Java – sending HTTP parameters via POST method easily

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I am successfully using this code to send HTTP requests with some parameters via GET method

void sendRequest(String request)
{
    // i.e.: request = "http://example.com/index.php?param1=a&param2=b&param3=c";
    URL url = new URL(request); 
    HttpURLConnection connection = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();           
    connection.setDoOutput(true); 
    connection.setInstanceFollowRedirects(false); 
    connection.setRequestMethod("GET"); 
    connection.setRequestProperty("Content-Type", "text/plain"); 
    connection.setRequestProperty("charset", "utf-8");
    connection.connect();
}

Now I may need to send the parameters (i.e. param1, param2, param3) via POST method because they are very long.
I was thinking to add an extra parameter to that method (i.e. String httpMethod).

How can I change the code above as little as possible to be able to send paramters either via GET or POST?

I was hoping that changing

connection.setRequestMethod("GET");

to

connection.setRequestMethod("POST");

would have done the trick, but the parameters are still sent via GET method.

Has HttpURLConnection got any method that would help?
Is there any helpful Java construct?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

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