Android HttpClient issue setting Content-Length

Question

I tried to create a post with the following...

HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost(URL);
httppost.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(nameValuePairs));
httppost.setHeader(HTTP.CONN_DIRECTIVE, HTTP.CONN_KEEP_ALIVE);
String length = String.valueOf(httppost.getEntity().getContentLength());
httppost.setHeader(HTTP.CONTENT_LEN, length); //If commented out it works

but when I try to run the request I get the following error...

10-11 22:05:02.940: W/System.err(4203): org.apache.http.client.ClientProtocolException

I am guessing this is because the content length is wrong.

Answer 1

Apache HttpClient (even its fork shipped with Android) always calculates content length based on the properties of the enclosed HTTP entity. One does not need (and should not) set Content-Length and Transfer-Encoding headers manually.