How to send a “multipart/form-data” POST in Androi

Question

Has anyone been able to accomplish sending a multipart/form-data POST in Android with Volley yet? I have had no success trying to upload an image/png using a POST request to our server and am curious if anyone has.

I believe the default way to do this would be to override public byte[] getPostBody() in the Request.java class and attach the File there with a blank Header key for the boundary. However, converting my file to a String for the Map<String, String> postParams and then having it encoded again seems obtuse and not really elegant. Also I've been unsuccessful in my attempts. This is really the only thing holding us back from switching to this library.

Anyway, all thoughts and answers are extremely appreciated. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

UPDATE 2015/08/26:

If you don't want to use deprecated HttpEntity, here is my working sample code (tested with ASP.Net WebAPI)

MultipartActivity.java

package com.example.volleyapp;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.drawable.BitmapDrawable;
import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.content.ContextCompat;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;

import com.android.volley.AuthFailureError;
import com.android.volley.NetworkResponse;
import com.android.volley.Response;
import com.android.volley.VolleyError;
import com.example.volleyapp.BaseVolleyRequest;
import com.example.volleyapp.VolleySingleton;

import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.DataOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

public class MultipartActivity extends Activity {

    final Context mContext = this;
    String mimeType;
    DataOutputStream dos = null;
    String lineEnd = "\r\n";
    String boundary = "apiclient-" + System.currentTimeMillis();
    String twoHyphens = "--";
    int bytesRead, bytesAvailable, bufferSize;
    byte[] buffer;
    int maxBufferSize = 1024 * 1024;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_multipart);             

        Drawable drawable = ContextCompat.getDrawable(mContext, R.drawable.ic_action_file_attachment_light);
        Bitmap bitmap = ((BitmapDrawable) drawable).getBitmap();
        ByteArrayOutputStream byteArrayOutputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 100, byteArrayOutputStream);
        final byte[] bitmapData = byteArrayOutputStream.toByteArray();
        String url = "http://192.168.1.100/api/postfile";

        mimeType = "multipart/form-data;boundary=" + boundary;

        BaseVolleyRequest baseVolleyRequest = new BaseVolleyRequest(1, url, new Response.Listener<NetworkResponse>() {
            @Override
            public void onResponse(NetworkResponse response) {

            }
        }, new Response.ErrorListener() {
            @Override
            public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError error) {

            }
        }) {
            @Override
            public String getBodyContentType() {
                return mimeType;
            }

            @Override
            public byte[] getBody() throws AuthFailureError {
                ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
                dos = new DataOutputStream(bos);
                try {
                    dos.writeBytes(twoHyphens + boundary + lineEnd);
                    dos.writeBytes("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"uploaded_file\";filename=\""
                            + "ic_action_file_attachment_light.png" + "\"" + lineEnd);
                    dos.writeBytes(lineEnd);
                    ByteArrayInputStream fileInputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(bitmapData);
                    bytesAvailable = fileInputStream.available();

                    bufferSize = Math.min(bytesAvailable, maxBufferSize);
                    buffer = new byte[bufferSize];

                    // read file and write it into form...
                    bytesRead = fileInputStream.read(buffer, 0, bufferSize);

                    while (bytesRead > 0) {
                        dos.write(buffer, 0, bufferSize);
                        bytesAvailable = fileInputStream.available();
                        bufferSize = Math.min(bytesAvailable, maxBufferSize);
                        bytesRead = fileInputStream.read(buffer, 0, bufferSize);
                    }

                    // send multipart form data necesssary after file data...
                    dos.writeBytes(lineEnd);
                    dos.writeBytes(twoHyphens + boundary + twoHyphens + lineEnd);

                    return bos.toByteArray();

                } catch (IOException e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
                return bitmapData;
            }
        };

        VolleySingleton.getInstance(mContext).addToRequestQueue(baseVolleyRequest);

    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_multipart, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

BaseVolleyRequest.java:

package com.example.volleyapp;

import com.android.volley.NetworkResponse;
import com.android.volley.ParseError;
import com.android.volley.Request;
import com.android.volley.Response;
import com.android.volley.VolleyError;
import com.android.volley.toolbox.HttpHeaderParser;
import com.google.gson.JsonSyntaxException;


public class BaseVolleyRequest extends Request<NetworkResponse> {

    private final Response.Listener<NetworkResponse> mListener;
    private final Response.ErrorListener mErrorListener;

    public BaseVolleyRequest(String url, Response.Listener<NetworkResponse> listener, Response.ErrorListener errorListener) {
        super(0, url, errorListener);
        this.mListener = listener;
        this.mErrorListener = errorListener;
    }

    public BaseVolleyRequest(int method, String url, Response.Listener<NetworkResponse> listener, Response.ErrorListener errorListener) {
        super(method, url, errorListener);
        this.mListener = listener;
        this.mErrorListener = errorListener;
    }

    @Override
    protected Response<NetworkResponse> parseNetworkResponse(NetworkResponse response) {
        try {
            return Response.success(
                    response,
                    HttpHeaderParser.parseCacheHeaders(response));
        } catch (JsonSyntaxException e) {
            return Response.error(new ParseError(e));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            return Response.error(new ParseError(e));
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void deliverResponse(NetworkResponse response) {
        mListener.onResponse(response);
    }

    @Override
    protected VolleyError parseNetworkError(VolleyError volleyError) {
        return super.parseNetworkError(volleyError);
    }

    @Override
    public void deliverError(VolleyError error) {
        mErrorListener.onErrorResponse(error);
    }
}

END OF UPDATE

This is my working sample code (only tested with small-size files):

public class FileUploadActivity extends Activity {

    private final Context mContext = this;
    HttpEntity httpEntity;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_file_upload);   

        Drawable drawable = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_action_home);
        if (drawable != null) {
            Bitmap bitmap = ((BitmapDrawable) drawable).getBitmap();
            ByteArrayOutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
            bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.PNG, 100, stream);
            final byte[] bitmapdata = stream.toByteArray();
            String url = "http://10.0.2.2/api/fileupload";
            MultipartEntityBuilder builder = MultipartEntityBuilder.create();
            builder.setMode(HttpMultipartMode.BROWSER_COMPATIBLE);

            // Add binary body
            if (bitmapdata != null) {
                ContentType contentType = ContentType.create("image/png");
                String fileName = "ic_action_home.png";
                builder.addBinaryBody("file", bitmapdata, contentType, fileName);
                httpEntity = builder.build();

                MyRequest myRequest = new MyRequest(Request.Method.POST, url, new Response.Listener<NetworkResponse>() {
                    @Override
                    public void onResponse(NetworkResponse response) {
                        try {                            
                            String jsonString = new String(response.data,
                                    HttpHeaderParser.parseCharset(response.headers));
                            Toast.makeText(mContext, jsonString, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                        } catch (Exception e) {
                            e.printStackTrace();
                        }
                    }
                }, new Response.ErrorListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError error) {
                        Toast.makeText(mContext, error.toString(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();                        
                    }
                }) {
                    @Override
                    public String getBodyContentType() {
                        return httpEntity.getContentType().getValue();
                    }

                    @Override
                    public byte[] getBody() throws AuthFailureError {
                        ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
                        try {
                            httpEntity.writeTo(bos);
                        } catch (IOException e) {
                            VolleyLog.e("IOException writing to ByteArrayOutputStream");
                        }
                        return bos.toByteArray();
                    }
                };

                MySingleton.getInstance(this).addToRequestQueue(myRequest);
            }
        }
    }

    ...
}

public class MyRequest extends Request<NetworkResponse>

Answer 2

I might be wrong on this but I think you need to implement your own com.android.volley.toolbox.HttpStack for this because the default ones (HurlStack if version > Gingerbread or HttpClientStack) don't deal with multipart/form-data.

Edit:

And indeed I was wrong. I was able to do it using MultipartEntity in Request like this:

public class MultipartRequest extends Request<String> {

    private MultipartEntity entity = new MultipartEntity();

    private static final String FILE_PART_NAME = "file";
    private static final String STRING_PART_NAME = "text";

    private final Response.Listener<String> mListener;
    private final File mFilePart;
    private final String mStringPart;

    public MultipartRequest(String url, Response.ErrorListener errorListener, Response.Listener<String> listener, File file, String stringPart)
    {
        super(Method.POST, url, errorListener);

        mListener = listener;
        mFilePart = file;
        mStringPart = stringPart;
        buildMultipartEntity();
    }

    private void buildMultipartEntity()
    {
        entity.addPart(FILE_PART_NAME, new FileBody(mFilePart));
        try
        {
            entity.addPart(STRING_PART_NAME, new StringBody(mStringPart));
        }
        catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e)
        {
            VolleyLog.e("UnsupportedEncodingException");
        }
    }

    @Override
    public String getBodyContentType()
    {
        return entity.getContentType().getValue();
    }

    @Override
    public byte[] getBody() throws AuthFailureError
    {
        ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        try
        {
            entity.writeTo(bos);
        }
        catch (IOException e)
        {
            VolleyLog.e("IOException writing to ByteArrayOutputStream");
        }
        return bos.toByteArray();
    }

    @Override
    protected Response<String> parseNetworkResponse(NetworkResponse response)
    {
        return Response.success("Uploaded", getCacheEntry());
    }

    @Override
    protected void deliverResponse(String response)
    {
        mListener.onResponse(response);
    }
}

It's pretty raw but I tried it with an image and a simple string and it works. The response is a placeholder, doesn't make much sense to return a Response String in this case. I had problems using apache httpmime to use MultipartEntity so I used this https://code.google.com/p/httpclientandroidlib/ don't know if there's a better way. Hope it helps.

Edit

You can use httpmime without using httpclientandroidlib, the only dependency is httpcore.

Answer 3

Here is Simple Solution And Complete Example for Uploading File Using Volley Android

1) Gradle Import

compile 'dev.dworks.libs:volleyplus:+'

2)Now Create a Class RequestManager

public class RequestManager {
    private static RequestManager mRequestManager;
    /**
     * Queue which Manages the Network Requests :-)
     */
    private static RequestQueue mRequestQueue;
    // ImageLoader Instance

    private RequestManager() {

    }

    public static RequestManager get(Context context) {

        if (mRequestManager == null)
            mRequestManager = new RequestManager();

        return mRequestManager;
    }

    /**
     * @param context application context
     */
    public static RequestQueue getnstance(Context context) {

        if (mRequestQueue == null) {
            mRequestQueue = Volley.newRequestQueue(context);
        }

        return mRequestQueue;

    }


}

3)Now Create a Class to handle Request for uploading File WebService

public class WebService {
    private RequestQueue mRequestQueue;
    private static WebService apiRequests = null;

    public static WebService getInstance() {
        if (apiRequests == null) {
            apiRequests = new WebService();
            return apiRequests;
        }
        return apiRequests;
    }
    public void updateProfile(Context context, String doc_name, String doc_type, String appliance_id, File file, Response.Listener<String> listener, Response.ErrorListener errorListener) {
        SimpleMultiPartRequest request = new SimpleMultiPartRequest(Request.Method.POST, "YOUR URL HERE", listener, errorListener);
//        request.setParams(data);
        mRequestQueue = RequestManager.getnstance(context);
        request.addMultipartParam("token", "text", "tdfysghfhsdfh");
        request.addMultipartParam("parameter_1", "text", doc_name);
        request.addMultipartParam("dparameter_2", "text", doc_type);
        request.addMultipartParam("parameter_3", "text", appliance_id);
            request.addFile("document_file", file.getPath());

        request.setFixedStreamingMode(true);
        mRequestQueue.add(request);
    }
}

4) And Now Call The method Like This to Hit the service

public class Main2Activity extends AppCompatActivity implements Response.ErrorListener, Response.Listener<String>{

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main2);
        Button button=(Button)findViewById(R.id.button);
        button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                uploadData();
            }
        });
    }

    private void uploadData() {
        WebService.getInstance().updateProfile(getActivity(), "appl_doc", "appliance", "1", mChoosenFile, this, this);
    }

    @Override
    public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError error) {

    }

    @Override
    public void onResponse(String response) {
     //Your response here 
    }
}