Uploading a file from .NET application to a Web API POST endpoint - asp.net

Question

I'd like to use Web API to build some endpoints for applications to consume. The first job I'd like it to do is allow the client to upload a file to the server.
The client will run a .NET app of some kind, maybe a console app or maybe something else. It won't be a webpage using a form element or file input.
I think the Web API would look something like this:
public class FileController : ApiController
{
public bool Post(File newFile)
{
return true;
}
}
Using this as a model class:
public class File
{
public string name { get; set; }
public Stream uploadStream { get; set; }
}
I'm sure that's horribly wrong but it's my first Web API.
I'm trying to test this in a console application:
namespace TestFileUpload
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("Starting the test...");
using (FileStream readstream = new FileStream(#"C:\\Test\Test2.txt", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
WebAPI.Classes.File newFile = new WebAPI.Classes.File()
{
name = "Test.txt",
uploadStream = readstream
};
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:50326");
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(
new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
HttpResponseMessage response;
response = client.PostAsJsonAsync("http://localhost:50326/api/file", newFile).Result;
Console.WriteLine("{0} ({1})", (int)response.StatusCode, response.ReasonPhrase);
};
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
Now I'm getting a timeout error when I try to get the response:
"Error getting value from 'ReadTimeout' on 'System.IO.FileStream'."
Help?

Answer 1

There are many ways for a client to consume a Web API service, but the most straight forward would be to use the web api client library. Perhaps you should consider building a simple get method that returns an object before jumping into file uploads.
Web API from .NET Client
You can not add a service reference as Web API does not expose a wsdl.