How To Upload Text & Files Using Httpwebrequest (Multipart/Form-Data) To A Web Server (Running I Php) ?

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I want to upload text & files from a desktop application in c# to a web server (running i php),

So I try this code :

In C# :

C#

string URL = "http://localhost/TestUploadFile.php";
string boundary = "----------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
WebRequest webRequest = WebRequest.Create(URL);
webRequest.Method = "POST";
webRequest.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;

Stream postDataStream = new MemoryStream();

//adding form data
string formDataHeaderTemplate = Environment.NewLine + "--" + boundary + Environment.NewLine + "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\";" + Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine + "{1}";
byte[] formItemBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(string.Format(formDataHeaderTemplate, "value", "valueTest"));
postDataStream.Write(formItemBytes, 0, formItemBytes.Length);

//adding file data

string FilePath = @"C:\test\";

string[] files = Directory.GetFiles(FilePath);

for(int i = 0; i < files.Length; i++)
{
    FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(files[i]);
    string fileHeaderTemplate = Environment.NewLine + "--" + boundary + Environment.NewLine + "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"" + Environment.NewLine + "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" + Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine;
    byte[] fileHeaderBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(string.Format(fileHeaderTemplate, "UploadFile", fileInfo.FullName));
    postDataStream.Write(fileHeaderBytes, 0, fileHeaderBytes.Length);

    FileStream fileStream = fileInfo.OpenRead();

    byte[] bufferFiles = new byte[1024];

    int bytesRead = 0;

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

    fileStream.Close();
}

byte[] endBoundaryBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("--" + boundary + "--");

postDataStream.Write(endBoundaryBytes, 0, endBoundaryBytes.Length);

webRequest.ContentLength = postDataStream.Length;

Stream reqStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream();

postDataStream.Position = 0;

byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];

int bytesRead = 0;

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

postDataStream.Close();
reqStream.Close();

StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(webRequest.GetResponse().GetResponseStream());
string Result = sr.ReadToEnd();

MessageBox.Show(Result);

In my WebApplication (in php)

PHP

<?php

$uploaddir = 'upload/'; // Relative Upload Location of data file

if(isset($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'])) {
    if (is_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'])) {

        $uploadfile = $uploaddir . basename($_FILES['file']['name']);
        echo 'File '. $_FILES['file']['name']. ' uploaded successfully';
        if ( move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'], $uploadfile) ) {
        echo "File is valid, and was successfully moved ";
    }
    else {
        print_r($_FILES);
    }
}
else {
    echo "Upload Failed !!!";
}
}

if(isset($_POST['value'])) {
echo $_POST['value'];
}
else {
echo 'not value';
}

The MessageBox return "Failed" for upload files and the valueTest for form data (success for form data)

I think the problem is in the Content-Type: application/octet-stream !!! I want to upload all type of file (.txt, .pdf, .msg, ...)

I can't understand how to Content-Type work and I do not know the importance of boundary !!!

Can you help me please ?

Posted 17-Aug-14 0:03am

Member 10872485

Updated 7-Mar-21 14:21pm

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*Suvabrata Roy* · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-17T18:51:00

Hi,

Boundary in Content Type : Link[^] go through this link it will clear your confusion.

Upload multiple files :

Before going to the code, your client code can upload multiple file only when your server code supports that but in your PHP code it looks like it can only accept single file.

C#

public static void HttpUploadFile(string url, string file, string paramName, string contentType, NameValueCollection nvc) {
        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);
            
        } catch(Exception ex) {
            
            if(wresp != null) {
                wresp.Close();
                wresp = null;
            }
        } finally {
            wr = null;
        }
    }

Now you can call this code again again to upload multiple file.

You can use 'application/octet-stream'