HttpClient disadvantage when sending large files / content?

Question

After reading / googling about HttpClient, I get the impression that this component is not suitable for uploading large files or content to REST services.

• It seems that if the download takes longer than the set timeout, the transfer will fail. Does this make sense? What does this timeout mean?

• Getting progress information seems difficult or requires an add-on.

So, my questions are: is it possible to solve these two issues without unnecessary trouble? Otherwise, what's the best approach when working with great content and REST services?

Answer 1

• , , TimeOut, . HttpClient. , Thomas Levesque . HttpWebRequest HttpClient.
• , FileStream , (upload). , .

TL. , !:

long UploadFile(string path, string url, string contentType)
{
    // Build request
    var request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
    request.Method = WebRequestMethods.Http.Post;
    request.AllowWriteStreamBuffering = false;
    request.ContentType = contentType;
    string fileName = Path.GetFileName(path);
    request.Headers["Content-Disposition"] = string.Format("attachment; filename=\"{0}\"", fileName);

    try
    {
        // Open source file
        using (var fileStream = File.OpenRead(path))
        {
            // Set content length based on source file length
            request.ContentLength = fileStream.Length;

            // Get the request stream with the default timeout
            using (var requestStream = request.GetRequestStreamWithTimeout())
            {
                // Upload the file with no timeout
                fileStream.CopyTo(requestStream);
            }
        }

        // Get response with the default timeout, and parse the response body
        using (var response = request.GetResponseWithTimeout())
        using (var responseStream = response.GetResponseStream())
        using (var reader = new StreamReader(responseStream))
        {
            string json = reader.ReadToEnd();
            var j = JObject.Parse(json);
            return j.Value<long>("Id");
        }
    }
    catch (WebException ex)
    {
        if (ex.Status == WebExceptionStatus.Timeout)
        {
            LogError(ex, "Timeout while uploading '{0}'", fileName);
        }
        else
        {
            LogError(ex, "Error while uploading '{0}'", fileName);
        }
        throw;
    }
}