Using HttpWebRequest to POST data/upload image using multipart/form-data
I am trying to use the ImageShack API to upload images. To use it, I am supposed to POST
the image using multipart/form-data
. I did it like ...
var postData = "";
var req = HttpWebRequest.Create("http://www.imageshack.us/upload_api.php");
req.Method = "POST";
req.ContentType = "multipart/form-data";
postData += "key=my_key_here&";
postData += "type=base64&";
// get base64 data from image
byte[] bytes = File.ReadAllBytes(@"D:\tmp\WpfApplication1\WpfApplication1\Images\Icon128.gif");
string encoded = Convert.ToBase64String(bytes);
postData += "fileupload=" + encoded;
byte[] reqData = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(postData);
using (Stream dataStream = req.GetRequestStream())
{
dataStream.Write(reqData, 0, reqData.Length);
}
var res = (HttpWebResponse)req.GetResponse();
var resStream = res.GetResponseStream();
var reader = new StreamReader(resStream);
string resString = reader.ReadToEnd();
txt1.Text = resString;
but ImageShack is complaining that
<links>
<error id="parameter_missing">Sorry, but we've detected that unexpected data is received. Required parameter 'fileupload' is missing or your post is not multipart/form-data</error>
</links>
FileUpload is present and I am using multipart/form-data
whats wrong?
UPDATE:
New Code http://pastebin.com/TN6e0CD8
Post data http://pastebin.com/fYE9fsxs
UPDATE 2
i looked at the other question Multipart forms from C# client. modified my code with boundary, removed the expect 100 header still i cant get it working ...
ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = false;
var boundary = "-----------------------------28520690214962";
var newLine = Environment.NewLine;
var propFormat = boundary + newLine +
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"" + newLine + newLine +
"{1}" + newLine + newLine;
var fileHeaderFormat = boundary + newLine +
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"" + newLine;
var req = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create("http://jm/php/upload.php");
req.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Post;
req.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
using (var reqStream = req.GetRequestStream()) {
var reqWriter = new StreamWriter(reqStream);
var tmp = string.Format(propFormat, "str1", "hello world");
reqWriter.Write(tmp);
tmp = string.Format(propFormat, "str2", "hello world 2");
reqWriter.Write(tmp);
reqWriter.Write(boundary + "--");
reqWriter.Flush();
}
var res = req.GetResponse();
using (var resStream = res.GetResponseStream()) {
var reader = new StreamReader(resStream);
txt1.Text = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
I finally got it with the following code ...
var boundary = "------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks;
var newLine = Environment.NewLine;
var propFormat = "--" + boundary + newLine +
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"" + newLine + newLine +
"{1}" + newLine;
var fileHeaderFormat = "--" + boundary + newLine +
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"" + newLine;
var req = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create("http://jm/php/upload.php");
req.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Post;
req.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
using (var reqStream = req.GetRequestStream()) {
var reqWriter = new StreamWriter(reqStream);
var tmp = string.Format(propFormat, "str1", "hello world");
reqWriter.Write(tmp);
tmp = string.Format(propFormat, "str2", "hello world 2");
reqWriter.Write(tmp);
reqWriter.Write("--" + boundary + "--");
reqWriter.Flush();
}
var res = req.GetResponse();
using (var resStream = res.GetResponseStream()) {
var reader = new StreamReader(resStream);
txt1.Text = reader.ReadToEnd();
}
Notice boundaries have to begin with --
{boundary declared in ContentType} and ending boundary must begin & end with --
. in my case, I originally used
var propFormat = boundary + newLine +
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"" + newLine + newLine +
"{1}" + newLine;
replace it with
var propFormat = "--" + boundary + newLine +
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"" + newLine + newLine +
"{1}" + newLine;
and everything works
I believe that you are not building the request body correctly. First, you need to include part boundary (random text) in content type header. For example,
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundarySkAQdHysJKel8YBM
Now format of request body will be something like
------WebKitFormBoundarySkAQdHysJKel8YBM
Content-Disposition: form-data;name="key"
KeyValueGoesHere
------WebKitFormBoundarySkAQdHysJKel8YBM
Content-Disposition: form-data;name="param2"
ValueHere
------WebKitFormBoundarySkAQdHysJKel8YBM
Content-Disposition: form-data;name="fileUpload"; filename="y1.jpg"
Content-Type: image/jpeg
[image data goes here]
I will suggest you to use tool such as Fiddler to understand how these requests are built.