code: public void getResponse(StringBuilder sb) throws IOException {
  
          // checks server's status code first
          int status = mHttpURLConnection.getResponseCode();
          if (status == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
              InputStream ips = new BufferedInputStream(mHttpURLConnection.getInputStream());
              BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(ips, "UTF-8"));
  
              char[] buffer = new char[1024];
              int bufferLength;
              while ((bufferLength = reader.read(buffer, 0, buffer.length)) > 0) {
                  sb.append(buffer, 0, bufferLength);
              }
              reader.close();
              ips.close();
              mHttpURLConnection.disconnect();
          } else {
              throw new IOException("Server returned non-OK status: " + status);
          }
      }
docs: Completes the request and receives response from the server.
  
  @return a list of Strings as response in case the server returned
  status OK, otherwise an exception is thrown.
  @throws IOException