Java 9 HttpClient sends a multipart / form-data request

Question

Below is the form:

<form action="/example/html5/demo_form.asp" method="post" 
enctype="multipart/form-data">
   <input type="file" name="img" />
   <input type="text" name=username" value="foo"/>
   <input type="submit" />
</form>

when submitting this form, the request will look like this:

POST /example/html5/demo_form.asp HTTP/1.1
Host: 10.143.47.59:9093
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Length: 326
Accept: application/json, text/javascript, */*; q=0.01
Origin: http://10.143.47.59:9093
X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/60.0.3112.90 Safari/537.36
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundaryEDKBhMZFowP9Leno
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.8,zh-CN;q=0.6,zh;q=0.4

Request Payload
------WebKitFormBoundaryEDKBhMZFowP9Leno
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="username"

foo
------WebKitFormBoundaryEDKBhMZFowP9Leno
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="img"; filename="out.txt"
Content-Type: text/plain


------WebKitFormBoundaryEDKBhMZFowP9Leno--

pay attention to "Request Payload", you can see two parameters in the form: username and img (form-data; name = "img"; filename = "out.txt") and finename is the real file name (or path) on your file system, you will get a file by name (not a file name) in your backend (e.g. spring controller).
if we use Apache Httpclient to simulate a request, we will write this code:

MultipartEntity mutiEntity = newMultipartEntity();
File file = new File("/path/to/your/file");
mutiEntity.addPart("username",new StringBody("foo", Charset.forName("utf-8")));
mutiEntity.addPart("img", newFileBody(file)); //img is name, file is path

But in java 9 we could write code like this:

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newHttpClient();
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.
        newBuilder(new URI("http:///example/html5/demo_form.asp"))
       .method("post",HttpRequest.BodyProcessor.fromString("foo"))
       .method("post", HttpRequest.BodyProcessor.fromFile(Paths.get("/path/to/your/file")))
       .build();
HttpResponse response = client.send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandler.asString());
System.out.println(response.body());

Now you see how I can set the "name" of the parameter?

Answer 1

Apache, MultiPartBodyPublisher (Java 11, fyi):

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.UncheckedIOException;
import java.net.http.HttpRequest;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.Supplier;

public class MultiPartBodyPublisher {
    private List<PartsSpecification> partsSpecificationList = new ArrayList<>();
    private String boundary = UUID.randomUUID().toString();

    public HttpRequest.BodyPublisher build() {
        if (partsSpecificationList.size() == 0) {
            throw new IllegalStateException("Must have at least one part to build multipart message.");
        }
        addFinalBoundaryPart();
        return HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofByteArrays(PartsIterator::new);
    }

    public String getBoundary() {
        return boundary;
    }

    public MultiPartBodyPublisher addPart(String name, String value) {
        PartsSpecification newPart = new PartsSpecification();
        newPart.type = PartsSpecification.TYPE.STRING;
        newPart.name = name;
        newPart.value = value;
        partsSpecificationList.add(newPart);
        return this;
    }

    public MultiPartBodyPublisher addPart(String name, Path value) {
        PartsSpecification newPart = new PartsSpecification();
        newPart.type = PartsSpecification.TYPE.FILE;
        newPart.name = name;
        newPart.path = value;
        partsSpecificationList.add(newPart);
        return this;
    }

    public MultiPartBodyPublisher addPart(String name, Supplier<InputStream> value, String filename, String contentType) {
        PartsSpecification newPart = new PartsSpecification();
        newPart.type = PartsSpecification.TYPE.STREAM;
        newPart.name = name;
        newPart.stream = value;
        newPart.filename = filename;
        newPart.contentType = contentType;
        partsSpecificationList.add(newPart);
        return this;
    }

    private void addFinalBoundaryPart() {
        PartsSpecification newPart = new PartsSpecification();
        newPart.type = PartsSpecification.TYPE.FINAL_BOUNDARY;
        newPart.value = "--" + boundary + "--";
        partsSpecificationList.add(newPart);
    }

    static class PartsSpecification {

        public enum TYPE {
            STRING, FILE, STREAM, FINAL_BOUNDARY
        }

        PartsSpecification.TYPE type;
        String name;
        String value;
        Path path;
        Supplier<InputStream> stream;
        String filename;
        String contentType;

    }

    class PartsIterator implements Iterator<byte[]> {

        private Iterator<PartsSpecification> iter;
        private InputStream currentFileInput;

        private boolean done;
        private byte[] next;

        PartsIterator() {
            iter = partsSpecificationList.iterator();
        }

        @Override
        public boolean hasNext() {
            if (done) return false;
            if (next != null) return true;
            try {
                next = computeNext();
            } catch (IOException e) {
                throw new UncheckedIOException(e);
            }
            if (next == null) {
                done = true;
                return false;
            }
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public byte[] next() {
            if (!hasNext()) throw new NoSuchElementException();
            byte[] res = next;
            next = null;
            return res;
        }

        private byte[] computeNext() throws IOException {
            if (currentFileInput == null) {
                if (!iter.hasNext()) return null;
                PartsSpecification nextPart = iter.next();
                if (PartsSpecification.TYPE.STRING.equals(nextPart.type)) {
                    String part =
                            "--" + boundary + "\r\n" +
                            "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=" + nextPart.name + "\r\n" +
                            "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\r\n\r\n" +
                            nextPart.value + "\r\n";
                    return part.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
                }
                if (PartsSpecification.TYPE.FINAL_BOUNDARY.equals(nextPart.type)) {
                    return nextPart.value.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
                }
                String filename;
                String contentType;
                if (PartsSpecification.TYPE.FILE.equals(nextPart.type)) {
                    Path path = nextPart.path;
                    filename = path.getFileName().toString();
                    contentType = Files.probeContentType(path);
                    if (contentType == null) contentType = "application/octet-stream";
                    currentFileInput = Files.newInputStream(path);
                } else {
                    filename = nextPart.filename;
                    contentType = nextPart.contentType;
                    if (contentType == null) contentType = "application/octet-stream";
                    currentFileInput = nextPart.stream.get();
                }
                String partHeader =
                        "--" + boundary + "\r\n" +
                        "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=" + nextPart.name + "; filename=" + filename + "\r\n" +
                        "Content-Type: " + contentType + "\r\n\r\n";
                return partHeader.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
            } else {
                byte[] buf = new byte[8192];
                int r = currentFileInput.read(buf);
                if (r > 0) {
                    byte[] actualBytes = new byte[r];
                    System.arraycopy(buf, 0, actualBytes, 0, r);
                    return actualBytes;
                } else {
                    currentFileInput.close();
                    currentFileInput = null;
                    return "\r\n".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

:

MultiPartBodyPublisher publisher = new MultiPartBodyPublisher()
       .addPart("someString", "foo")
       .addPart("someInputStream", () -> this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("test.txt"), "test.txt", "text/plain")
       .addPart("someFile", pathObject);
HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
       .uri(URI.create("https://www.example.com/dosomething"))
       .header("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + publisher.getBoundary())
       .timeout(Duration.ofMinutes(1))
       .POST(publisher.build())
       .build();

, addPart Supplier<InputStream> InputStream.

Answer 2

, , :

BodyProcessor . :

• :

  HttpRequest.BodyProcessor dataProcessor = HttpRequest.BodyProcessor.fromString("{\"username\":\"foo\"}")
  

• Path path = Paths.get("/path/to/your/file"); // in your case path to 'img'
  HttpRequest.BodyProcessor fileProcessor = HttpRequest.BodyProcessor.fromFile(path);
  

3. , apache.commons.lang ( , ), , :

   org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileItem file;
   
   org.apache.http.HttpEntity multipartEntity = org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntityBuilder.create()
          .addPart("username",new StringBody("foo", Charset.forName("utf-8")))
          .addPart("img", newFileBody(file))
          .build();
   multipartEntity.writeTo(byteArrayOutputStream);
   byte[] bytes = byteArrayOutputStream.toByteArray();
   

   [] BodyProcessor :

   HttpRequest.BodyProcessor byteProcessor = HttpRequest.BodyProcessor.fromByteArray();
   

   ---

, :

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(new URI("http:///example/html5/demo_form.asp"))
            .headers("Content-Type","multipart/form-data","boundary","boundaryValue") // appropriate boundary values
            .POST(dataProcessor)
            .POST(fileProcessor)
            .POST(byteProcessor) //self-sufficient
            .build();

---

HttpClient

HttpResponse.BodyHandler bodyHandler = HttpResponse.BodyHandler.asFile(Paths.get("/path"));

HttpClient client = HttpClient.newBuilder().build();

:

HttpResponse response = client.send(request, bodyHandler);
System.out.println(response.body());

Answer 3

multipart/form-data - . .

, HTTP-, Apache HttpComponents, , @nullpointer.

---

, , , POST . POST BodyProcessor BodyProcessor . , .

multipart/form-data :

1. boundary

2. , . - :

   boundary + "\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=\"" + name + "\"\n\n" + value + "\n"
   

   name HTML. img .

Answer 4

I struggled with this problem for a while, even after viewing and reading this page. But using the answers on this page to guide me in the right direction, reading more about the multipart forms and borders, and working on them, I was able to create a working solution.

The essence of the solution is to use Apache MultipartEntityBuilder to create an entity and its boundaries (it HttpExceptionBuilderis a homegrown class):

import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.Optional;
import java.util.function.Supplier;

import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.entity.BufferedHttpEntity;
import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
import org.apache.http.entity.mime.MultipartEntityBuilder;

/**
 * Class containing static helper methods pertaining to HTTP interactions.
 */
public class HttpUtils {
    public static final String MULTIPART_FORM_DATA_BOUNDARY = "ThisIsMyBoundaryThereAreManyLikeItButThisOneIsMine";

    /**
     * Creates an {@link HttpEntity} from a {@link File}, loading it into a {@link BufferedHttpEntity}.
     *
     * @param file     the {@link File} from which to create an {@link HttpEntity}
     * @param partName an {@link Optional} denoting the name of the form data; defaults to {@code data}
     * @return an {@link HttpEntity} containing the contents of the provided {@code file}
     * @throws NullPointerException  if {@code file} or {@code partName} is null
     * @throws IllegalStateException if {@code file} does not exist
     * @throws HttpException         if file cannot be found or {@link FileInputStream} cannot be created
     */
    public static HttpEntity getFileAsBufferedMultipartEntity(final File file, final Optional<String> partName) {
        Validate.notNull(file, "file cannot be null");
        Validate.validState(file.exists(), "file must exist");
        Validate.notNull(partName, "partName cannot be null");

        final HttpEntity entity;
        final BufferedHttpEntity bufferedHttpEntity;

        try (final FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(file);
                final BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(fis)) {
            entity = MultipartEntityBuilder.create().setBoundary(MULTIPART_FORM_DATA_BOUNDARY)
                    .addBinaryBody(partName.orElse("data"), bis, ContentType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM, file.getName())
                    .setContentType(ContentType.MULTIPART_FORM_DATA).build();

            try {
                bufferedHttpEntity = new BufferedHttpEntity(entity);
            } catch (final IOException e) {
                throw HttpExceptionBuilder.create().withMessage("Unable to create BufferedHttpEntity").withThrowable(e)
                        .build();
            }
        } catch (final FileNotFoundException e) {
            throw HttpExceptionBuilder.create()
                    .withMessage("File does not exist or is not readable: %s", file.getAbsolutePath()).withThrowable(e)
                    .build();
        } catch (final IOException e) {
            throw HttpExceptionBuilder.create()
                    .withMessage("Unable to create multipart entity from file: %s", file.getAbsolutePath())
                    .withThrowable(e).build();
        }

        return bufferedHttpEntity;
    }

    /**
     * Returns a {@link Supplier} of {@link InputStream} containing the content of the provided {@link HttpEntity}. This
     * method closes the {@code InputStream}.
     *
     * @param entity the {@link HttpEntity} from which to get an {@link InputStream}
     * @return an {@link InputStream} containing the {@link HttpEntity#getContent() content}
     * @throws NullPointerException if {@code entity} is null
     * @throws HttpException        if something goes wrong
     */
    public static Supplier<? extends InputStream> getInputStreamFromHttpEntity(final HttpEntity entity) {
        Validate.notNull(entity, "entity cannot be null");

        return () -> {
            try (final InputStream is = entity.getContent()) {
                return is;
            } catch (final UnsupportedOperationException | IOException e) {
                throw HttpExceptionBuilder.create().withMessage("Unable to get InputStream from HttpEntity")
                        .withThrowable(e).build();
            }
        };
    }
}

And then a method that uses these helper methods:

private String doUpload(final File uploadFile, final String filePostUrl) {
    assert uploadFile != null : "uploadFile cannot be null";
    assert uploadFile.exists() : "uploadFile must exist";
    assert StringUtils.notBlank(filePostUrl, "filePostUrl cannot be blank");

    final URI uri = URI.create(filePostUrl);
    final HttpEntity entity = HttpUtils.getFileAsBufferedMultipartEntity(uploadFile, Optional.of("partName"));
    final String response;

    try {
        final Builder requestBuilder = HttpRequest.newBuilder(uri)
                .POST(BodyPublisher.fromInputStream(HttpUtils.getInputStreamFromHttpEntity(entity)))
                .header("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data; boundary=" + HttpUtils.MULTIPART_FORM_DATA_BOUNDARY);

        response = this.httpClient.send(requestBuilder.build(), BodyHandler.asString());
    } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e) {
        throw HttpExceptionBuilder.create().withMessage("Unable to get InputStream from HttpEntity")
                    .withThrowable(e).build();
    }

    LOGGER.info("Http Response: {}", response);
    return response;
}