Post byte array to Web API server using HttpClient

Question

I want to post this data to Web API server:

public sealed class SomePostRequest
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public byte[] Content { get; set; }
}

Using this code for server:

[Route("Incoming")]
[ValidateModel]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> PostIncomingData(SomePostRequest requestData)
{
    // POST logic here
}

and this - for client:

var client = new HttpClient();
client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:25001/");
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
    new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));

var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(new Dictionary<string, string>
{
    { "id", "1" },
    { "content", "123" }
});

var result = await client.PostAsync("api/SomeData/Incoming", content);
result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

everything works fine (at least, debugger stops at breakpoint in PostIncomingData).

Since there is a byte array, I don't want to serialize it as JSON, and want to post it as binary data to decrease network traffic (something like application/octet-stream).

How this can be achieved?

I've tried to play with MultipartFormDataContent, but looks like I just can't understand, how MultipartFormDataContent will match signature of controller's method.

E.g., replacing content to this:

var content = new MultipartFormDataContent();
content.Add(new FormUrlEncodedContent(new Dictionary<string, string> { { "id", "1" } }));

var binaryContent = new ByteArrayContent(new byte[] { 1, 2, 3 });
binaryContent.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream");
content.Add(binaryContent, "content");

var result = await client.PostAsync("api/SomeData/Incoming", content);
result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

leads to error 415 ("Unsupported media type").

Answer 1

WebAPI v2.1 and beyond supports BSON (Binary JSON) out of the box, and even has a MediaTypeFormatter included for it. This means you can post your entire message in binary format.

If you want to use it, you'll need to set it in WebApiConfig:

public static class WebApiConfig
{
    public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
        config.Formatters.Add(new BsonMediaTypeFormatter());
    }
}

Now, you an use the same BsonMediaTypeFormatter at the client side to serialize your request:

public async Task SendRequestAsync()
{
    var client = new HttpClient
    {
        BaseAddress = new Uri("http://www.yourserviceaddress.com");
    };

    // Set the Accept header for BSON.
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
    client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
            new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/bson"));

    var request = new SomePostRequest
    {
        Id = 20,
        Content = new byte[] { 2, 5, 7, 10 }
    };

    // POST using the BSON formatter.
    MediaTypeFormatter bsonFormatter = new BsonMediaTypeFormatter();
    var result = await client.PostAsync("api/SomeData/Incoming", request, bsonFormatter);

    result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
}

Or, you can use Json.NET to serialize your class to BSON. Then, specify you want to use "application/bson" as your "Content-Type":

public async Task SendRequestAsync()
{   
    using (var stream = new MemoryStream())
    using (var bson = new BsonWriter(stream))
    {
        var jsonSerializer = new JsonSerializer();

        var request = new SomePostRequest
        {
            Id = 20,
            Content = new byte[] { 2, 5, 7, 10 }
        };

        jsonSerializer.Serialize(bson, request);

        var client = new HttpClient
        {
            BaseAddress = new Uri("http://www.yourservicelocation.com")
        };

        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
                new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/bson"));

        var byteArrayContent = new ByteArrayContent(stream.ToArray());
        byteArrayContent.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/bson");

        var result = await client.PostAsync(
                "api/SomeData/Incoming", byteArrayContent);

        result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
    }
}

Answer 2

I have created this generic and cross platform method to support the BSON format using the Json.NET library so we can reuse it easier later. It works fine in Xamarin platform as well.

public static async HttpResponseMessage PostBsonAsync<T>(string url, T data)
{
    using (var client = new HttpClient())
    {
        //Specifiy 'Accept' header As BSON: to ask server to return data as BSON format
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
                new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/bson"));

        //Specify 'Content-Type' header: to tell server which format of the data will be posted
        //Post data will be as Bson format                
        var bSonData = HttpExtensions.SerializeBson<T>(data);
        var byteArrayContent = new ByteArrayContent(bSonData);
        byteArrayContent.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/bson");

        var response = await client.PostAsync(url, byteArrayContent);

        response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

        return response;
    }
}

The method to help to serialise data to BSON format:

public static byte[] SerializeBson<T>(T obj)
{
    using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
    {
        using (BsonWriter writer = new BsonWriter(ms))
        {
            JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
            serializer.Serialize(writer, obj);
        }

        return ms.ToArray();
    }
}

Then you can use the Post method like this:

var response = await PostBsonAsync<SamplePostRequest>("api/SomeData/Incoming", requestData);

Answer 3

Fyi, for protobuf serialization to request body posts

        LoginRequest loginRequest = new LoginRequest()
        {
            Code = "UserId",
            Password = "myPass",
            CMToken = "eIFt4lYTKGU:APA91bFZPe3XCDL2r1JUJuEQLlN3FoeFw9ULpw8ljEavNdo9Lc_-Qua4w9pTqdOFLTb92Kf03vyWBqkcvbBfYEno4NQIvp21kN9sldDt40eUOdy0NgMRXf2Asjp6FhOD1Kmubx1Hq7pc",
        };
        byte[] rawBytes = ProtoBufSerializer.ProtoSerialize<LoginRequest>(loginRequest);

        var client = new HttpClient();
        client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:9000/");
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
            new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/x-protobuf"));

        //var bSonData = HttpExtensions.SerializeBson<T>(data);
        var byteArrayContent = new ByteArrayContent(rawBytes);
        byteArrayContent.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/x-protobuf");

        var result = client.PostAsync("Api/Login", byteArrayContent).Result;

        Console.WriteLine(result.IsSuccessStatusCode);

Answer 4

I convert Byte Array into Base64 String to post:

await client.PostAsJsonAsync( apiUrl,  
    new  {
        message = "",
        content = Convert.ToBase64String(yourByteArray),
    }
);

and receiver can convert the byte array back to Base64 string by:

string base64Str = (string)postBody.data;
byte[] fileBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(base64Str);