Network Manager automatically replaces character

goocreations

I'm using QNetworkAccessManager to send JSON data to my server using POST. Qt automatically replaces the + sign with a space in my POST data. I can't see why this should happen. With GET parameters I could understand that symbols are URL encoded (although a space is not the URL encoded version of +), but I can't understand why Qt would replace any characters in my POST data.

I first encountered this problem with base64 data, but now the same happens if I send a phone number in international format (eg: +49 123 45678). This is NOT due to my encoding, just before manager->post(json), the + sign is still present, but when the json is arrives on the server or if I inspect the POST data on the client before it leaves, the + sign is replaced, hence QNetworkAccessManager must be doing something.

Is there a reason why this is done and is there any way to switch this off?

SGaist

Hi,

Can you share the code you use to build and send your JSON data ? Also, please post what you get and what you expect.

the_

@goocreations

As far as I remember, in GET requests the "+" is the replacement for a space " ". Seems that this is also for POST requests.
To send a "+" you have to replace it with %<hex value> in this case its %2B

//EDIT example added


h2.insert("Debug","1%2B3+4");
//some more data inserted in h1 and h2, masked with * in the debug output from my side
h1.insert("params",h2);
jdoc = QJsonDocument::fromVariant(h1);
query.addQueryItem("str",jdoc.toJson(QJsonDocument::Compact));
qDebug() << query.toString(QUrl::FullyEncoded);

//in the QNetworkReply::finished() slot:
QString retval = rep->readAll();
qDebug() << retval;

reads in the debug output as

"str=%7B%22****%22:%22***%22,%22params%22:%7B%22Debug%22:%221%2B3+4%22,%22***%22:%22**%22,%22***%22:%22****%22%7D%7D"

\"Debug\":{\"Debug\":\"1+3 4\",\"**\":\"**\",\"***\":\"*****\"}}"

goocreations

@the_

Thank you, using the hex value worked. 2 questions:

Why does Qt touch the post data, I don't see a reason for the post data to be changed. Is this a bug or am I missing something?
Do you know of any other characters that are replaced as well?

the_

@goocreations

ad 1)
Its not Qt that changes the "+" sign. As you can see in the example, the first debug output is the encoded post parameter and it still contains the "+".
ad 2)
I dont know if there are any other special characters, just check the HTTP standard for this
//EDIT RFC added
Reserved Characters in URL

goocreations

Thanks for the help