responses can be caught. Will take MAJOR refactoring to implement into the base application

APED/app/build.gradle

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ dependencies {
     implementation 'androidx.navigation:navigation-ui:2.2.2'
     implementation 'androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-livedata-ktx:2.2.0'
     implementation 'androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-viewmodel-ktx:2.2.0'
+    implementation 'com.android.volley:volley:1.1.1'
     testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.+'
     androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.ext:junit:1.1.1'
     androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.2.0'

APED/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
     <!-- permission to read and write the XML file -->
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
+    <!-- permission to access send http requests -->
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
 
     <application
         android:allowBackup="true"
@@ -11,7 +13,8 @@
         android:label="@string/app_name"
         android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
         android:supportsRtl="true"
-        android:theme="@style/Theme.APED">
+        android:theme="@style/Theme.APED"
+        android:usesCleartextTraffic="true">
         <activity
             android:name=".MainActivity"
             android:label="@string/app_name"

APED/app/src/main/java/com/example/aped/MainActivity.java

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import android.view.MenuItem;
 import android.view.Menu;
 import android.widget.Toast;
 
+import com.example.aped.communication.Communicator;
 import com.example.aped.communication.IIO;
 import com.example.aped.utils.ExternalStorageHandler;
 import com.example.aped.communication.TestIO;
@@ -63,6 +64,13 @@ public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
         //checks that the permission to read and write the xml is granted
         ensurePermissions();
         setXML();
+
+        /** THIS IS A TEST **/
+        IIO io = new Communicator("192.168.2.246",8080,this);
+        String returnString = io.read("sensorarray");
+        System.out.println(returnString);
+        /** THIS IS A TEST **/
+
         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
         Toolbar toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
         setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

APED/app/src/main/java/com/example/aped/communication/Communicator.java

@@ -1,21 +1,60 @@
 package com.example.aped.communication;
 
+import android.content.Context;
+
+import com.android.volley.Request;
+import com.android.volley.RequestQueue;
+import com.android.volley.Response;
+import com.android.volley.VolleyError;
+import com.android.volley.toolbox.JsonObjectRequest;
+import com.android.volley.toolbox.StringRequest;
+import com.android.volley.toolbox.Volley;
+
+import org.json.JSONObject;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URL;
 
 import kotlin.NotImplementedError;
 
 public class Communicator implements IIO{
     private String address;
     private int port;
+    private RequestQueue requestQueue;
 
-    public Communicator(String address, int port){
+    public Communicator(String address, int port, Context context){
         this.address = address;
         this.port = port;
+        requestQueue = Volley.newRequestQueue(context);
     }
 
     @Override
     public String read(String deviceName) {
-        throw new NotImplementedError();
+        String requestString = "http://" + address + ":" + port + "/device/" + deviceName;
+        JsonObjectRequest request = new JsonObjectRequest(
+                Request.Method.GET,
+                requestString,
+                null,
+                new Response.Listener<JSONObject>() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onResponse(JSONObject response) {
+                        System.out.println(response.toString());
+                    }
+                },
+                new Response.ErrorListener() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError error) {
+                        System.out.println(error.getMessage());
+                    }
+                }
+        );
+        requestQueue.add(request);
+        return "";
     }
 
     @Override