Commons HTTPClient : Sending file as well as parameters

Question

Hi,
I want to send some parameters as well as a file in request body. I have been doing this via PostMethod by Commons HTTPClient.
Client Code:
          HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
               PostMethod method = new PostMethod("http://localhost:7080/exchange/receive");
               //Parameters
               method.addParameter("username","test");
               method.addParameter("password","a311xhq23");
               //File
               String strXML = FileTest.readTextFile("C:/in.xml");
               method.setRequestBody(strXML);
               int statusCode = client.executeMethod(method);
               if (statusCode != HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
                    System.err.println("Method failed: " + method.getStatusLine());
               String responseString = method.getResponseBodyAsString();
               System.out.println("Response : \n\n"+responseString);Server Code:
                String username = request.getParameter("username");
              System.out.println("Username : "+username);
          InputStream is = request.getInputStream();
          byte buf[]=new byte[1024];
          int len;
          OutputStream out = new FileOutputStream(new File("c:/out.xml"));
          while((len=is.read(buf))>0)
                 out.write(buf,0,len);
          out.close();
          is.close();Here the file is written successfully but request parameters are null. What could be the issue?
Is it right way to send both parameters as well as file?
In http client I haven't specify content type. So what will be default content type? is it multipart request?
Thank is advance.
Regards,
Amit
Edited by: amit_patel_java on Apr 14, 2010 11:38 PM

Answer 1

I'd say your setRequestBody() call is overwriting the parameters. Read the javadocs of the API to get more details about how they work.
What you are trying to mimic is a multipart request, where you can send a file as part of the request to the server. HttpClient should have capabilities to do a multipart request, and on the server side you can use the FileUpload API to read the file and the parameters back.
[http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/methods/multipartpost.html|http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/methods/multipartpost.html]
[http://commons.apache.org/fileupload/using.html|http://commons.apache.org/fileupload/using.html]