Uploading Images to Server android

Question

I wanted to know which is the best way to upload image to server without loosing its quality. I have searched on google found various methods of posting data. But I am not sure which one would be best to upload. I came across

1. Multipart Image Upload.
2. Uploading images using byte array
3. Uploading images using base64 encoded string.

I have tried Base64 encoding it leads me to OOM(Out of memory) if image is too high in resolution. Any tutorial which tackle this issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Intent photoPickerIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_PICK);
photoPickerIntent.setType("image/*");
startActivityForResult(photoPickerIntent, 1);

ABOVE CODE TO SELECT IMAGE FROM GALLERY

@Override
public void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);
    if (requestCode == 1)
        if (resultCode == Activity.RESULT_OK) {
            Uri selectedImage = data.getData();

            String filePath = getPath(selectedImage);
            String file_extn = filePath.substring(filePath.lastIndexOf(".") + 1);
            image_name_tv.setText(filePath);

            try {
                if (file_extn.equals("img") || file_extn.equals("jpg") || file_extn.equals("jpeg") || file_extn.equals("gif") || file_extn.equals("png")) {
                    //FINE
                } else {
                    //NOT IN REQUIRED FORMAT
                }
            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
}

public String getPath(Uri uri) {
    String[] projection = {MediaColumns.DATA};
    Cursor cursor = managedQuery(uri, projection, null, null, null);
    column_index = cursor
            .getColumnIndexOrThrow(MediaColumns.DATA);
    cursor.moveToFirst();
    imagePath = cursor.getString(column_index);

    return cursor.getString(column_index);
}

NOW POST THE DATA USING MULTIPART FORM DATA

HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost("LINK TO SERVER");

Multipart FORM DATA

MultipartEntity mpEntity = new MultipartEntity(HttpMultipartMode.BROWSER_COMPATIBLE);
if (filePath != null) {
    File file = new File(filePath);
    Log.d("EDIT USER PROFILE", "UPLOAD: file length = " + file.length());
    Log.d("EDIT USER PROFILE", "UPLOAD: file exist = " + file.exists());
    mpEntity.addPart("avatar", new FileBody(file, "application/octet"));
}

FINALLY POST DATA TO SERVER

httppost.setEntity(mpEntity);
HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(httppost);

Answer 2

Main activity class to take pick and upload

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.provider.MediaStore;
//import android.util.Base64;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import org.apache.http.HttpResponse;
import org.apache.http.NameValuePair;
import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
import org.apache.http.client.entity.UrlEncodedFormEntity;
import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
import org.apache.http.message.BasicNameValuePair;
import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;

import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.util.ArrayList;


public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    Button btpic, btnup;
    private Uri fileUri;
    String picturePath;
    Uri selectedImage;
    Bitmap photo;
    String ba1;
    public static String URL = "Paste your URL here";
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        btpic = (Button) findViewById(R.id.cpic);
        btpic.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                clickpic();
            }
        });

        btnup = (Button) findViewById(R.id.up);
        btnup.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                upload();
            }
        });
    }

    private void upload() {
        // Image location URL
        Log.e("path", "----------------" + picturePath);

        // Image
        Bitmap bm = BitmapFactory.decodeFile(picturePath);
        ByteArrayOutputStream bao = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        bm.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 90, bao);
        byte[] ba = bao.toByteArray();
       //ba1 = Base64.encodeBytes(ba);

        Log.e("base64", "-----" + ba1);

        // Upload image to server
        new uploadToServer().execute();

    }

    private void clickpic() {
        // Check Camera
        if (getApplicationContext().getPackageManager().hasSystemFeature(
                PackageManager.FEATURE_CAMERA)) {
            // Open default camera
            Intent intent = new Intent(MediaStore.ACTION_IMAGE_CAPTURE);
            intent.putExtra(MediaStore.EXTRA_OUTPUT, fileUri);

            // start the image capture Intent
            startActivityForResult(intent, 100);

        } else {
            Toast.makeText(getApplication(), "Camera not supported", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
        }
    }

    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        if (requestCode == 100 && resultCode == RESULT_OK) {

            selectedImage = data.getData();
            photo = (Bitmap) data.getExtras().get("data");

            // Cursor to get image uri to display

            String[] filePathColumn = {MediaStore.Images.Media.DATA};
            Cursor cursor = getContentResolver().query(selectedImage,
                    filePathColumn, null, null, null);
            cursor.moveToFirst();

            int columnIndex = cursor.getColumnIndex(filePathColumn[0]);
            picturePath = cursor.getString(columnIndex);
            cursor.close();

            Bitmap photo = (Bitmap) data.getExtras().get("data");
            ImageView imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.Imageprev);
            imageView.setImageBitmap(photo);
        }
    }

    public class uploadToServer extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, String> {

        private ProgressDialog pd = new ProgressDialog(MainActivity.this);
        protected void onPreExecute() {
            super.onPreExecute();
            pd.setMessage("Wait image uploading!");
            pd.show();
        }

        @Override
        protected String doInBackground(Void... params) {

            ArrayList<NameValuePair> nameValuePairs = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
            nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("base64", ba1));
            nameValuePairs.add(new BasicNameValuePair("ImageName", System.currentTimeMillis() + ".jpg"));
            try {
                HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
                HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost(URL);
                httppost.setEntity(new UrlEncodedFormEntity(nameValuePairs));
                HttpResponse response = httpclient.execute(httppost);
                String st = EntityUtils.toString(response.getEntity());
                Log.v("log_tag", "In the try Loop" + st);

            } catch (Exception e) {
                Log.v("log_tag", "Error in http connection " + e.toString());
            }
            return "Success";

        }

        protected void onPostExecute(String result) {
            super.onPostExecute(result);
            pd.hide();
            pd.dismiss();
        }
    }
}

php code to handle upload image and also create image from base64 encoded data

<?php
error_reporting(E_ALL);
if(isset($_POST['ImageName'])){
$imgname = $_POST['ImageName'];
$imsrc = base64_decode($_POST['base64']);
$fp = fopen($imgname, 'w');
fwrite($fp, $imsrc);
if(fclose($fp)){
 echo "Image uploaded";
}else{
 echo "Error uploading image";
}
}
?>