Upload Video file using HttpClient

Question

I'm building Java client that will automatically upload file from Java server to Panda Instance that I installed on my EC2 cloud using their AMI. I'm trying to use Apache HTTP Components to upload to Panda Server (Panda Stream). It works fine with my browser client but for some reason I can't upload from that library. Here is my code:

String videoUploadUrl = "http://[panda server ip]/videos/" + getVideoID() + "/upload.xml";
File file = new File("/temp/videofile.mp4");

DefaultHttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
httpclient.getParams().setParameter(CoreProtocolPNames.PROTOCOL_VERSION, HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1);

HttpPost httppost = new HttpPost(videoUploadUrl);

MultipartEntity mpEntity = new MultipartEntity();

ContentBody fBody = new FileBody(file);

mpEntity.addPart("userfile", fBody);

httppost.setEntity(mpEntity);


System.out.println("executing request " + httppost.getRequestLine());
HttpResponse response2 = httpclient.execute(httppost); // <-- FAILS HERE
System.out.println("finish executing request");

HttpEntity resEntity = response2.getEntity();

System.out.println(response2.getStatusLine());
if (resEntity != null) {
    System.out.println(EntityUtils.toString(resEntity));
}
if (resEntity != null) {
    resEntity.consumeContent();
}

httpclient.getConnectionManager().shutdown();

And here is my error log.

executing request POST http://[panda server ip]/videos/0fbd7300-b7b2-012d-7c3f9-1223456a654/upload.xml HTTP/1.1 Method: POST
Oct 11, 2010 3:09:25 PM org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector tryExecute
INFO: I/O exception (java.net.SocketException) caught when processing request: Broken pipe
Oct 11, 2010 3:09:25 PM org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector tryExecute
INFO: Retrying request
Oct 11, 2010 3:09:55 PM org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector tryExecute
INFO: I/O exception (java.net.SocketException) caught when processing request: Broken pipe
Oct 11, 2010 3:09:55 PM org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector tryExecute
INFO: Retrying request
Exception in thread "main" java.net.SocketException: Broken pipe
        at java.net.SocketOutputStream.socketWrite0(Native Method)
        at java.net.SocketOutputStream.socketWrite(SocketOutputStream.java:92)
        at java.net.SocketOutputStream.write(SocketOutputStream.java:136)
        at org.apache.http.impl.io.AbstractSessionOutputBuffer.write(AbstractSessionOutputBuffer.java:124)
        at org.apache.http.impl.io.ContentLengthOutputStream.write(ContentLengthOutputStream.java:114)
        at org.apache.http.entity.mime.content.FileBody.writeTo(FileBody.java:105)
        at org.apache.http.entity.mime.HttpMultipart.doWriteTo(HttpMultipart.java:173)
        at org.apache.http.entity.mime.HttpMultipart.writeTo(HttpMultipart.java:191)
        at org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntity.writeTo(MultipartEntity.java:169)
        at org.apache.http.impl.entity.EntitySerializer.serialize(EntitySerializer.java:120)
        at org.apache.http.impl.AbstractHttpClientConnection.sendRequestEntity(AbstractHttpClientConnection.java:253)
        at org.apache.http.impl.conn.AbstractClientConnAdapter.sendRequestEntity(AbstractClientConnAdapter.java:227)
        at org.apache.http.protocol.HttpRequestExecutor.doSendRequest(HttpRequestExecutor.java:248)
        at org.apache.http.protocol.HttpRequestExecutor.execute(HttpRequestExecutor.java:123)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector.tryExecute(DefaultRequestDirector.java:623)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector.execute(DefaultRequestDirector.java:455)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:694)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:625)
        at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:603)
        at testmainjava.FileUpload.main(FileUpload.java:57)

What am I missing? Why I'm getting broken pipe. If I use same code to upload to some servlet then I work fine but not with panda Instance. Any idea?

Answer 1

In order to ease your troubleshooting and find out what is happening:

• turn on HttpClient wire level logging
• use LiveHttpHeaders or similar plugin to find out how the browser is handling this
• use WireShark or similar tool for checking the network level traffic

Then, compare the differences between browser and HttpClient.

One thing I noticed: in your code, you are posting the video as "userfile" parameter, but PandaStream API documentation says that you should use "file" parameter. Not sure if it makes a difference, though.

Even if the parameter name is wrong, PandaStream should still return a proper response, not just close the connection in case of error.

Finally, did you configure PandaStream to send you the error messages? If not, this could help, if it is encountering some errors (see the getting started guide for that).