Uploading Stream/Images to REST API Using RestSharp

While I was working with the REST API to upload an image using RestSharp, I encountered a problem uploading it. I Googled the problem but did not find a specific answer for it. Although I found the solution and thought to share it since it can save a lot of time for other developers. I am assuming here that the reader is familiar with the REST API and RestSharp.

  1. [OperationContract]    
  2. [WebInvoke(Method = "POST", BodyStyle = WebMessageBodyStyle.WrappedRequest, RequestFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json, ResponseFormat = WebMessageFormat.Json)]    
  3. public void NotesAttachment(Stream input)    
  4. {    
  5.     HttpApplicationState Application = HttpContext.Current.Application;    
  6.     HttpRequest Request = HttpContext.Current.Request;    
  7.     string sRequest = String.Empty;    
  8.     using (StreamReader stmRequest = new StreamReader(input, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8))    
  9.     {    
  10.         sRequest = stmRequest.ReadToEnd();    
  11.     }    
  12.     JavaScriptSerializer json = new JavaScriptSerializer();    
  13.     json.MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue;    
  14.     Dictionary<stringobject> dict = json.Deserialize<Dictionary<stringobject>>(sRequest);    
  15.     string ext = dict["FILE_EXT"as string;    
  16.     string mime = dict["FILE_MIME_TYPE"as string;    
  17.     string image = dict["IMAGE_DATA"as string;  
  18.     byte[] attachment = Convert.FromBase64String(image);  
  19. } 
What this method (the WS method) is expecting is a Stream object containing a file extension, file mime type and file data as an encoded string that is being converted to a byte array.

JavaScriptSerializer used in the example above is System.Web.Script.Serialization from systems.web.extension.dll.

This is how it is called from the client, I am using WPF as the client, but it can be called from a console or web app.
  1. private void CallRestNotesAttachment(string ext, string mime)  
  2. {  
  3.       var restClient = new RestClient("http://localhost:1608/Rest.svc/NotesAttachment");  
  4.       restClient.AddHandler("application/octet-stream"new RestSharp.Deserializers.JsonDeserializer());  
  5.       var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);  
  6.       request.AddHeader("Content-Type""application/octet-stream");  
  7.       Dictionary<string, object> dict = new Dictionary<string, object>();  
  8.       dict.Add("FILE_EXT", ext);  
  9.       dict.Add("FILE_MIME_TYPE", mime);  
  10.       byte[] imageBytes;  
  11.       using (FileStream fs = File.Open(@"C:\Users\anand.thakur\Desktop\1.wmv", FileMode.Open))  
  12.       {  
  13.           imageBytes = new BinaryReader(fs).ReadBytes((int)fs.Length);  
  14.       }  
  15.       string image = Convert.ToBase64String(imageBytes);  
  16.       dict.Add("IMAGE_DATA", image);  
  17.       byte[] data = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dict));  
  18.       request.AddParameter("application/octet-stream", data, ParameterType.RequestBody);  
  19.       var response = restClient.Execute(request);  
  20.       JavaScriptSerializer json = new JavaScriptSerializer();  
  21.       Dictionary<string, object> dict1 = json.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, object>>(response.Content);  
  22.       MessageBox.Show("done");  
  23.   }  
The RestSharp package is available through NuGet. JsonConvert can be found in Newtonsoft.Json, that is also available at NuGet.


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