Upload files with HTTPWebrequest (multipart/form-data)

Question

Is there any class, library or some piece of code which will help me to upload files with HTTPWebrequest?

Edit 2:

I do not want to upload to a WebDAV folder or something like that. I want to simulate a browser, so just like you upload your avatar to a forum or upload a file via form in a web application. Upload to a form which uses a multipart/form-data.

Edit:

WebClient is not cover my requirements, so I'm looking for a solution with HTTPWebrequest.

Answer 1

Took the code above and fixed because it throws Internal Server Error 500. There are some problems with \r\n badly positioned and spaces etc. Applied the refactoring with memory stream, writing directly to the request stream. Here is the result:

    public static void HttpUploadFile(string url, string file, string paramName, string contentType, NameValueCollection nvc) {
        log.Debug(string.Format("Uploading {0} to {1}", file, url));
        string boundary = "---------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
        byte[] boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");

        HttpWebRequest wr = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
        wr.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
        wr.Method = "POST";
        wr.KeepAlive = true;
        wr.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

        Stream rs = wr.GetRequestStream();

        string formdataTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"\r\n\r\n{1}";
        foreach (string key in nvc.Keys)
        {
            rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);
            string formitem = string.Format(formdataTemplate, key, nvc[key]);
            byte[] formitembytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(formitem);
            rs.Write(formitembytes, 0, formitembytes.Length);
        }
        rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);

        string headerTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\r\n";
        string header = string.Format(headerTemplate, paramName, file, contentType);
        byte[] headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
        rs.Write(headerbytes, 0, headerbytes.Length);

        FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(file, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
        int bytesRead = 0;
        while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0) {
            rs.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
        }
        fileStream.Close();

        byte[] trailer = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");
        rs.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length);
        rs.Close();

        WebResponse wresp = null;
        try {
            wresp = wr.GetResponse();
            Stream stream2 = wresp.GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader reader2 = new StreamReader(stream2);
            log.Debug(string.Format("File uploaded, server response is: {0}", reader2.ReadToEnd()));
        } catch(Exception ex) {
            log.Error("Error uploading file", ex);
            if(wresp != null) {
                wresp.Close();
                wresp = null;
            }
        } finally {
            wr = null;
        }
    }

and sample usage:

    NameValueCollection nvc = new NameValueCollection();
    nvc.Add("id", "TTR");
    nvc.Add("btn-submit-photo", "Upload");
    HttpUploadFile("http://your.server.com/upload", 
         @"C:\test\test.jpg", "file", "image/jpeg", nvc);

It could be extended to handle multiple files or just call it multiple times for each file. However it suits your needs.

Answer 2

I was looking for something like this, Found in : http://bytes.com/groups/net-c/268661-how-upload-file-via-c-code (modified for correctness):

public static string UploadFilesToRemoteUrl(string url, string[] files, NameValueCollection formFields = null)
{
    string boundary = "----------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");

    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create(url);
    request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" +
                            boundary;
    request.Method = "POST";
    request.KeepAlive = true;

    Stream memStream = new System.IO.MemoryStream();

    var boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" +
                                                            boundary + "\r\n");
    var endBoundaryBytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" +
                                                                boundary + "--");


    string formdataTemplate = "\r\n--" + boundary +
                                "\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\";\r\n\r\n{1}";

    if (formFields != null)
    {
        foreach (string key in formFields.Keys)
        {
            string formitem = string.Format(formdataTemplate, key, formFields[key]);
            byte[] formitembytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(formitem);
            memStream.Write(formitembytes, 0, formitembytes.Length);
        }
    }

    string headerTemplate =
        "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\n" +
        "Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n";

    for (int i = 0; i < files.Length; i++)
    {
        memStream.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);
        var header = string.Format(headerTemplate, "uplTheFile", files[i]);
        var headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);

        memStream.Write(headerbytes, 0, headerbytes.Length);

        using (var fileStream = new FileStream(files[i], FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
        {
            var buffer = new byte[1024];
            var bytesRead = 0;
            while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
            {
                memStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
            }
        }
    }

    memStream.Write(endBoundaryBytes, 0, endBoundaryBytes.Length);
    request.ContentLength = memStream.Length;

    using (Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream())
    {
        memStream.Position = 0;
        byte[] tempBuffer = new byte[memStream.Length];
        memStream.Read(tempBuffer, 0, tempBuffer.Length);
        memStream.Close();
        requestStream.Write(tempBuffer, 0, tempBuffer.Length);
    }

    using (var response = request.GetResponse())
    {
        Stream stream2 = response.GetResponseStream();
        StreamReader reader2 = new StreamReader(stream2);
        return reader2.ReadToEnd();
    }
}

Answer 3

This is possible without external code, extensions, and "low level" HTTP manipulation (just need Microsoft.Net.Http package from NuGet). Here is an example:

// Perform the equivalent of posting a form with a filename and two files, in HTML:
// <form action="{url}" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
//     <input type="text" name="filename" />
//     <input type="file" name="file1" />
//     <input type="file" name="file2" />
// </form>
private async Task<System.IO.Stream> UploadAsync(string url, string filename, Stream fileStream, byte [] fileBytes)
{
    // Convert each of the three inputs into HttpContent objects

    HttpContent stringContent = new StringContent(filename);
    // examples of converting both Stream and byte [] to HttpContent objects
    // representing input type file
    HttpContent fileStreamContent = new StreamContent(fileStream);
    HttpContent bytesContent = new ByteArrayContent(fileBytes);

    // Submit the form using HttpClient and 
    // create form data as Multipart (enctype="multipart/form-data")

    using (var client = new HttpClient())
    using (var formData = new MultipartFormDataContent()) 
    {
        // Add the HttpContent objects to the form data

        // <input type="text" name="filename" />
        formData.Add(stringContent, "filename", "filename");
        // <input type="file" name="file1" />
        formData.Add(fileStreamContent, "file1", "file1");
        // <input type="file" name="file2" />
        formData.Add(bytesContent, "file2", "file2");

        // Invoke the request to the server

        // equivalent to pressing the submit button on
        // a form with attributes (action="{url}" method="post")
        var response = await client.PostAsync(url, formData);

        // ensure the request was a success
        if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
        {
            return null;
        }
        return await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync();
    }
}

Answer 4

Based on the code provided above I added support for multiple files and also uploading a stream directly without the need to have a local file.

To upload files to a specific url including some post params do the following:

RequestHelper.PostMultipart(
    "http://www.myserver.com/upload.php", 
    new Dictionary<string, object>() {
        { "testparam", "my value" },
        { "file", new FormFile() { Name = "image.jpg", ContentType = "image/jpeg", FilePath = "c:\\temp\\myniceimage.jpg" } },
        { "other_file", new FormFile() { Name = "image2.jpg", ContentType = "image/jpeg", Stream = imageDataStream } },
    });

To enhance this even more one could determine the name and mime type from the given file itself.

public class FormFile 
{
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public string ContentType { get; set; }

    public string FilePath { get; set; }

    public Stream Stream { get; set; }
}

public class RequestHelper
{

    public static string PostMultipart(string url, Dictionary<string, object> parameters) {

        string boundary = "---------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
        byte[] boundaryBytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");

        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
        request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
        request.Method = "POST";
        request.KeepAlive = true;
        request.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

        if(parameters != null && parameters.Count > 0) {

            using(Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream()) {

                foreach(KeyValuePair<string, object> pair in parameters) {

                    requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length);
                    if(pair.Value is FormFile) {
                        FormFile file = pair.Value as FormFile;
                        string header = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"" + pair.Key + "\"; filename=\"" + file.Name + "\"\r\nContent-Type: " + file.ContentType + "\r\n\r\n";
                        byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
                        requestStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
                        byte[] buffer = new byte[32768];
                        int bytesRead;
                        if(file.Stream == null) {
                            // upload from file
                            using(FileStream fileStream = File.OpenRead(file.FilePath)) {
                                while((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
                                    requestStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
                                fileStream.Close();
                            }
                        }
                        else {
                            // upload from given stream
                            while((bytesRead = file.Stream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
                                requestStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
                        }
                    }
                    else {
                        string data = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"" + pair.Key + "\"\r\n\r\n" + pair.Value;
                        byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(data);
                        requestStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
                    }
                }

                byte[] trailer = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");
                requestStream.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length);
                requestStream.Close();
            }
        }

        using(WebResponse response = request.GetResponse()) {
            using(Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
            using(StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(responseStream))
                return reader.ReadToEnd();
        }


    }
}

Answer 5

My ASP.NET Upload FAQ has an article on this, with example code: Upload files using an RFC 1867 POST request with HttpWebRequest/WebClient. This code doesn't load files into memory (as opposed to the code above), supports multiple files, and supports form values, setting credentials and cookies, etc.

Edit: looks like Axosoft took down the page. Thanks guys.

It's still accessible via archive.org.

Answer 6

something like this is close: (untested code)

byte[] data; // data goes here.

HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
request.Credentials = userNetworkCredentials;
request.Method = "PUT";
request.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
request.ContentLength = data.Length;
Stream stream = request.GetRequestStream();
stream.Write(data,0,data.Length);
stream.Close();
response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());
temp = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();

Answer 7

VB Example (converted from C# example on another post):

Private Sub HttpUploadFile( _
    ByVal uri As String, _
    ByVal filePath As String, _
    ByVal fileParameterName As String, _
    ByVal contentType As String, _
    ByVal otherParameters As Specialized.NameValueCollection)

    Dim boundary As String = "---------------------------" & DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x")
    Dim newLine As String = System.Environment.NewLine
    Dim boundaryBytes As Byte() = Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(newLine & "--" & boundary & newLine)
    Dim request As Net.HttpWebRequest = Net.WebRequest.Create(uri)

    request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" & boundary
    request.Method = "POST"
    request.KeepAlive = True
    request.Credentials = Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials

    Using requestStream As IO.Stream = request.GetRequestStream()

        Dim formDataTemplate As String = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=""{0}""{1}{1}{2}"

        For Each key As String In otherParameters.Keys

            requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length)
            Dim formItem As String = String.Format(formDataTemplate, key, newLine, otherParameters(key))
            Dim formItemBytes As Byte() = Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(formItem)
            requestStream.Write(formItemBytes, 0, formItemBytes.Length)

        Next key

        requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length)

        Dim headerTemplate As String = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=""{0}""; filename=""{1}""{2}Content-Type: {3}{2}{2}"
        Dim header As String = String.Format(headerTemplate, fileParameterName, filePath, newLine, contentType)
        Dim headerBytes As Byte() = Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header)
        requestStream.Write(headerBytes, 0, headerBytes.Length)

        Using fileStream As New IO.FileStream(filePath, IO.FileMode.Open, IO.FileAccess.Read)

            Dim buffer(4096) As Byte
            Dim bytesRead As Int32 = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)

            Do While (bytesRead > 0)

                requestStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead)
                bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)

            Loop

        End Using

        Dim trailer As Byte() = Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(newLine & "--" + boundary + "--" & newLine)
        requestStream.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length)

    End Using

    Dim response As Net.WebResponse = Nothing

    Try

        response = request.GetResponse()

        Using responseStream As IO.Stream = response.GetResponseStream()

            Using responseReader As New IO.StreamReader(responseStream)

                Dim responseText = responseReader.ReadToEnd()
                Diagnostics.Debug.Write(responseText)

            End Using

        End Using

    Catch exception As Net.WebException

        response = exception.Response

        If (response IsNot Nothing) Then

            Using reader As New IO.StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream())

                Dim responseText = reader.ReadToEnd()
                Diagnostics.Debug.Write(responseText)

            End Using

            response.Close()

        End If

    Finally

        request = Nothing

    End Try

End Sub

Answer 8

I think you're looking for something more like WebClient.

Specifically, UploadFile().

Answer 9

Took the above and modified it accept some header values, and multiple files

    NameValueCollection headers = new NameValueCollection();
        headers.Add("Cookie", "name=value;");
        headers.Add("Referer", "http://google.com");
    NameValueCollection nvc = new NameValueCollection();
        nvc.Add("name", "value");

    HttpUploadFile(url, new string[] { "c:\\file1.txt", "c:\\file2.jpg" }, new string[] { "file", "image" }, new string[] { "application/octet-stream", "image/jpeg" }, nvc, headers);

---

public static void HttpUploadFile(string url, string[] file, string[] paramName, string[] contentType, NameValueCollection nvc, NameValueCollection headerItems)
{
    //log.Debug(string.Format("Uploading {0} to {1}", file, url));
    string boundary = "---------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
    byte[] boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");

    HttpWebRequest wr = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);

    foreach (string key in headerItems.Keys)
    {
        if (key == "Referer")
        {
            wr.Referer = headerItems[key];
        }
        else
        {
            wr.Headers.Add(key, headerItems[key]);
        }
    }

    wr.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
    wr.Method = "POST";
    wr.KeepAlive = true;
    wr.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

    Stream rs = wr.GetRequestStream();

    string formdataTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"\r\n\r\n{1}";
    foreach (string key in nvc.Keys)
    {
        rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);
        string formitem = string.Format(formdataTemplate, key, nvc[key]);
        byte[] formitembytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(formitem);
        rs.Write(formitembytes, 0, formitembytes.Length);
    }
    rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);

    string headerTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\r\n";
    string header = "";

    for(int i =0; i<file.Count();i++)
    {
        header = string.Format(headerTemplate, paramName[i], System.IO.Path.GetFileName(file[i]), contentType[i]);
        byte[] headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
        rs.Write(headerbytes, 0, headerbytes.Length);

        FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(file[i], FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
        byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
        int bytesRead = 0;
        while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
        {
            rs.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
        }
        fileStream.Close();
        rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);
    }
    rs.Close();

    WebResponse wresp = null;
    try
    {
        wresp = wr.GetResponse();
        Stream stream2 = wresp.GetResponseStream();
        StreamReader reader2 = new StreamReader(stream2);
        //log.Debug(string.Format("File uploaded, server response is: {0}", reader2.ReadToEnd()));
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        //log.Error("Error uploading file", ex);
            wresp.Close();
            wresp = null;
    }
    finally
    {
        wr = null;
    }
}

Answer 10

I had to deal with this recently - another way to approach it is to use the fact that WebClient is inheritable, and change the underlying WebRequest from there:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.webclient.getwebrequest(VS.80).aspx

I prefer C#, but if you're stuck with VB the results will look something like this:

Public Class BigWebClient
    Inherits WebClient
    Protected Overrides Function GetWebRequest(ByVal address As System.Uri) As System.Net.WebRequest
        Dim x As WebRequest = MyBase.GetWebRequest(address)
        x.Timeout = 60 * 60 * 1000
        Return x
    End Function
End Class

'Use BigWebClient here instead of WebClient

Answer 11

There is another working example with some my comments :

        List<MimePart> mimeParts = new List<MimePart>();

        try
        {
            foreach (string key in form.AllKeys)
            {
                StringMimePart part = new StringMimePart();

                part.Headers["Content-Disposition"] = "form-data; name=\"" + key + "\"";
                part.StringData = form[key];

                mimeParts.Add(part);
            }

            int nameIndex = 0;

            foreach (UploadFile file in files)
            {
                StreamMimePart part = new StreamMimePart();

                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(file.FieldName))
                    file.FieldName = "file" + nameIndex++;

                part.Headers["Content-Disposition"] = "form-data; name=\"" + file.FieldName + "\"; filename=\"" + file.FileName + "\"";
                part.Headers["Content-Type"] = file.ContentType;

                part.SetStream(file.Data);

                mimeParts.Add(part);
            }

            string boundary = "----------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");

            req.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
            req.Method = "POST";

            long contentLength = 0;

            byte[] _footer = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("--" + boundary + "--\r\n");

            foreach (MimePart part in mimeParts)
            {
                contentLength += part.GenerateHeaderFooterData(boundary);
            }

            req.ContentLength = contentLength + _footer.Length;

            byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];
            byte[] afterFile = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\r\n");
            int read;

            using (Stream s = req.GetRequestStream())
            {
                foreach (MimePart part in mimeParts)
                {
                    s.Write(part.Header, 0, part.Header.Length);

                    while ((read = part.Data.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
                        s.Write(buffer, 0, read);

                    part.Data.Dispose();

                    s.Write(afterFile, 0, afterFile.Length);
                }

                s.Write(_footer, 0, _footer.Length);
            }

            return (HttpWebResponse)req.GetResponse();
        }
        catch
        {
            foreach (MimePart part in mimeParts)
                if (part.Data != null)
                    part.Data.Dispose();

            throw;
        }

And there is example of using :

            UploadFile[] files = new UploadFile[] 
            { 
                new UploadFile(@"C:\2.jpg","new_file","image/jpeg") //new_file is id of upload field
            };

            NameValueCollection form = new NameValueCollection();

            form["id_hidden_input"] = "value_hidden_inpu"; //there is additional param (hidden fields on page)


            HttpWebRequest req = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(full URL of action);

            // set credentials/cookies etc. 
            req.CookieContainer = hrm.CookieContainer; //hrm is my class. i copied all cookies from last request to current (for auth)
            HttpWebResponse resp = HttpUploadHelper.Upload(req, files, form);

            using (Stream s = resp.GetResponseStream())
            using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(s))
            {
                string response = sr.ReadToEnd();
            }
             //profit!

Answer 12

I was looking to do file upload and add some parameters to a multipart/form-data request in VB.NET and not through a regular forms post. Thanks to @JoshCodes answer I got the direction I was looking for. I am posting my solution to help others find a way to perform a post with both file and parameters the html equivalent of what I try to achieve is : html

<form action="your-api-endpoint" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post"> 
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="api-method-name"/> 
<input type="hidden" name="apiKey" value="gs1xxxxxxxxxxxxxex"/> 
<input type="hidden" name="access" value="protected"/> 
<input type="hidden" name="name" value="test"/> 
<input type="hidden" name="title" value="test"/> 
<input type="hidden" name="signature" value="cf1d4xxxxxxxxcd5"/> 
<input type="file" name="file"/> 
<input type="submit" name="_upload" value="Upload"/> 
</form>

Due to the fact that I have to provide the apiKey and the signature (which is a calculated checksum of the request parameters and api key concatenated string), I needed to do it server side. The other reason I needed to do it server side is the fact that the post of the file can be performed at any time by pointing to a file already on the server (providing the path), so there would be no manually selected file during form post thus form data file would not contain the file stream.Otherwise I could have calculated the checksum via an ajax callback and submitted the file through the html post using JQuery. I am using .net version 4.0 and cannot upgrade to 4.5 in the actual solution. So I had to install the Microsoft.Net.Http using nuget cmd

PM> install-package Microsoft.Net.Http

Private Function UploadFile(req As ApiRequest, filePath As String, fileName As String) As String
    Dim result = String.empty
    Try
        ''//Get file stream
        Dim paramFileStream As Stream = File.OpenRead(filePath)
        Dim fileStreamContent As HttpContent = New  StreamContent(paramFileStream)
        Using client = New HttpClient()
            Using formData = New MultipartFormDataContent()
                ''// This adds parameter name ("action")
                ''// parameter value (req.Action) to form data
                formData.Add(New StringContent(req.Action), "action")
                formData.Add(New StringContent(req.ApiKey), "apiKey")
                For Each param In req.Parameters
                    formData.Add(New StringContent(param.Value), param.Key)
                Next
                formData.Add(New StringContent(req.getRequestSignature.Qualifier), "signature")
                ''//This adds the file stream and file info to form data
                formData.Add(fileStreamContent, "file", fileName)
                ''//We are now sending the request
                Dim response = client.PostAsync(GetAPIEndpoint(), formData).Result
                ''//We are here reading the response
                Dim readR = New StreamReader(response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync().Result, Encoding.UTF8)
                Dim respContent = readR.ReadToEnd()

                If Not response.IsSuccessStatusCode Then
                    result =  "Request Failed : Code = " & response.StatusCode & "Reason = " & response.ReasonPhrase & "Message = " & respContent
                End If
                result.Value = respContent
            End Using
        End Using
    Catch ex As Exception
        result = "An error occurred : " & ex.Message
    End Try

    Return result
End Function

Answer 13

Modified @CristianRomanescu code to work with memory stream, accept file as a byte array, allow null nvc, return request response and work with Authorization-header. Tested the code with Web Api 2.

private string HttpUploadFile(string url, byte[] file, string fileName, string paramName, string contentType, NameValueCollection nvc, string authorizationHeader)
{
    string boundary = "---------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
    byte[] boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");

    HttpWebRequest wr = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
    wr.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
    wr.Method = "POST";
    wr.Headers.Add("Authorization", authorizationHeader);
    wr.KeepAlive = true;

    Stream rs = wr.GetRequestStream();

    string formdataTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"\r\n\r\n{1}";
    if (nvc != null)
    {
        foreach (string key in nvc.Keys)
        {
            rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);
            string formitem = string.Format(formdataTemplate, key, nvc[key]);
            byte[] formitembytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(formitem);
            rs.Write(formitembytes, 0, formitembytes.Length);
        }
    }

    rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);

    string headerTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\r\n";
    string header = string.Format(headerTemplate, paramName, fileName, contentType);
    byte[] headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
    rs.Write(headerbytes, 0, headerbytes.Length);

    rs.Write(file, 0, file.Length);

    byte[] trailer = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");
    rs.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length);
    rs.Close();

    WebResponse wresp = null;
    try
    {
        wresp = wr.GetResponse();
        Stream stream2 = wresp.GetResponseStream();
        StreamReader reader2 = new StreamReader(stream2);
        var response = reader2.ReadToEnd();
        return response;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        if (wresp != null)
        {
            wresp.Close();
            wresp = null;
        }
        return null;
    }
    finally
    {
        wr = null;
    }
}

Testcode:

[HttpPost]
[Route("postformdata")]
public IHttpActionResult PostFormData()
{
    // Check if the request contains multipart/form-data.
    if (!Request.Content.IsMimeMultipartContent())
    {
        throw new HttpResponseException(HttpStatusCode.UnsupportedMediaType);
    }

    var provider = new MultipartMemoryStreamProvider();

    try
    {
        // Read the form data.
        var result = Request.Content.ReadAsMultipartAsync(provider).Result;
        string response = "";
        // This illustrates how to get the file names.
        foreach (var file in provider.Contents)
        {
            var fileName = file.Headers.ContentDisposition.FileName.Trim('\"');
            var buffer =  file.ReadAsByteArrayAsync().Result;
            response = HttpUploadFile("https://localhost/api/v1/createfromfile", buffer, fileName, "file", "application/pdf", null, "AuthorizationKey");
        }
        return Ok(response);
    }
    catch (System.Exception e)
    {
        return InternalServerError();
    }
}

Answer 14

For me, the following works (mostly inspirated from all of the following answers), I started from Elad's answer and modify/simplify things to match my need (remove not file form inputs, only one file, ...).

Hope it can helps somebody :)

(PS: I know that exception handling is not implemented and it assumes that it was written inside a class, so I may need some integration effort...)

private void uploadFile()
    {
        Random rand = new Random();
        string boundary = "----boundary" + rand.Next().ToString();
        Stream data_stream;
        byte[] header = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file_path\"; filename=\"" + System.IO.Path.GetFileName(this.file) + "\"\r\nContent-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n");
        byte[] trailer = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");

        // Do the request
        HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(MBF_URL);
        request.UserAgent = "My Toolbox";
        request.Method = "POST";
        request.KeepAlive = true;
        request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
        data_stream = request.GetRequestStream();
        data_stream.Write(header, 0, header.Length);
        byte[] file_bytes = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(this.file);
        data_stream.Write(file_bytes, 0, file_bytes.Length);
        data_stream.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length);
        data_stream.Close();

        // Read the response
        WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();
        data_stream = response.GetResponseStream();
        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(data_stream);
        this.url = reader.ReadToEnd();

        if (this.url == "") { this.url = "No response :("; }

        reader.Close();
        data_stream.Close();
        response.Close();
    }

Answer 15

Not sure if this was posted before but I got this working with WebClient. i read the documentation for the WebClient. A key point they make is

If the BaseAddress property is not an empty string ("") and address does not contain an absolute URI, address must be a relative URI that is combined with BaseAddress to form the absolute URI of the requested data. If the QueryString property is not an empty string, it is appended to address.

So all I did was wc.QueryString.Add("source", generatedImage) to add the different query parameters and somehow it matches the property name with the image I uploaded. Hope it helps

    public void postImageToFacebook(string generatedImage, string fbGraphUrl)
    {
        WebClient wc = new WebClient();
        byte[] bytes = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(generatedImage);

        wc.QueryString.Add("source", generatedImage);
        wc.QueryString.Add("message", "helloworld");

        wc.UploadFile(fbGraphUrl, generatedImage);

        wc.Dispose();

    }

Answer 16

I wrote a class using WebClient way back when to do multipart form upload.

http://ferozedaud.blogspot.com/2010/03/multipart-form-upload-helper.html

/// 
/// MimePart
/// Abstract class for all MimeParts
/// 

abstract class MimePart
{
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public abstract string ContentDisposition { get; }

    public abstract string ContentType { get; }

    public abstract void CopyTo(Stream stream);

    public String Boundary
    {
        get;
        set;
    }
}

class NameValuePart : MimePart
{
    private NameValueCollection nameValues;

    public NameValuePart(NameValueCollection nameValues)
    {
        this.nameValues = nameValues;
    }

    public override void CopyTo(Stream stream)
    {
        string boundary = this.Boundary;
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        foreach (object element in this.nameValues.Keys)
        {
            sb.AppendFormat("--{0}", boundary);
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.AppendFormat("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\";", element);
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append(this.nameValues[element.ToString()]);

            sb.Append("\r\n");

        }

        sb.AppendFormat("--{0}", boundary);
        sb.Append("\r\n");

        //Trace.WriteLine(sb.ToString());
        byte [] data = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sb.ToString());
        stream.Write(data, 0, data.Length);
    }

    public override string ContentDisposition
    {
        get { return "form-data"; }
    }

    public override string ContentType
    {
        get { return String.Empty; }
    }
} 

class FilePart : MimePart

{

    private Stream input;

    private String contentType;



    public FilePart(Stream input, String name, String contentType)

    {

        this.input = input;

        this.contentType = contentType;

        this.Name = name;

    }



    public override void CopyTo(Stream stream)

    {

        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

        sb.AppendFormat("Content-Disposition: {0}", this.ContentDisposition);

        if (this.Name != null)

            sb.Append("; ").AppendFormat("name=\"{0}\"", this.Name);

        if (this.FileName != null)

            sb.Append("; ").AppendFormat("filename=\"{0}\"", this.FileName);

        sb.Append("\r\n");

        sb.AppendFormat(this.ContentType);

        sb.Append("\r\n");

        sb.Append("\r\n");



    // serialize the header data.

    byte[] buffer = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sb.ToString());

    stream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);



    // send the stream.

    byte[] readBuffer = new byte[1024];

    int read = input.Read(readBuffer, 0, readBuffer.Length);

    while (read > 0)

    {

        stream.Write(readBuffer, 0, read);

        read = input.Read(readBuffer, 0, readBuffer.Length);

    }



    // write the terminating boundary

    sb.Length = 0;

    sb.Append("\r\n");

    sb.AppendFormat("--{0}", this.Boundary);

    sb.Append("\r\n");

    buffer = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sb.ToString());

    stream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);



}

 public override string ContentDisposition
 {
      get { return "file"; }
 }



 public override string ContentType
 {
    get { 
       return String.Format("content-type: {0}", this.contentType); 
     }
 }

 public String FileName { get; set; }

}

    /// 
    /// Helper class that encapsulates all file uploads
    /// in a mime part.
    /// 

    class FilesCollection : MimePart
    {
        private List files;

        public FilesCollection()
        {
            this.files = new List();
            this.Boundary = MultipartHelper.GetBoundary();
        }

        public int Count
        {
            get { return this.files.Count; }
        }

        public override string ContentDisposition
        {
            get
            {
                return String.Format("form-data; name=\"{0}\"", this.Name);
            }
        }

        public override string ContentType
        {
            get { return String.Format("multipart/mixed; boundary={0}", this.Boundary); }
        }

        public override void CopyTo(Stream stream)
        {
            // serialize the headers
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(128);
            sb.Append("Content-Disposition: ").Append(this.ContentDisposition).Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("Content-Type: ").Append(this.ContentType).Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.AppendFormat("--{0}", this.Boundary).Append("\r\n");

            byte[] headerBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sb.ToString());
            stream.Write(headerBytes, 0, headerBytes.Length);
            foreach (FilePart part in files)
            {
                part.Boundary = this.Boundary;
                part.CopyTo(stream);
            }
        }

        public void Add(FilePart part)
        {
            this.files.Add(part);
        }
    }

/// 
/// Helper class to aid in uploading multipart
/// entities to HTTP web endpoints.
/// 

class MultipartHelper
{
    private static Random random = new Random(Environment.TickCount);

    private List formData = new List();
    private FilesCollection files = null;
    private MemoryStream bufferStream = new MemoryStream();
    private string boundary;

    public String Boundary { get { return boundary; } }

    public static String GetBoundary()
    {
        return Environment.TickCount.ToString("X");
    }

    public MultipartHelper()
    {
        this.boundary = MultipartHelper.GetBoundary();
    }

    public void Add(NameValuePart part)
    {
        this.formData.Add(part);
        part.Boundary = boundary;
    }

    public void Add(FilePart part)
    {
        if (files == null)
        {
            files = new FilesCollection();
        }
        this.files.Add(part);
    }

    public void Upload(WebClient client, string address, string method)
    {
        // set header
        client.Headers.Add(HttpRequestHeader.ContentType, "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + this.boundary);
        Trace.WriteLine("Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=" + this.boundary + "\r\n");

        // first, serialize the form data
        foreach (NameValuePart part in this.formData)
        {
            part.CopyTo(bufferStream);
        }

        // serialize the files.
        this.files.CopyTo(bufferStream);

        if (this.files.Count > 0)
        {
            // add the terminating boundary.
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            sb.AppendFormat("--{0}", this.Boundary).Append("\r\n");
            byte [] buffer = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sb.ToString());
            bufferStream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
        }

        bufferStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);

        Trace.WriteLine(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bufferStream.ToArray()));
        byte [] response = client.UploadData(address, method, bufferStream.ToArray());
        Trace.WriteLine("----- RESPONSE ------");
        Trace.WriteLine(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(response));
    }

    /// 
    /// Helper class that encapsulates all file uploads
    /// in a mime part.
    /// 

    class FilesCollection : MimePart
    {
        private List files;

        public FilesCollection()
        {
            this.files = new List();
            this.Boundary = MultipartHelper.GetBoundary();
        }

        public int Count
        {
            get { return this.files.Count; }
        }

        public override string ContentDisposition
        {
            get
            {
                return String.Format("form-data; name=\"{0}\"", this.Name);
            }
        }

        public override string ContentType
        {
            get { return String.Format("multipart/mixed; boundary={0}", this.Boundary); }
        }

        public override void CopyTo(Stream stream)
        {
            // serialize the headers
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(128);
            sb.Append("Content-Disposition: ").Append(this.ContentDisposition).Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("Content-Type: ").Append(this.ContentType).Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.AppendFormat("--{0}", this.Boundary).Append("\r\n");

            byte[] headerBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(sb.ToString());
            stream.Write(headerBytes, 0, headerBytes.Length);
            foreach (FilePart part in files)
            {
                part.Boundary = this.Boundary;
                part.CopyTo(stream);
            }
        }

        public void Add(FilePart part)
        {
            this.files.Add(part);
        }
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Trace.Listeners.Add(new ConsoleTraceListener());
        try
        {
            using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("testfile.txt", false))
            {
                sw.Write("Hello there!");
            }

            using (Stream iniStream = File.OpenRead(@"c:\platform.ini"))
            using (Stream fileStream = File.OpenRead("testfile.txt"))
            using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
            {
                MultipartHelper helper = new MultipartHelper();

                NameValueCollection props = new NameValueCollection();
                props.Add("fname", "john");
                props.Add("id", "acme");
                helper.Add(new NameValuePart(props));

                FilePart filepart = new FilePart(fileStream, "pics1", "text/plain");
                filepart.FileName = "1.jpg";
                helper.Add(filepart);

                FilePart ini = new FilePart(iniStream, "pics2", "text/plain");
                ini.FileName = "inifile.ini";
                helper.Add(ini);

                helper.Upload(client, "http://localhost/form.aspx", "POST");
            }
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Trace.WriteLine(e);
        }
    }
}

This will work with all versions of the .NET framework.

Answer 17

Check out the MyToolkit library:

var request = new HttpPostRequest("http://www.server.com");
request.Data.Add("name", "value"); // POST data
request.Files.Add(new HttpPostFile("name", "file.jpg", "path/to/file.jpg")); 

await Http.PostAsync(request, OnRequestFinished);

http://mytoolkit.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Http

Answer 18

I can never get the examples to work properly, I always receive a 500 error when sending it to the server.

However I came across a very elegant method of doing it in this url

It is easily extendible and obviously works with binary files as well as XML.

You call it using something similar to this

class Program
{
    public static string gsaFeedURL = "http://yourGSA.domain.com:19900/xmlfeed";

    static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            postWebData();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
        }
    }

    // new one I made from C# web service
    public static void postWebData()
    {
        StringDictionary dictionary = new StringDictionary();
        UploadSpec uploadSpecs = new UploadSpec();
        UTF8Encoding encoding = new UTF8Encoding();
        byte[] bytes;
        Uri gsaURI = new Uri(gsaFeedURL);  // Create new URI to GSA feeder gate
        string sourceURL = @"C:\FeedFile.xml"; // Location of the XML feed file
        // Two parameters to send
        string feedtype = "full";
        string datasource = "test";            

        try
        {
            // Add the parameter values to the dictionary
            dictionary.Add("feedtype", feedtype);
            dictionary.Add("datasource", datasource);

            // Load the feed file created and get its bytes
            XmlDocument xml = new XmlDocument();
            xml.Load(sourceURL);
            bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xml.OuterXml);

            // Add data to upload specs
            uploadSpecs.Contents = bytes;
            uploadSpecs.FileName = sourceURL;
            uploadSpecs.FieldName = "data";

            // Post the data
            if ((int)HttpUpload.Upload(gsaURI, dictionary, uploadSpecs).StatusCode == 200)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Successful.");
            }
            else
            {
                // GSA POST not successful
                Console.WriteLine("Failure.");
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
        }
    }
}

Answer 19

Client use convert File to ToBase64String, after use Xml to promulgate to Server call, this server use File.WriteAllBytes(path,Convert.FromBase64String(dataFile_Client_sent)).

Good lucky!

Answer 20

This method work for upload multiple image simultaneously

        var flagResult = new viewModel();
        string boundary = "---------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
        byte[] boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");

        HttpWebRequest wr = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
        wr.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
        wr.Method = method;
        wr.KeepAlive = true;
        wr.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

        Stream rs = wr.GetRequestStream();


        string path = @filePath;
        System.IO.DirectoryInfo folderInfo = new DirectoryInfo(path);

        foreach (FileInfo file in folderInfo.GetFiles())
        {
            rs.Write(boundarybytes, 0, boundarybytes.Length);
            string headerTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\r\n";
            string header = string.Format(headerTemplate, paramName, file, contentType);
            byte[] headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
            rs.Write(headerbytes, 0, headerbytes.Length);

            FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(file.FullName, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
            byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
            int bytesRead = 0;
            while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
            {
                rs.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
            }
            fileStream.Close();
        }

        byte[] trailer = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");
        rs.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length);
        rs.Close();

        WebResponse wresp = null;
        try
        {
            wresp = wr.GetResponse();
            Stream stream2 = wresp.GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader reader2 = new StreamReader(stream2);
            var result = reader2.ReadToEnd();
            var cList = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<HttpViewModel>(result);
            if (cList.message=="images uploaded!")
            {
                flagResult.success = true;
            }

        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            //log.Error("Error uploading file", ex);
            if (wresp != null)
            {
                wresp.Close();
                wresp = null;
            }
        }
        finally
        {
            wr = null;
        }
        return flagResult;
    }

Answer 21

instead Webrequest,for older NET,another option is to use curl.since w10 it is default installed, for W7,8 can be downloaded from here and put only curl.exe directly to system32 folder

     public static string postFile(string url, string filePth)
     {
    
        var timeoutInSeconds = 5;
        
        
                Process p = new Process();
                System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo tempVar = p.StartInfo;
                tempVar.FileName = "curl.exe";
                .Arguments = " --request POST \"" + url + "\" " + 
                  "-H \"content-type: multipart/form-data\" " +
                  "-F \"file=@" + filePth + "\" ";
                tempVar.UseShellExecute = false;
                tempVar.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
                tempVar.RedirectStandardError = true;
                tempVar.CreateNoWindow = true;
                tempVar.WorkingDirectory = Environment.SystemDirectory;
                p.Start();
                p.WaitForExit(timeoutInSeconds * 1000);
                var res = p.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
                p.Dispose();
    
       return res;
    }

Answer 22

I realize this is probably really late, but I was searching for the same solution. I found the following response from a Microsoft rep

private void UploadFilesToRemoteUrl(string url, string[] files, string logpath, NameValueCollection nvc)
{

    long length = 0;
    string boundary = "----------------------------" +
    DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");


    HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest2 = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
    httpWebRequest2.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" +
    boundary;
    httpWebRequest2.Method = "POST";
    httpWebRequest2.KeepAlive = true;
    httpWebRequest2.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;



    Stream memStream = new System.IO.MemoryStream();
    byte[] boundarybytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");


    string formdataTemplate = "\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\";\r\n\r\n{1}";

    foreach(string key in nvc.Keys)
    {
        string formitem = string.Format(formdataTemplate, key, nvc[key]);
        byte[] formitembytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(formitem);
        memStream.Write(formitembytes, 0, formitembytes.Length);
    }


    memStream.Write(boundarybytes,0,boundarybytes.Length);

    string headerTemplate = "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\n Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n";

    for(int i=0;i<files.Length;i++)
    {

        string header = string.Format(headerTemplate,"file"+i,files[i]);
        byte[] headerbytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(header);
        memStream.Write(headerbytes,0,headerbytes.Length);


        FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(files[i], FileMode.Open,
        FileAccess.Read);
        byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];

        int bytesRead = 0;

        while ( (bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0 )
        {
            memStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
        }


        memStream.Write(boundarybytes,0,boundarybytes.Length);


        fileStream.Close();
    }

    httpWebRequest2.ContentLength = memStream.Length;
    Stream requestStream = httpWebRequest2.GetRequestStream();

    memStream.Position = 0;
    byte[] tempBuffer = new byte[memStream.Length];
    memStream.Read(tempBuffer,0,tempBuffer.Length);
    memStream.Close();
    requestStream.Write(tempBuffer,0,tempBuffer.Length );
    requestStream.Close();


    WebResponse webResponse2 = httpWebRequest2.GetResponse();

    Stream stream2 = webResponse2.GetResponseStream();
    StreamReader reader2 = new StreamReader(stream2);

    webResponse2.Close();
    httpWebRequest2 = null;
    webResponse2 = null;

}