Can I send data (e.g. text) in a Transaction with Web3J?

Question

I need to send a transaction from an account to another one via Web3J that includes not only the value field but also the data field (in particular, I need to send text). Is it possible?

Answer 1

This is tracked by WebJ issue #459 (currently still open).

There are two suggestions in the accompanying thread, one of which the OP managed to get to work after some fiddling.

For a normal user though, looking at the docs does seem to imply that an ether transfer transaction can't use the data field. (Neither via createEtherTransaction nor the Transfer class.)