How to send a “multipart/form-data” POST in Android with Volley

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

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

Complete Multipart Request with Upload Progress

import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FilterOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.HttpMultipartMode;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntityBuilder;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.content.FileBody;
import org.apache.http.util.CharsetUtils;

import com.android.volley.AuthFailureError;
import com.android.volley.NetworkResponse;
import com.android.volley.Request;
import com.android.volley.Response;
import com.android.volley.VolleyLog;
import com.beusoft.app.AppContext;

public class MultipartRequest extends Request<String> {

    MultipartEntityBuilder entity = MultipartEntityBuilder.create();
    HttpEntity httpentity;
    private String FILE_PART_NAME = "files";

    private final Response.Listener<String> mListener;
    private final File mFilePart;
    private final Map<String, String> mStringPart;
    private Map<String, String> headerParams;
    private final MultipartProgressListener multipartProgressListener;
    private long fileLength = 0L;

    public MultipartRequest(String url, Response.ErrorListener errorListener,
            Response.Listener<String> listener, File file, long fileLength,
            Map<String, String> mStringPart,
            final Map<String, String> headerParams, String partName,
            MultipartProgressListener progLitener) {
        super(Method.POST, url, errorListener);

        this.mListener = listener;
        this.mFilePart = file;
        this.fileLength = fileLength;
        this.mStringPart = mStringPart;
        this.headerParams = headerParams;
        this.FILE_PART_NAME = partName;
        this.multipartProgressListener = progLitener;

        entity.setMode(HttpMultipartMode.BROWSER_COMPATIBLE);
        try {
            entity.setCharset(CharsetUtils.get("UTF-8"));
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        buildMultipartEntity();
        httpentity = entity.build();
    }

    // public void addStringBody(String param, String value) {
    // if (mStringPart != null) {
    // mStringPart.put(param, value);
    // }
    // }

    private void buildMultipartEntity() {
        entity.addPart(FILE_PART_NAME, new FileBody(mFilePart, ContentType.create("image/gif"), mFilePart.getName()));
        if (mStringPart != null) {
            for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : mStringPart.entrySet()) {
                entity.addTextBody(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
            }
        }
    }

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

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

    @Override
    protected Response<String> parseNetworkResponse(NetworkResponse response) {

        try {
//          System.out.println("Network Response "+ new String(response.data, "UTF-8"));
            return Response.success(new String(response.data, "UTF-8"),
                    getCacheEntry());
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            // fuck it, it should never happen though
            return Response.success(new String(response.data), getCacheEntry());
        }
    }

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

//Override getHeaders() if you want to put anything in header

    public static interface MultipartProgressListener {
        void transferred(long transfered, int progress);
    }

    public static class CountingOutputStream extends FilterOutputStream {
        private final MultipartProgressListener progListener;
        private long transferred;
        private long fileLength;

        public CountingOutputStream(final OutputStream out, long fileLength,
                final MultipartProgressListener listener) {
            super(out);
            this.fileLength = fileLength;
            this.progListener = listener;
            this.transferred = 0;
        }

        public void write(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException {
            out.write(b, off, len);
            if (progListener != null) {
                this.transferred += len;
                int prog = (int) (transferred * 100 / fileLength);
                this.progListener.transferred(this.transferred, prog);
            }
        }

        public void write(int b) throws IOException {
            out.write(b);
            if (progListener != null) {
                this.transferred++;
                int prog = (int) (transferred * 100 / fileLength);
                this.progListener.transferred(this.transferred, prog);
            }
        }

    }
}

Sample Usage

protected <T> void uploadFile(final String tag, final String url,
            final File file, final String partName,         
            final Map<String, String> headerParams,
            final Response.Listener<String> resultDelivery,
            final Response.ErrorListener errorListener,
            MultipartProgressListener progListener) {
        AZNetworkRetryPolicy retryPolicy = new AZNetworkRetryPolicy();

        MultipartRequest mr = new MultipartRequest(url, errorListener,
                resultDelivery, file, file.length(), null, headerParams,
                partName, progListener);

        mr.setRetryPolicy(retryPolicy);
        mr.setTag(tag);

        Volley.newRequestQueue(this).add(mr);

    }

Answer 3

This is my way of doing it. It may be useful to others :

private void updateType(){
    // Log.i(TAG,"updateType");
     StringRequest request = new StringRequest(Request.Method.POST, url, new Response.Listener<String>() {

         @Override
         public void onResponse(String response) {
             // running on main thread-------
             try {
                 JSONObject res = new JSONObject(response);
                 res.getString("result");
                 System.out.println("Response:" + res.getString("result"));

                 }else{
                     CustomTast ct=new CustomTast(context);
                     ct.showCustomAlert("Network/Server Disconnected",R.drawable.disconnect);
                 }

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

                 //Log.e("Response", "==> " + e.getMessage());
             }
         }
     }, new Response.ErrorListener() {
         @Override
         public void onErrorResponse(VolleyError volleyError) {
             // running on main thread-------
             VolleyLog.d(TAG, "Error: " + volleyError.getMessage());

         }
     }) {
         protected Map<String, String> getParams() {
             HashMap<String, String> hashMapParams = new HashMap<String, String>();
             hashMapParams.put("key", "value");
             hashMapParams.put("key", "value");
             hashMapParams.put("key", "value"));
             hashMapParams.put("key", "value");
             System.out.println("Hashmap:" + hashMapParams);
             return hashMapParams;
         }
     };
     AppController.getInstance().addToRequestQueue(request);

 }