli_connect(HOST,USER,PASS,DB) or die('Unable to Connect');

<?php

//Change the values according to your database

define('HOST','mysql.hostinger.in');

define('USER','u502452270_andro');

define('PASS','belal_123');

define('DB','u502452270_andro');

$con = mysqli_connect(HOST,USER,PASS,DB) or die('Unable to Connect');

Our second script will receive and insert the data to mysql database. I have created insert.php.

<?php
//checking if the script received a post request or not 
if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']=='POST'){
	
		//Getting post data 
		$name = $_POST['name'];
		$username = $_POST['username'];
		$password = $_POST['password'];
		$email = $_POST['email'];
		
		//checking if the received values are blank
		if($name == '' || $username == '' || $password == '' || $email == ''){
			//giving a message to fill all values if the values are blank
			echo 'please fill all values';
		}else{
			//If the values are not blank
			//Connecting to our database by calling dbConnect script 
			require_once('dbConnect.php');
			
			//Creating an SQL Query to insert into database 
			//Here you may need to change the retrofit_users because it is the table I created
			//if you have a different table write your table's name
			
			//This query is to check whether the username or email is already registered or not 
			$sql = "SELECT * FROM retrofit_users WHERE username='$username' OR email='$email'";
			
			//If variable check has some value from mysqli fetch array 
			//That means username or email already exist 
			$check = mysqli_fetch_array(mysqli_query($con,$sql));
			
			//Checking check has some values or not 
			if(isset($check)){
				//If check has some value that means username already exist 
				echo 'username or email already exist';
			}else{				
				//If username is not already exist 
				//Creating insert query 
				$sql = "INSERT INTO retrofit_users (name,username,password,email) VALUES('$name','$username','$password','$email')";
				
				//Trying to insert the values to db 
				if(mysqli_query($con,$sql)){
					//If inserted successfully 
					echo 'successfully registered';
				}else{
					//In case any error occured 
					echo 'oops! Please try again!';
				}
			}
			//Closing the database connection 
			mysqli_close($con);
		}
}else{
echo 'error';
}

<?php

//checking if the script received a post request or not

if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']=='POST'){

//Getting post data

$name = $_POST['name'];

$username = $_POST['username'];

$password = $_POST['password'];

$email = $_POST['email'];

//checking if the received values are blank

if($name == '' || $username == '' || $password == '' || $email == ''){

//giving a message to fill all values if the values are blank

echo 'please fill all values';

}else{

//If the values are not blank

//Connecting to our database by calling dbConnect script

require_once('dbConnect.php');

//Creating an SQL Query to insert into database

//Here you may need to change the retrofit_users because it is the table I created

//if you have a different table write your table's name

//This query is to check whether the username or email is already registered or not

$sql = "SELECT * FROM retrofit_users WHERE username='$username' OR email='$email'";

//If variable check has some value from mysqli fetch array

//That means username or email already exist

$check = mysqli_fetch_array(mysqli_query($con,$sql));

//Checking check has some values or not

if(isset($check)){

//If check has some value that means username already exist

echo 'username or email already exist';

}else{

//If username is not already exist

//Creating insert query

$sql = "INSERT INTO retrofit_users (name,username,password,email) VALUES('$name','$username','$password','$email')";

//Trying to insert the values to db

if(mysqli_query($con,$sql)){

//If inserted successfully

echo 'successfully registered';

}else{

//In case any error occured

echo 'oops! Please try again!';

}

//Closing the database connection

mysqli_close($con);

}

}else{

echo 'error';

}

Now upload both files to your hosting. And notedown the URL for your insert.php file. In my case it is

http://simplifiedcoding.16mb.com/RetrofitExample/insert.php

Actually we are going to use retrofit So in retrofit we keep the root URL and the Main URL separately. In the above URL the unbold part is our root URL. We will understand it in our Android Project. Lets create an Android Studio Project.

Android Retrofit Tutorial

Create a new Android Project. I have created project named RetrofitPostExample.
Add the following dependency to build.gradle file.

    compile 'com.squareup.retrofit:retrofit:1.9.0'

1	compile 'com.squareup.retrofit:retrofit:1.9.0'

Add internet permission to your manifest.

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

1	<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>

Finally come to activity_main.xml. We have to create the following layout for this android retrofit tutorial.

android retrofit tutorial

Use the following xml code for the above layout.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TextView
        android:text="name"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextName"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <TextView
        android:text="user name"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />


    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextUsername"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <TextView
        android:text="password"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />


    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextPassword"
        android:inputType="textPassword"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />


    <TextView
        android:text="email"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />


    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextEmail"
        android:inputType="textEmailAddress"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/buttonRegister"
        android:text="Register"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

</LinearLayout>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"

xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"

android:orientation="vertical"

android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"

android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity">

<TextView

android:text="name"

android:layout_width="wrap_content"