How can i parse image from android to api server - php

Question

I'm having a hard time parsing text together with an image. I'm using the slim rest API, and here's my code:
$app->post('/updateprofile', function () use ($app) {
$json = $app->request->getBody();
$data = json_decode($json, true);
$id = $data["id"];
$influencer_id = $data["influencer_id"];
$first_name = $data["first_name"];
My problem is what if I want to include a file that is being uploaded by user in the client side, which is an android device, how can I parse the image and put it in a variable?

Answer 1

If possible, you should use multipart/form-data for submission instead of json encoded data, so you can access $_FILES directly. If not possible, or you want to keep using json, you could send the image encoded in base64 as a part of your json and decode it on receive like this:
function base64ToImg($base64_string, $filename) {
$f = fopen($filename, "wb");
$data = explode(',', $base64_string);
fwrite($f, base64_decode($data[1]));
fclose($f);
return $filename;
}
base64ToImg($data["image"], "path/to/img");
EDIT
The usual way to send files to a server is to set the enctype="multipart/form-data" in an html form; doing so, your form will look like
<form name = 'formName' enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input name = 'data1' type = 'text'>
<input name = 'file1' type = 'file'>
</form>
In your server, you will receive the info in $_FILES and $_POST:
<?php
$data1 = $_POST["data1"];
$file = $_FILES["file1"];
move_uploaded_file($file["tmp_name"], "path/to/img");
?>
Since you said that it was an android device, I will add that the form stuff may not be of help if what you are developing is an android app you will have to do something like this (more or less, it has been a long long time since my last android app).
httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
post = new HttpPost(yourUrl);
post.setHeader("Content-type", "multipart/form-data");
MultipartEntity multipartEntity = new MultipartEntity(HttpMultipartMode.BROWSER_COMPATIBLE);
multipartEntity.addPart("data1", new StringBody(data1));
multipartEntity.addPart("file1", new FileBody(file1));
post.setEntity(multipartEntity);
response = httpClient.execute(httpPost);