Upload Images to ImageShack using Vb.net (or C#)

Question

 

Hi , this is a very newbie question  but I have been trying to make it work and I still don't know how to do it,

 

I'm trying to upload images to imageshack.us using Vb.net but I really don't understand their API

 

 

Their API says:

 

Send the following variables via POST to http://www.imageshack.us/index.php

• fileupload; (the image)
• xml = "yes"; (specifies the return of XML)
• cookie; (registration code, optional)

they even provide a PHP example code (http://reg.imageshack.us/xmlapi.zip), I can't read it but It's very short so I guess it won't be hard to do it in .NET.

 

 

I have used POST before but I don't know how to handle the image here, I used this but it doesn't work,

 

 

 Dim img As String = IO.File.ReadAllText(Me.ImagePath)
        Dim URL As String = "http://www.imageshack.us/index.php?fileupload=" & img& "&xml=yes"
        Dim req As HttpWebRequest = DirectCast(HttpWebRequest.Create(URL), HttpWebRequest)
        Dim res As Net.HttpWebResponse = Nothing
        req.Method = "POST"
        req.ContentLength = URL.Length
        req.KeepAlive = True
        req.Timeout = 30000
        res = CType(req.GetResponse, Net.HttpWebResponse)
        Dim response As IO.StreamReader = New IO.StreamReader(res.GetResponseStream, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)
        Dim line As String
        line = response.ReadLine

 

 

thanks for your help and sorry if I'm doing something terribly wrong here I really don't have a enough knowledge about Networking

Answer 1

If you look at the sample code in the msdn, you'll find that you have to write the data into the requeststream first.. Anyway, personally i find that the WebClient class and it's (Begin) UploadFile methods are a lot easier to use...

Answer 2

I tryied loading the file data in the request stream but it still doesn't work, can please somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong?

 

 

            Dim postDataFileStream As New FileStream(Me.ImagePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
            Dim postDataMemoryStream As New MemoryStream(CInt(postDataFileStream.Length))
            Dim br As BinaryReader
            br = New BinaryReader(postDataFileStream)
            Dim bytesRead As Byte() = br.ReadBytes(CInt(postDataFileStream.Length))
            postDataMemoryStream.Write(bytesRead, 0, CInt(postDataFileStream.Length))

            Dim URL As String = "http://www.imageshack.us/index.php?fileupload=" & Me.ImagePath & "&xml=yes"
            Dim req As HttpWebRequest = DirectCast(WebRequest.Create(url), HttpWebRequest)
            req.Method = "POST"
            req.ContentLength = CLng(postDataMemoryStream.Length)
            Using s As Stream = req.GetRequestStream()
                s.Write(postDataMemoryStream.ToArray(), 0, CInt(postDataMemoryStream.Length))
                postDataMemoryStream.Close()
            End Using

            Dim res As Net.HttpWebResponse = Nothing
            res = CType(req.GetResponse, Net.HttpWebResponse)
            Dim response As IO.StreamReader = New IO.StreamReader(res.GetResponseStream, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8)
            Dim line As String
            line = response.ReadLine

Answer 3

 

ok I think that I have found the solution:

 

 

I didn't used webrequest in the end, I used this couple of articles:

 

 

http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/UploadFileEx.asp

http://www.anappaday.com/downloads/2006/10/day-19-jedi-image-shacker.html

 

I took some pieces of code of each and built a small class that handles the imageshack uploads and return the html response. here is it: (it's almost a complete copy paste of the articles above, with a small changes)

 

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections.Specialized;

namespace ImageShackUploader
{
    public class Uploader
    {

        public string UploadFileToImageShack(object oFileName)
        {
            try
            {
                string fileName = oFileName as string;
                string contentType = null;
                CookieContainer cookie = new CookieContainer();
                NameValueCollection col = new NameValueCollection();
                col["MAX_FILE_SIZE"] = "3145728";
                col["refer"] = "";
                col["brand"] = "";
                col["optimage"] = "1";
                col["rembar"] = "1";
                col["submit"] = "host it!";
                List<string> l = new List<string>();
                switch (fileName.Substring(fileName.Length - 3, 3))
                {
                    case "jpg":
                        contentType = "image/jpeg";
                        break;
                    case "peg":
                        contentType = "image/jpeg";
                        break;
                    case "gif":
                        contentType = "image/gif";
                        break;
                    case "png":
                        contentType = "image/png";
                        break;
                    case "bmp":
                        contentType = "image/bmp";
                        break;
                    case "tif":
                        contentType = "image/tiff";
                        break;
                    case "iff":
                        contentType = "image/tiff";
                        break;
                    default:
                        contentType = "image/unknown";
                        break;
                }

                string resp;
                col["optsize"] = "resample";
                resp = UploadFileEx(fileName,
                                               "http://www.imageshack.us/index.php",
                                               "fileupload",
                                               contentType,
                                               col,
                                               cookie);
                return resp;

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                return "";
            }
        }

 

        public static string UploadFileEx(string uploadfile, string url,
           string fileFormName, string contenttype, System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection querystring,
           CookieContainer cookies)
        {
            if ((fileFormName == null) ||
                (fileFormName.Length == 0))
            {
                fileFormName = "file";
            }

            if ((contenttype == null) ||
                (contenttype.Length == 0))
            {
                contenttype = "application/octet-stream";
            }

            string postdata;
            postdata = "?";
            if (querystring != null)
            {
                foreach (string key in querystring.Keys)
                {
                    postdata += key + "=" + querystring.Get(key) + "&";
                }
            }
            Uri uri = new Uri(url + postdata);

            string boundary = "----------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
            HttpWebRequest webrequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
            webrequest.CookieContainer = cookies;
            webrequest.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
            webrequest.Method = "POST";

            // Build up the post message header
            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
            sb.Append("--");
            sb.Append(boundary);
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"");
            sb.Append(fileFormName);
            sb.Append("\"; filename=\"");
            sb.Append(Path.GetFileName(uploadfile));
            sb.Append("\"");
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("Content-Type: ");
            sb.Append(contenttype);
            sb.Append("\r\n");
            sb.Append("\r\n");

            string postHeader = sb.ToString();
            byte[] postHeaderBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(postHeader);

            // Build the trailing boundary string as a byte array
            // ensuring the boundary appears on a line by itself
            byte[] boundaryBytes =
                   Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");

            FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(uploadfile,
                                        FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
            long length = postHeaderBytes.Length + fileStream.Length +
                                                   boundaryBytes.Length;
            webrequest.ContentLength = length;

            Stream requestStream = webrequest.GetRequestStream();

            // Write out our post header
            requestStream.Write(postHeaderBytes, 0, postHeaderBytes.Length);

            // Write out the file contents
            byte[] buffer = new Byte[checked((uint)Math.Min(4096,
                                     (int)fileStream.Length))];
            int bytesRead = 0;
            while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
                requestStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);

            // Write out the trailing boundary
            requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length);
            WebResponse responce = webrequest.GetResponse();
            Stream s = responce.GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(s);

            return sr.ReadToEnd();
        }

 

    }
}

 

 

 

 

 

To use it in vb you should do this:

 

 

   Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = False

        Dim dlgopenfile As New OpenFileDialog
        dlgopenfile.ShowDialog()
        If dlgopenfile.FileName <> "" Then
            Dim i As New ImageShackUploader.Uploader
            Me.TextBox1.Text = i.UploadFileToImageShack(dlgopenfile.FileName)
        End If

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answer 4

 

here is a nice class writen in vb, to upload images to imageshack, It may be useful to someone else:

 

 

Public Class ImageShackUploader
    Structure ReturnedURLs
        Dim DirectLinkURL As String
        Dim ShowToFriendsURL As String
        Dim ThumbnailURL As String
        Dim Exitoso As Boolean
    End Structure
    Private Function GetReturnedURLsFromHTMLRta(ByVal HTML As String) As ReturnedURLs

        Dim RtaURLs As New ReturnedURLs
        RtaURLs.Exitoso = True
        Dim ValueMatchString As String = "value=""(?<val>.*?)"""

        For Each m As System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match In _
           System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Matches(HTML, "<input type=""text"".*?/>", _
           System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions.Singleline)

            If System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.IsMatch(m.Value, ValueMatchString) Then
                Dim valuemath As System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match = System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Match(m.Value, ValueMatchString)
                Dim URLIMGMatch As System.Text.RegularExpressions.Match = _
                System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex.Match(valuemath.Groups("val").Value, "\\\")

                If URLIMGMatch.Value <> "" Then
                    If URLIMGMatch.Groups("url").Value.ToLower = "http://imageshack.us" Then
                        RtaURLs.DirectLinkURL = URLIMGMatch.Groups("img").Value
                    Else
                        RtaURLs.ThumbnailURL = URLIMGMatch.Groups("img").Value
                        RtaURLs.ShowToFriendsURL = URLIMGMatch.Groups("url").Value
                    End If
                End If

            End If

        Next

        Return RtaURLs

    End Function
    Public Function UploadFileToImageShack(ByVal FileName As String) As ReturnedURLs
        Dim OldValue As Boolean = System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue

        Try

            System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = False
            '1. Cookie
            Dim Cookie As New Net.CookieContainer()

            '2. Arguments
            Dim QueryStringArguments As New Dictionary(Of String, String)
            QueryStringArguments.Add("MAX_FILE_SIZE", "3145728")
            QueryStringArguments.Add("refer", "")
            QueryStringArguments.Add("brand", "")
            QueryStringArguments.Add("optimage", "1")
            QueryStringArguments.Add("rembar", "1")
            QueryStringArguments.Add("submit", "host it!")
            QueryStringArguments.Add("optsize", "resample")

            '3. contentType
            Dim ContentType As String = ""
            Select Case IO.Path.GetExtension(FileName).ToLower
                Case ".jpg"
                    ContentType = "image/jpeg"
                Case ".jpeg"
                    ContentType = "image/jpeg"
                Case ".gif"
                    ContentType = "image/gif"
                Case ".png"
                    ContentType = "image/png"
                Case ".bmp"
                    ContentType = "image/bmp"
                Case ".tif"
                    ContentType = "image/tiff"
                Case ".tiff"
                    ContentType = "image/tiff"
                Case Else
                    ContentType = "image/unknown"
            End Select

            '4. Upload and return Rta
            Return GetReturnedURLsFromHTMLRta(UploadFileEx(FileName, "http://www.imageshack.us/index.php", "fileupload", ContentType, QueryStringArguments, Cookie))
        Catch ex As Exception
            Dim Rta As New ReturnedURLs
            Rta.Exitoso = False
            Return Rta
        Finally
            System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = OldValue
        End Try
    End Function
    Private Function UploadFileEx(ByVal FileName As String, ByVal URL As String, ByVal FileFormName As String, ByVal ContentType As String, ByVal QueryStringArguments As Dictionary(Of String, String), ByVal Cookies As Net.CookieContainer) As String

        If FileFormName = "" Then FileFormName = "file"
        If ContentType = "" Then ContentType = "application/octet-stream"

        Dim PostData As String = "?"
        If QueryStringArguments IsNot Nothing Then
            For Each kvp As KeyValuePair(Of String, String) In QueryStringArguments
                PostData &= kvp.Key & "=" & kvp.Value & "&"
            Next
        End If

        Dim URI As New Uri(URL + PostData)
        Dim Boundary As String = "----------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x")
        Dim WReq As Net.HttpWebRequest = DirectCast(Net.WebRequest.Create(URI), Net.HttpWebRequest)
        WReq.CookieContainer = Cookies
        WReq.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + Boundary
        WReq.Method = "POST"

        Dim PostHeader As String = String.Format("--" & Boundary & "{0}" & _
        "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=""" & FileFormName _
        & """; filename=""" & IO.Path.GetFileName(FileName) & """{0}" _
        & "Content-Type: " & ContentType & "{0}{0}", vbNewLine)

        Dim PostHeaderBytes As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(PostHeader)
        Dim BoundaryBytes As Byte() = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(vbNewLine & "--" + Boundary + vbNewLine)

        Dim FileStream As New IO.FileStream(FileName, IO.FileMode.Open, IO.FileAccess.Read)

        WReq.ContentLength = PostHeaderBytes.Length + FileStream.Length + BoundaryBytes.Length

        Dim RequestStream As IO.Stream = WReq.GetRequestStream()
        RequestStream.Write(PostHeaderBytes, 0, PostHeaderBytes.Length)
        Dim buffer As Byte() = New Byte(CInt(Math.Min(4096, CInt(FileStream.Length))) - 1) {}
        Dim bytesRead As Integer = 0
        Do
            bytesRead = FileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)
            If bytesRead = 0 Then Exit Do
            RequestStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead)
        Loop
        RequestStream.Write(BoundaryBytes, 0, BoundaryBytes.Length)

        Dim Rta As Net.WebResponse = WReq.GetResponse()
        Dim s As IO.Stream = Rta.GetResponseStream()
        Dim sr As New IO.StreamReader(s)

        Return sr.ReadToEnd()
    End Function
End Class

Answer 5

This code works beautifully for me. The only problem is, my whole UI freezes for the 5-10 seconds Imageshack takes to return some xml to me. I would like to make the request asynchronous using webrequest.BeginGetRequestStream instead of webrequest.GetRequestStream, however I am at a loss as to how I'll start. Does anyone have experience translating a synchronous web request to an asynchronous web request? Thanks for your help.

Bradford

Answer 6

 The UploadFileEx is ok but when I try to read Response,  I get this exception:

"The response for this request cannot be retrieved until request data has been written."

To solve the issue I have modified the UploadFileEx:


            // Write out the trailing boundary
            requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length);

            // NEW CODE
            requestStream.Flush();
            requestStream.Close();


            WebResponse responce = webrequest.GetResponse();
            Stream s = responce.GetResponseStream();
            StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(s);


Also, I think that you make sure that the uploaded fileStream is closed:

            fileStream.Close();

---

GV

Answer 7

I am beginer in programing but i want to learn it !!!
What should be added on FORM1 to the BUTTON 3(and when i click that BUTTON) he started to upload pictures from PICTUREBOX1?


Thanks and sorry for bad ENG

---

AC Milan

Answer 8

I realise this thread is getting a little old, but for the benefit of others who find the thread through search, I've recently created a C# library that wraps the ImageShack API that only requires a simple method call to upload images.  It's available at  http://www.codeemporium.com/2009/06/14/dot-net-c-sharp-wrapper-for-the-imageshack-xml-api/.  There's also a demo app included that uses the library, as well as source code for everything.  Hope this can be of some help.

Cheers, Bryce.

Answer 9

Hi friend i got the error while uploading the image file

error is "The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found." (WebException Caught)