Recently need to setup environment for bug fix.

The client side code calling url like http://somewhere/upload/, while at the server side the url need to receives the POST request from client to perform certain actions.

We have the ready client code to send the POST request with the contents, the missing part is the receiving side, the url in server. Current code will always give us error whenever calls made to the url because the url does not exists at all. My mission today will be faking a url to receives request and output the content as a new file, so we can test the bug fix later on.

Client code: (Refer to Posting multipart/form-data Using .NET WebRequest)

private string ExecutePostRequest(
Uri url,
Dictionary<string, string> postData,
string fileMimeType
)
{
HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url.AbsoluteUri);
request.Method = "POST";
request.KeepAlive = false;
string boundary = "ILikeSeperator";
request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

// Connect to server and start sending data (use POST)
Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream();
postData.WriteMultipartFormData(requestStream, boundary);

byte[] endBytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("--" + boundary + "--");
requestStream.Write(endBytes, 0, endBytes.Length);
requestStream.Close();

// Get back response from server
using (WebResponse response = request.GetResponse())
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream()))
{
return reader.ReadToEnd();
};
}

Nothing much to say about the client code 😀

Server Code: (My works here)

The url I going to creates is http://localhost/uploadTest. We need to add a ashx handler in IIS to handle the calls into this url. The handler will create a new text file base on contents sent by client.

There are total 6 steps needed and the sequence numbers will be highlight in Bold + red colour = Number

~~~ 0 ~~~ 0 ~~~

1- First follow the must read step-by-step guides on creating handler for specific url – ASP.NET ASHX Handler

Project created follow above guide, removed unnecessary .aspx and files.

2- Another important step, use correct Web.config:-

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433
-->
<configuration>
<system.web>
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
<urlMappings enabled="true">
<add url="~/Default.aspx" mappedUrl="~/FileUploadHandler.ashx"/>
</urlMappings>
<compilation debug="true"/>
</system.web>
<system.webServer>
<modules>
<remove name="WebDAVModule"/>
</modules>
<handlers accessPolicy="Read, Write, Execute, Script">
<remove name="StaticFile"/>
<remove name="SimpleHandlerFactory-ISAPI-2.0"/>
<remove name="WebDAV"/>
<remove name="SimpleHandlerFactory-Integrated-4.0"/>
<remove name="SimpleHandlerFactory-Integrated"/>
<add name="SimpleHandlerFactory-Integrated" path="*.ashx" verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE" type="System.Web.UI.SimpleHandlerFactory" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Write" preCondition="integratedMode"/>
<add name="SimpleHandlerFactory-Integrated-4.0" path="*.ashx" verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE" type="System.Web.UI.SimpleHandlerFactory" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Write" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0"/>
<add name="SimpleHandlerFactory-ISAPI-2.0" path="*.ashx" verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE" modules="IsapiModule" scriptProcessor="%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_isapi.dll" resourceType="Unspecified" requireAccess="Script" preCondition="classicMode,runtimeVersionv2.0,bitness32" responseBufferLimit="0"/>
<add name="StaticFile" path="*" verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE" modules="StaticFileModule,DefaultDocumentModule,DirectoryListingModule" resourceType="Either" requireAccess="Read"/>
</handlers>
<security>
<authorization>
<remove users="*" roles="" verbs=""/>
<add accessType="Allow" users="*" verbs="GET,HEAD,POST,PUT,DELETE,DEBUG"/>
</authorization>
</security>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>

3- The core of the handler code inside FileUploadHandler.ashx:

public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
//context.Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
//context.Response.Write("Hello World");

// Read input
string requestContent = new StreamReader(context.Request.InputStream).ReadToEnd();
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(requestContent))
{
context.Response.Write("");
return;
}

string[] requestArray = requestContent.Split(new[] { "--ILikeSeperator" }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);

if (requestArray.Count() > 0)
{
string fileContent = GetContent(requestArray[0]);

if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(fileContent))
{
// Send back response to client
context.Response.Write(fileContent);

// Create upload file
CreateUploadedFile(fileContent);
}
}
}

4 – IIS Setup: Add new application, use default authentication

5 – Deploy the Ashx handler to upload directory (Created from AspxHandler project).

Remember use Web.config given above.

6 – Set folder permission in uploadTest directory. Allow write permission for IIS_IUSRS (This is built-in IIS user) so handler able to create new folder and files.

You will get errors in client and server if no write permission is allow in mapped directory of the url:

Client error:

System.Net.WebException was unhandled
  Message=The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error.

Server Error:

System.UnauthorizedAccessException was unhandled by user code
  Message=Access to the path ‘C:\inetpub\wwwroot\uploadTest\MyUploadContents\’ is denied.

Now DONE!

Enjoy your customize handler just for the url you want!

Next post will talks about the debugging in ashx handler, a simple and short article 😉

Sample source code:

————-

Keywords:

Customize url handler, file upload handler, file upload ashx, iis handler, HttpWebRequest

References:

• Posting multipart/form-data Using .NET WebRequest
• Understanding Built-In User and Group Accounts in IIS 7
• Upload files with HTTPWebrequest (multipart/form-data)
• ASP.NET ASHX Handler
• IIS – Handlers <handlers> Tag in Web.config  <– Very detail explanations about customize handler/module in IIS 7
• Configuring Handler Mappings in IIS 7
• And from google search “file upload ashx“, I read this from somewhere when I have no clue about ashx handler.