C# HTTP POST with Boundary

Question

I need a little help setting up a HTTP Post in C#. I appreciate any assistance I receive in advance.

Using Fiddler here is my RAW POST:

POST http://www.domain.com/tester.aspx HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Tegan
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=myboundary
Host: www.domain.com
Content-Length: 1538
Expect: 100-continue


<some-xml>

        <customer>
                <user-id>george</user-id>
                <first-name>George</first-name>
                <last-name>Jones</last-name>
        </customer>

</some-xml>

My requirements are a little tricky. They require a multi-part post with a boundary. I'm not familiar with setting up a boundary. If any one can assist I would appreciate it.

Here are my requirements:

POST http://www.domain.com/tester.aspx HTTP/1.0(CRLF)
User-Agent: myprogramname(CRLF)
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=myboundary(CRLF)
Content-Length: nnn(CRLF)
(CRLF)
(CRLF)
--myboundary(CRLF)
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=”xmlrequest”(CRLF)
Content-Type: text/xml(CRLF)
(CRLF)
(XML request message)(CRLF)
(CRLF)
--myboundary--(CRLF)

So I think this is what the POST should look like but I need some help with my C#.

POST http://www.domain.com/tester.aspx HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Tegan
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=myboundary
Content-Length: 1538

--myboundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="xmlrequest"
Content-Type: text/xml

<some-xml>

            <customer>
                    <user-id>george</user-id>
                    <first-name>George</first-name>
                    <last-name>Jones</last-name>
            </customer>

    </some-xml>

(CRLF)
--myboundary--

Here is the C# code I'm using to create the WebRequest.

HttpWebRequest request = null;
Uri uri = new Uri("http://domain.com/tester.aspx");
request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
request.Method = "POST";
request.UserAgent = "NPPD";
request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=myboundary";
request.ContentLength = postData.Length;


using (Stream writeStream = request.GetRequestStream())
{
    writeStream.Write(postData, 0, postData.Length);
}
string result = string.Empty;
using (HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse())
{
    using (Stream responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
    {
        using (StreamReader readStream = new StreamReader(responseStream, Encoding.UTF8))
        {
            result = readStream.ReadToEnd();
        }
    }
}
return result;

It seems to me there is a better way to do this. Can you enlighten us as to what you are trying to accomplish? (for example, upload a file) — Kyle Trauberman, Jun 18 '12 at 21:19
I'm just trying to send a XML Post to a Banking provider. Everything is over complicated in that industry. — Tegan Snyder, Jun 18 '12 at 21:28

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 18 '12 at 21:19

6

I blogged about this and presented a sample method that could be used to send multipart/form-data requests. Checkout here: http://www.bratched.com/en/home/dotnet/69-uploading-multiple-files-with-c.html

answered Jun 18 '12 at 21:19

Darin Dimitrov

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Darin, that seems to help me get a little closer to what is needed. I will play with it a bit more and keep this open for another day and mark your answer as acceptable. Thanks – Tegan Snyder Jun 19 '12 at 14:35

C# HTTP POST with Boundary

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