In Flex, can I send HTTPService POST-request instead of GET-request? - apache-flex

Question

There is known issue in Internet Explorer (6,7) when Flex (HTTPService) is loading XML through SSL. Flash Player is throwing Error #2032: Stream Error in that case.
As advised by Microsoft and others, "Cache-Control: no-store" should be set on the server side to resolve the issue.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to application's backend, and thus I should solve it through Flex.
My goal is to load xml file with configurations at runtime.
Custom headers for GET requests are not allowed in Flex (let me know, if I am wrong). Thus I decided to accomplish my goal with POST request, and surprisingly it worked very well.
Here is the code I came with:
var httpService:HTTPService = new HTTPService();
httpService.url = 'config.xml';
httpService.method = 'POST';
httpService.requestTimeout = 10;
httpService.contentType = "application/xml";
httpService.headers["Cache-Control"] = "no-store";
httpService.resultFormat = "e4x";
var localResponder:Responder = new Responder(
function(event:ResultEvent):void {
//event.result returns the required xml configuration
},
function(event:FaultEvent):void {
});
var token:AsyncToken = httpService.send({});
token.addResponder(localResponder);
My question is: Could there be any side effects, when POST request is sent instead of GET request?
UPDATE:
To prove that GET-requests are stripped of headers, I've taken the code provided by #Reboog711 and created a little application. Here is the code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx">
<fx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.rpc.http.HTTPService;
protected function sendHTTPRequest(event:MouseEvent):void
{
var httpService:HTTPService = new HTTPService();
httpService.url = 'xml.xml';
var headerData : Object = new Object();
headerData['Cache-Control'] = 'no-store';
httpService.headers = headerData;
httpService.send();
}
]]>
</fx:Script>
<s:Button label="SEND HTTP REQUEST"
horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0" click="sendHTTPRequest(event)"/>
</s:Application>
And here is what I see in Charles application, when I send that HTTP-request.
You can test it yourself right here. Moreover, while I was trying to solve my problem, I've seen many evidences that GET-requests couldn't be sent with custom headers. You may take a look here.
Thanks!

Answer 1

You should be able to add headers to an HTTPService request without any problems. I have done it before, when integrating a Flex app with the YouTube APIs. Conceptually, it should be like this:
var httpService:HTTPService = new HTTPService();
var headerData : Object = new Object();
headerData['Cache-Control'] = 'no-store';
http.headers = headerData;
If you perform a Google Search other links come up. So long as your service supports both GET and POST requests; I do not know why you would experience any issues.