private String sendRequest(String requestLink) throws IOException {
        URL requestUrl = new URL(requestLink);
        HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) requestUrl.openConnection();
        con.setRequestMethod(HTTP_GET);
        con.setDoOutput(true);
        con.connect();
        int responseCode = con.getResponseCode();
        if(responseCode == HTTP_STATUS_OK) {
            String serverResponse = getStrFromInputStream(con.getInputStream());
            return serverResponse;
        }
        return "";
    }