Android image upload to a server tutorial.

Today we are going to talk about how to make simple image uploading application. By following this tutorial you would be able to make a complete app to upload a photo from your device storage to a server.

• Initially you have to create an online php mysql database.
• Then create a table as follows.

Note: You have to enable auto increment for the id. In hostinger, you can do it as follows.Click on the "id" column and tick on "A_I"

If you are new to creating databases and tables, you can follow this tutorial for that parts.

• Then write following .php code for database connect and save it as "dbconnect.php"

<?php
 define('HOST','mysql.hostinger.in');
 define('USER','your database username');
 define('PASS','your password');
 define('DB','your database name');
 
 $con = mysqli_connect(HOST,USER,PASS,DB) or die('Unable to Connect');

• Then create following php file and name it as "upload.php"

<?php

 if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']=='POST'){
  
  $image = $_POST['IMAGE_SAVE'];
  
  require_once('dbConnect.php');
  
  $sql = "INSERT INTO images (IMAGE_SAVE) VALUES (?)";

  $stmt = mysqli_prepare($con,$sql);
  
  mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt,"s",$image);
  mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt);
  
  $check = mysqli_stmt_affected_rows($stmt);
  
  if($check == 1){
   echo "Upload Success";
  }else{
   echo "Error Uploading";
  }
  mysqli_close($con);
 }else{
  echo "Error";
 }

• Then go to the file manager of your hosting account
• create a new directory "upload"

• Put your php file into that directory

• Now open a new project > empty activity in android studio

• Right click on the package name and create new java class "RequestHandler.java"

• Put following code to it.

package com.techmagister.my.imageupload;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;

public class RequestHandler {

    public String sendGetRequest(String uri) {
        try {
            URL url = new URL(uri);
            HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
            BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));

            String result;

            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

            while((result = bufferedReader.readLine())!=null){
                sb.append(result);
            }

            return sb.toString();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public String sendPostRequest(String requestURL,
                                  HashMap<String, String> postDataParams) {

        URL url;
        String response = "";
        try {
            url = new URL(requestURL);

            HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
            conn.setReadTimeout(15000);
            conn.setConnectTimeout(15000);
            conn.setRequestMethod("POST");
            conn.setDoInput(true);
            conn.setDoOutput(true);


            OutputStream os = conn.getOutputStream();
            BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(
                    new OutputStreamWriter(os, "UTF-8"));
            writer.write(getPostDataString(postDataParams));

            writer.flush();
            writer.close();
            os.close();
            int responseCode = conn.getResponseCode();

            if (responseCode == HttpsURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
                BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(conn.getInputStream()));
                response = br.readLine();
            } else {
                response = "Error Registering";
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        return response;
    }

    private String getPostDataString(HashMap<String, String> params) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
        StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
        boolean first = true;
        for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : params.entrySet()) {
            if (first)
                first = false;
            else
                result.append("&");

            result.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getKey(), "UTF-8"));
            result.append("=");
            result.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getValue(), "UTF-8"));
        }

        return result.toString();
    }
}

• Then go to layout > MainActivity.xml and put following code

Note; if you are getting errors with text diclaration please remove "@string/string_ part " from  "android:text" decleration

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" tools:context=".MainActivity">


    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/string_choose_file"
        android:id="@+id/buttonChoose" />

    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:id="@+id/imageView" />


    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/string_upload_image"
        android:id="@+id/buttonUpload" />


    <Button
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/string_view_image"
        android:id="@+id/buttonViewImage" />


</LinearLayout>

• Then go to the MainActivity.java and put following code

package com.techmagister.my.imageupload;

import android.app.ProgressDialog;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.database.Cursor;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.provider.MediaStore;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.util.Base64;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements View.OnClickListener {

    public static final String UPLOAD_URL = "http://simplifiedcoding.16mb.com/ImageUpload/upload.php";
    public static final String UPLOAD_KEY = "image";
    public static final String TAG = "MY MESSAGE";

    private int PICK_IMAGE_REQUEST = 1;

    private Button buttonChoose;
    private Button buttonUpload;

    private ImageView imageView;

    private Bitmap bitmap;

    private Uri filePath;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        buttonChoose = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonChoose);
        buttonUpload = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonUpload);
        buttonView = (Button) findViewById(R.id.buttonViewImage);

        imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.imageView);

        buttonChoose.setOnClickListener(this);
        buttonUpload.setOnClickListener(this);
    }

    private void showFileChooser() {
        Intent intent = new Intent();
        intent.setType("image/*");
        intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
        startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Select Picture"), PICK_IMAGE_REQUEST);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
        super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

        if (requestCode == PICK_IMAGE_REQUEST && resultCode == RESULT_OK && data != null && data.getData() != null) {

            filePath = data.getData();
            try {
                bitmap = MediaStore.Images.Media.getBitmap(getContentResolver(), filePath);
                imageView.setImageBitmap(bitmap);
            } catch (IOException e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }

    public String getStringImage(Bitmap bmp){
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        bmp.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.JPEG, 100, baos);
        byte[] imageBytes = baos.toByteArray();
        String encodedImage = Base64.encodeToString(imageBytes, Base64.DEFAULT);
        return encodedImage;
    }

    private void uploadImage(){
        class UploadImage extends AsyncTask<Bitmap,Void,String>{

            ProgressDialog loading;
            RequestHandler rh = new RequestHandler();

            @Override
            protected void onPreExecute() {
                super.onPreExecute();
                loading = ProgressDialog.show(MainActivity.this, "Uploading Image", "Please wait...",true,true);
            }

            @Override
            protected void onPostExecute(String s) {
                super.onPostExecute(s);
                loading.dismiss();
                Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),s,Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
            }

            @Override
            protected String doInBackground(Bitmap... params) {
                Bitmap bitmap = params[0];
                String uploadImage = getStringImage(bitmap);

                HashMap<String,String> data = new HashMap<>();
                data.put(UPLOAD_KEY, uploadImage);

                String result = rh.sendPostRequest(UPLOAD_URL,data);

                return result;
            }
        }

        UploadImage ui = new UploadImage();
        ui.execute(bitmap);
    }

    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        if (v == buttonChoose) {
            showFileChooser();
        }
        if(v == buttonUpload){
            uploadImage();
        }
    }
}

That's it for this tutorial. If you have any questions regarding the code, please put a comment below. Like our facebook page to get in touch. Also take a look of our E-Money tutorials and start earn!