Uploading files and other data from Android through Http POST request

Question

This is a simple way of posting files from Android.

String url = "http://yourserver.com/upload.php";
File file = new File("myfileuri");
try {
    HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();

    HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost(url);

    InputStreamEntity reqEntity = new InputStreamEntity(new FileInputStream(file), -1);
    reqEntity.setContentType("binary/octet-stream");
    reqEntity.setChunked(true); // Send in multiple parts if needed
    httppost.setEntity(reqEntity);
    HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
    //Do something with response...

} catch (Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

What I want to do is add more POST variables to my request. How do I do that? While uploading plain strings in POST request, we use URLEncodedFormEntity.

httppost.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(nameValuePairs));

Whereas while uploading files, we use InputStreamEntity.

Also, how do I specifically upload this file to $_FILES['myfilename']?

try using asynctask..you can use a hashmap if you want to upload different types of variables — Akash Shah, Apr 12 '13 at 09:53
obviously I will use asynctask. and yes usually hashmap of name value pairs is used for sending multiple variables. But, the entity types for String and File are different. That confuses me. — shiladitya, Apr 12 '13 at 09:54
making multipart is not the doubt. i want to send normal strings along with files to the same php. — shiladitya, Apr 12 '13 at 09:57

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 31 '14 at 19:32

1

the most effective method is to use android-async-http

You can use this code to upload file :

 

    File myFile = new File("/path/to/file.png");
    RequestParams params = new RequestParams();
    try {
        params.put("profile_picture", myFile);
    } catch(FileNotFoundException e) {}

answered Jul 31 '14 at 19:32

Hoshouns

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can I upload any kind of files using this Library and not have to specify mi e type – pratham kesarkar Jun 28 '16 at 12:05
1

Yes. YOu can upload any kind of files – Hoshouns Jun 28 '16 at 17:05
My advice is: stay away from loopj. I've used it for way too long, and it sucks in supporting SSL. It's been a known bug for a long time and apparently it can't been fixed due to the infrastructure used in the library. Use volley or retrofit/simplehttp instead. – Iman Akbari Sep 19 '16 at 16:54

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '16 at 15:27

After spending a full day found loopj. You can follow this code sample:

//context: Activity context, Property: Custom class, replace with your pojo
public void postProperty(Context context,Property property){
        // Creates a Async client. 
        AsyncHttpClient client = new AsyncHttpClient();
         //New File
        File files = new File(property.getImageUrl());
        RequestParams params = new RequestParams();
        try {
            //"photos" is Name of the field to identify file on server
            params.put("photos", files);
        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            //TODO: Handle error
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        //TODO: Reaming body with id "property". prepareJson converts property class to Json string. Replace this with with your own method 
        params.put("property",prepareJson(property));
        client.post(context, baseURL+"upload", params, new AsyncHttpResponseHandler() {
            @Override
            public void onFailure(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody, Throwable error) {
                System.out.print("Failed..");
            }

            @Override
            public void onSuccess(int statusCode, Header[] headers, byte[] responseBody) {
                System.out.print("Success..");
            }
        });

    }

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 18 '14 at 14:53

0

Since you want to upload files from your app, here is a good tutorial for you:

Uploading files to HTTP server using POST on Android.

If you want to upload strings as well, I think you already know the solution :)

edited Apr 18 '14 at 14:53

Rafał Sroka

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answered Apr 12 '13 at 10:00

Akash Shah

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hey Akash! thanks for your answer but it still did not answer my question. If you did not get my doubt, this question is exactly the same. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11598457/android-how-to-send-song-file-to-server-throught-httppost-along-with-other-vari?rq=1 unfortunately this is unsolved too :( – shiladitya Apr 12 '13 at 10:13
okay i got it here are some questions with answers for your type of problem: – Akash Shah Apr 12 '13 at 10:23

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

0

A few ways for you:

make 2 post requests: first with image File. Server returns an image id, and with second request you attach to this id yours params.
or, instead of the '2 request' solution, you could use MultipartEntity request. Look here for more datails

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

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answered Aug 13 '13 at 14:23

validcat

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I wouldn't recommend the first suggestion. If you make two requests and either one of those fails, it can spell disaster for your data. – chrisbjr Sep 19 '13 at 04:16
yeah, i do not recomend too, but there is such solution. I used the second one, it's much better – validcat Sep 19 '13 at 12:10

Uploading files and other data from Android through Http POST request

4 Answers4