Of all the different methods of getting Android to do a simple POST to server and receive the response, this is the method that makes me want to hang myself the least. It's really an inspiring achievement how Android manages to provide so many different ways to take something as simple as a POST and absolutely bury it in baffling amounts of comp…

POST to server without the black magic, human sacrifices, or screaming incantations

private class PostVarToPhpAndGetResponseAsString extends
  		AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void> {
 
		ProgressDialog progressDialog = new ProgressDialog(
				ParentClassActivity.this);//<---the name of the outer class goes here!!!
 
		@Override
		protected void onPreExecute() {
			super.onPreExecute();
			progressDialog
					.setMessage("Whatever message you want the user to see while waiting...");
			progressDialog.show();
		}
		
		
		@Override
		protected Void doInBackground(Void... arg0) {
 
			responseFromPhpStr = postData(someVarToSendToPhp);
 
			return null;
		}
		
		
		@Override
		protected void onPostExecute(Void result) {
			progressDialog.dismiss();
			if (responseFromPhpStr.equals("")) {
				Log.d("ParentClassActivity/PostVarToPhpAndGetResponseAsString/onPostExecute/no_response_from_server ",
						"responseFromPhpStr = " + responseFromPhpStr);
				responseFromPhpStr = "no response from server";
				
			} else {
				Log.d("ParentClassActivity/PostVarToPhpAndGetResponseAsString/onPostExecute/got_response_from_server ",
						"responseFromPhpStr = " + responseFromPhpStr);
						
						/////DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR RESPONSE STRING HERE!!!/////
						
						
			}
 
		}
		
		
		public String postData(String valueIWantToSend) {
			// Create a new HttpClient and Post Header
			HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
			HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost("http://somewebsite.com/somefiletocatchandroidposts.php");
 
			try {
				// Add your data
				List<NameValuePair> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
				nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("name_of_var_to_catch_server_side", valueIWantToSend));
				httppost.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(nameValuePairs));
 
				// Execute HTTP Post Request
				HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
				
				//Convert http response to string 
				HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();
				if (entity != null) {
				    InputStream instream = entity.getContent();
 
				    responseFromPhpStr = convertStreamToString(instream);
				    Log.d("ParentClassActivity/PostVarToPhpAndGetResponseAsString/postData responseFromPhpStr = ", responseFromPhpStr);
				}else{
					responseFromPhpStr = "";
				}
 
			} catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
				// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			} catch (IOException e) {
				// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			}
			
			return responseFromPhpStr;
		}
		
		public String convertStreamToString(InputStream inputStream) throws IOException {
			if (inputStream != null) {
				StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
				String line;
				try {
					BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream, "UTF-8"));
					while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
						sb.append(line).append("\n");
					}
				} finally {
					inputStream.close();
				}
				return sb.toString();
			} else {
				return "";
			}
		}
 
 
 
	}