How to generate an HTTP GET request to populate the main activity?

Question

Java

The script on the server generates a JSON string and sends it. The application must receive it, process it, and form an Adapter for the RecyclerView. What is the best way to do this? This code does not work, no response comes from the server:
MainActivity.java

spoiler

package /*pkgname*/;

import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.support.design.widget.NavigationView;
import android.support.v4.view.GravityCompat;
import android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;


import com.google.gson.Gson;



import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.Reader;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;


public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity
        implements NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener {
    ArrayList<News> news;


    String result = new String();

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
        RecyclerView recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.recyclerView);
        LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);
        recyclerView.addItemDecoration(new SpaceItemDecoration(1));
        news = getNews();
        NewsAdapter newsAdapter = new NewsAdapter(news);
        recyclerView.setAdapter(newsAdapter);
        DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        ActionBarDrawerToggle toggle = new ActionBarDrawerToggle(
                this, drawer, toolbar, R.string.navigation_drawer_open, R.string.navigation_drawer_close);
        drawer.addDrawerListener(toggle);
        toggle.syncState();

        NavigationView navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
        navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(this);

    }

    @Override
    public void onBackPressed() {
        DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        if (drawer.isDrawerOpen(GravityCompat.START)) {
            drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
        } else {
            super.onBackPressed();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }

    @SuppressWarnings("StatementWithEmptyBody")
    @Override
    public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle navigation view item clicks here.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        if (id == R.id.nav_camera) {
            // Handle the camera action
        } else if (id == R.id.nav_gallery) {

        }

        DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        drawer.closeDrawer(GravityCompat.START);
        return true;
    }

    public ArrayList<News> getNews() {
        Gson jsoner = new Gson();
        ArrayList<News> newsArrayList = new ArrayList<>();
        News[] news;
        AsyncGet asyncGet = new AsyncGet();
        asyncGet.execute();
        try {
            news = jsoner.fromJson(asyncGet.get(3, TimeUnit.SECONDS), News[].class);
            for (int i = 0; i < news.length; i++) newsArrayList.add(news[i]);
        } catch (Exception e) {
        }
        return newsArrayList;
    }


    class AsyncGet extends AsyncTask<String, Integer, String> {

        @Override
        protected void onPostExecute(String s) {
            super.onPostExecute(s);
            result = s;
        }

        @Override
        protected String doInBackground(String... strings) {
            InputStream stream = null;
            HttpURLConnection connection = null;
            try {
                connection = (HttpURLConnection) new URL("http:// /*sitepath*/ uploaderl.php?action=get").openConnection();
                // Timeout for reading InputStream arbitrarily set to 3000ms.
                connection.setReadTimeout(3000);
                // Timeout for connection.connect() arbitrarily set to 3000ms.
                connection.setConnectTimeout(3000);
                // For this use case, set HTTP method to GET.
                connection.setRequestMethod("GET");
                // Already true by default but setting just in case; needs to be true since this request
                // is carrying an input (response) body.
                connection.setDoInput(true);
                // Open communications link (network traffic occurs here).
                connection.connect();
                int responseCode = connection.getResponseCode();
                if (responseCode != HttpsURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
                    throw new IOException("HTTP error code: " + responseCode);
                }
                // Retrieve the response body as an InputStream.
                stream = connection.getInputStream();

                if (stream != null) {
                    // Converts Stream to String with max length of 500.
                    result = readStream(stream, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
                }
            } catch (Exception e) {
            } finally {
                // Close Stream and disconnect HTTPS connection.
                if (stream != null) {
                    try {
                        stream.close();
                    } catch (IOException e) {
                        e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                }
                if (connection != null) {
                    connection.disconnect();
                }
            }
            return result;
        }
    }


    public String readStream(InputStream stream, int maxReadSize)
            throws IOException, UnsupportedEncodingException {
        Reader reader = null;
        reader = new InputStreamReader(stream, "UTF-8");
        char[] rawBuffer = new char[maxReadSize];
        int readSize;
        StringBuffer buffer = new StringBuffer();
        while (((readSize = reader.read(rawBuffer)) != -1) && maxReadSize > 0) {
            if (readSize > maxReadSize) {
                readSize = maxReadSize;
            }
            buffer.append(rawBuffer, 0, readSize);
            maxReadSize -= readSize;
        }
        return buffer.toString();
    }
}