How to upload file to server with HTTP POST multipart/form-data?

I've been playing around a little bit and came up with a simplified, more generic solution:

private static string sendHttpRequest(string url, NameValueCollection values, NameValueCollection files = null)
{
    string boundary = "----------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
    // The first boundary
    byte[] boundaryBytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "\r\n");
    // The last boundary
    byte[] trailer = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");
    // The first time it itereates, we need to make sure it doesn't put too many new paragraphs down or it completely messes up poor webbrick
    byte[] boundaryBytesF = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("--" + boundary + "\r\n");

    // Create the request and set parameters
    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create(url);
    request.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
    request.Method = "POST";
    request.KeepAlive = true;
    request.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

    // Get request stream
    Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream();

    foreach (string key in values.Keys)
    {
        // Write item to stream
        byte[] formItemBytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(string.Format("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\";\r\n\r\n{1}", key, values[key]));
        requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length);
        requestStream.Write(formItemBytes, 0, formItemBytes.Length);
    }

    if (files != null)
    { 
        foreach(string key in files.Keys)
        {
            if(File.Exists(files[key]))
            {
                int bytesRead = 0;
                byte[] buffer = new byte[2048];
                byte[] formItemBytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(string.Format("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n\r\n", key, files[key]));
                requestStream.Write(boundaryBytes, 0, boundaryBytes.Length);
                requestStream.Write(formItemBytes, 0, formItemBytes.Length);

                using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(files[key], FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
                {
                    while ((bytesRead = fileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) != 0)
                    {
                        // Write file content to stream, byte by byte
                        requestStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
                    }

                    fileStream.Close();
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // Write trailer and close stream
    requestStream.Write(trailer, 0, trailer.Length);
    requestStream.Close();

    using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(request.GetResponse().GetResponseStream()))
    {
        return reader.ReadToEnd();
    };
}

You can use it like this:

string fileLocation = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments) + Path.DirectorySeparatorChar + "somefile.jpg";
NameValueCollection values = new NameValueCollection();
NameValueCollection files = new NameValueCollection();
values.Add("firstName", "Alan");
files.Add("profilePicture", fileLocation);
sendHttpRequest("http://example.com/handler.php", values, files);

And in the PHP script you could handle data like this:

echo $_POST['firstName'];
$name = $_POST['firstName'];
$image = $_FILES['profilePicture'];
$ds = DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR;
move_uploaded_file($image['tmp_name'], realpath(dirname(__FILE__)) . $ds . "uploads" . $ds . $image['name']);

This simplistic version also works.

public void UploadMultipart(byte[] file, string filename, string contentType, string url)
{
    var webClient = new WebClient();
    string boundary = "------------------------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
    webClient.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary);
    var fileData = webClient.Encoding.GetString(file);
    var package = string.Format("--{0}\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"{1}\"\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\r\n{3}\r\n--{0}--\r\n", boundary, filename, contentType, fileData);

    var nfile = webClient.Encoding.GetBytes(package);

    byte[] resp = webClient.UploadData(url, "POST", nfile);
}

Add any extra required headers if needed.

Basic implementation using MultipartFormDataContent :-

HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
MultipartFormDataContent form = new MultipartFormDataContent();

form.Add(new StringContent(username), "username");
form.Add(new StringContent(useremail), "email");
form.Add(new StringContent(password), "password");            
form.Add(new ByteArrayContent(file_bytes, 0, file_bytes.Length), "profile_pic", "hello1.jpg");
HttpResponseMessage response = await httpClient.PostAsync("PostUrl", form);

response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
httpClient.Dispose();
string sd = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;

Here's my final working code. My web service needed one file (POST parameter name was "file") & a string value (POST parameter name was "userid").

/// <summary>
/// Occurs when upload backup application bar button is clicked. Author : Farhan Ghumra
 /// </summary>
private async void btnUploadBackup_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var dbFile = await ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.GetFileAsync(Util.DBNAME);
    var fileBytes = await GetBytesAsync(dbFile);
    var Params = new Dictionary<string, string> { { "userid", "9" } };
    UploadFilesToServer(new Uri(Util.UPLOAD_BACKUP), Params, Path.GetFileName(dbFile.Path), "application/octet-stream", fileBytes);
}

/// <summary>
/// Creates HTTP POST request & uploads database to server. Author : Farhan Ghumra
/// </summary>
private void UploadFilesToServer(Uri uri, Dictionary<string, string> data, string fileName, string fileContentType, byte[] fileData)
{
    string boundary = "----------" + DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString("x");
    HttpWebRequest httpWebRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(uri);
    httpWebRequest.ContentType = "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + boundary;
    httpWebRequest.Method = "POST";
    httpWebRequest.BeginGetRequestStream((result) =>
    {
        try
        {
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)result.AsyncState;
            using (Stream requestStream = request.EndGetRequestStream(result))
            {
                WriteMultipartForm(requestStream, boundary, data, fileName, fileContentType, fileData);
            }
            request.BeginGetResponse(a =>
            {
                try
                {
                    var response = request.EndGetResponse(a);
                    var responseStream = response.GetResponseStream();
                    using (var sr = new StreamReader(responseStream))
                    {
                        using (StreamReader streamReader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream()))
                        {
                            string responseString = streamReader.ReadToEnd();
                            //responseString is depend upon your web service.
                            if (responseString == "Success")
                            {
                                MessageBox.Show("Backup stored successfully on server.");
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                MessageBox.Show("Error occurred while uploading backup on server.");
                            } 
                        }
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception)
                {

                }
            }, null);
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {

        }
    }, httpWebRequest);
}

/// <summary>
/// Writes multi part HTTP POST request. Author : Farhan Ghumra
/// </summary>
private void WriteMultipartForm(Stream s, string boundary, Dictionary<string, string> data, string fileName, string fileContentType, byte[] fileData)
{
    /// The first boundary
    byte[] boundarybytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("--" + boundary + "\r\n");
    /// the last boundary.
    byte[] trailer = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("\r\n--" + boundary + "--\r\n");
    /// the form data, properly formatted
    string formdataTemplate = "Content-Dis-data; name=\"{0}\"\r\n\r\n{1}";
    /// the form-data file upload, properly formatted
    string fileheaderTemplate = "Content-Dis-data; name=\"{0}\"; filename=\"{1}\";\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\r\n";

    /// Added to track if we need a CRLF or not.
    bool bNeedsCRLF = false;

    if (data != null)
    {
        foreach (string key in data.Keys)
        {
            /// if we need to drop a CRLF, do that.
            if (bNeedsCRLF)
                WriteToStream(s, "\r\n");

            /// Write the boundary.
            WriteToStream(s, boundarybytes);

            /// Write the key.
            WriteToStream(s, string.Format(formdataTemplate, key, data[key]));
            bNeedsCRLF = true;
        }
    }

    /// If we don't have keys, we don't need a crlf.
    if (bNeedsCRLF)
        WriteToStream(s, "\r\n");

    WriteToStream(s, boundarybytes);
    WriteToStream(s, string.Format(fileheaderTemplate, "file", fileName, fileContentType));
    /// Write the file data to the stream.
    WriteToStream(s, fileData);
    WriteToStream(s, trailer);
}

/// <summary>
/// Writes string to stream. Author : Farhan Ghumra
/// </summary>
private void WriteToStream(Stream s, string txt)
{
    byte[] bytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(txt);
    s.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
}

/// <summary>
/// Writes byte array to stream. Author : Farhan Ghumra
/// </summary>
private void WriteToStream(Stream s, byte[] bytes)
{
    s.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
}

/// <summary>
/// Returns byte array from StorageFile. Author : Farhan Ghumra
/// </summary>
private async Task<byte[]> GetBytesAsync(StorageFile file)
{
    byte[] fileBytes = null;
    using (var stream = await file.OpenReadAsync())
    {
        fileBytes = new byte[stream.Size];
        using (var reader = new DataReader(stream))
        {
            await reader.LoadAsync((uint)stream.Size);
            reader.ReadBytes(fileBytes);
        }
    }

    return fileBytes;
}

I am very much thankful to Darin Rousseau for helping me.