How can I compose a multipart/form-data request?
Not very easily is the unfortunate answer. The HttpRequest class doesn't expose the underlying stream so you can't just write a bunch of binary chunks to it the way C# does. Instead, you have to base64 encode all the data you want to send, concatenate it, convert it to a blob and write the entire blob to the request's body. The problem there is that you'll probably end up with base64 padding characters somewhere other than the end of the entire concatenated string which breaks the decoding. You have to safely pad the contents of base64 string to avoid that.
I found some sample code here which got me started. I'll be honest that I didn't like the way it was written in one giant chunk of "stuff". Instead, I created my own FormBuilder class that did all the work for me. I'm posting the code below in the hopes that it will help someone else looking for this functionality in the future. Before we get to the code, I do want to stress that this code is not the best thing made since sliced bread. It is limited based on my needs, but should be easily expandable. Also, if anyone wants to improve it for performance/security/whatever, please be my guest.
Update 7/20/2016
After I posted the original code I decided to "enhance" it a bit. Originally this class was an inner class of another class. Because it was an inner class I couldn't use static methods. I decided to rip it out into its own standalone class and make it static since it doesn't really need to be instanced to be used. I also renamed it to vNHttpFormBuilder to match my naming convention for top level classes.
public class vNHttpFormBuilder {
// The boundary is alligned so it doesn't produce padding characters when base64 encoded.
private final static string Boundary = '1ff13444ed8140c7a32fc4e6451aa76d';
/**
* Returns the request's content type for multipart/form-data requests.
*/
public static string GetContentType() {
return 'multipart/form-data; charset="UTF-8"; boundary="' + Boundary + '"';
}
/**
* Pad the value with spaces until the base64 encoding is no longer padded.
*/
private static string SafelyPad(
string value,
string valueCrLf64,
string lineBreaks) {
string valueCrLf = '';
blob valueCrLfBlob = null;
while (valueCrLf64.endsWith('=')) {
value += ' ';
valueCrLf = value + lineBreaks;
valueCrLfBlob = blob.valueOf(valueCrLf);
valueCrLf64 = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(valueCrLfBlob);
}
return valueCrLf64;
}
/**
* Write a boundary between parameters to the form's body.
*/
public static string WriteBoundary() {
string value = '--' + Boundary + '\r\n';
blob valueBlob = blob.valueOf(value);
return EncodingUtil.base64Encode(valueBlob);
}
/**
* Write a boundary at the end of the form's body.
*/
public static string WriteBoundary(
EndingType ending) {
string value = '';
if (ending == EndingType.Cr) {
// The file's base64 was padded with a single '=',
// so it was replaced with '\r'. Now we have to
// prepend the boundary with '\n' to complete
// the line break.
value += '\n';
} else if (ending == EndingType.None) {
// The file's base64 was not padded at all,
// so we have to prepend the boundary with
// '\r\n' to create the line break.
value += '\r\n';
}
// Else:
// The file's base64 was padded with a double '=',
// so they were replaced with '\r\n'. We don't have to
// do anything to the boundary because there's a complete
// line break before it.
value += '--' + Boundary + '--';
blob valueBlob = blob.valueOf(value);
return EncodingUtil.base64Encode(valueBlob);
}
/**
* Wirte a file to the form's body.
*/
public static WriteFileResult WriteFile(
string key,
string value,
string mimeType,
blob fileBlob) {
EndingType ending = EndingType.None;
string contentDisposition = 'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="' + key + '"; filename="' + value + '"';
string contentDispositionCrLf = contentDisposition + '\r\n';
blob contentDispositionCrLfBlob = blob.valueOf(contentDispositionCrLf);
string contentDispositionCrLf64 = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(contentDispositionCrlfBlob);
string content = SafelyPad(contentDisposition, contentDispositionCrLf64, '\r\n');
string contentType = 'Content-Type: ' + mimeType;
string contentTypeCrLf = contentType + '\r\n\r\n';
blob contentTypeCrLfBlob = blob.valueOf(contentTypeCrLf);
string contentTypeCrLf64 = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(contentTypeCrLfBlob);
content += SafelyPad(contentType, contentTypeCrLf64, '\r\n\r\n');
string file64 = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(fileBlob);
integer file64Length = file64.length();
string file64Ending = file64.substring(file64Length - 3, file64Length);
if (file64Ending.endsWith('==')) {
file64Ending = file64Ending.substring(0, 1) + '0K';// 0K = \r\n
file64 = file64.substring(0, file64Length - 3) + file64Ending;
ending = EndingType.CrLf;
} else if (file64Ending.endsWith('=')) {
file64Ending = file64Ending.substring(0, 2) + 'N';// N = \r
file64 = file64.substring(0, file64Length - 3) + file64Ending;
ending = EndingType.Cr;
}
content += file64;
return new WriteFileResult(content, ending);
}
/**
* Write a key-value pair to the form's body.
*/
public static string WriteBodyParameter(
string key,
string value) {
string contentDisposition = 'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="' + key + '"';
string contentDispositionCrLf = contentDisposition + '\r\n\r\n';
blob contentDispositionCrLfBlob = blob.valueOf(contentDispositionCrLf);
string contentDispositionCrLf64 = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(contentDispositionCrLfBlob);
string content = SafelyPad(contentDisposition, contentDispositionCrLf64, '\r\n\r\n');
string valueCrLf = value + '\r\n';
blob valueCrLfBlob = blob.valueOf(valueCrLf);
string valueCrLf64 = EncodingUtil.base64Encode(valueCrLfBlob);
content += SafelyPad(value, valueCrLf64, '\r\n');
return content;
}
/**
* Helper class containing the result of writing a file's blob to the form's body.
*/
public class WriteFileResult {
public final string Content { get; private set; }
public final EndingType EndingType { get; private set; }
public WriteFileResult(
string content,
EndingType ending) {
this.Content = content;
this.EndingType = ending;
}
}
/**
* Helper enum indicating how a file's base64 padding was replaced.
*/
public enum EndingType {
Cr,
CrLf,
None
}
}
And here's how I use it when submitting files to Kreaken.io. So far all submissions have been successful so I'm assuming that the form is being composed correctly. The boundary string is a GUID and I just took out the dash separators. It also happens to have enough characters that when the full boundary is composed it doesn't produce base64 padding characters. If replacing it, I recommend following the same pattern to save yourself some headaches.
Update 7/20/2016
Updating the code below to match the re-worked "static" class further up.
private KrakenResponse Submit(
KrakenRequest request,
string url,
string fileName,
string fileMimeType,
blob fileBlob) {
try {
string contentType = vNHttpFormBuilder.GetContentType();
string json = GetJson(request, Credentials);
// Compose the form
string form64 = '';
form64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
form64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBodyParameter('json', json);
form64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFileResult result = vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFile('file', fileName, fileMimeType, fileBlob);
form64 += result.Content;
form64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary(result.EndingType);
blob formBlob = EncodingUtil.base64Decode(form64);
string contentLength = string.valueOf(formBlob.size());
// Compose the http request
HttpRequest httpRequest = new HttpRequest();
httpRequest.setBodyAsBlob(formBlob);
httpRequest.setEndpoint(url);
httpRequest.setHeader('Connection', 'keep-alive');
httpRequest.setHeader('Content-Length', contentLength);
httpRequest.setHeader('Content-Type', contentType);
httpRequest.setMethod('POST');
httpRequest.setTimeout(120000);
KrakenResponse response = GetHttpResponse(httpRequest);
if (!response.Success) {
System.debug(form64);
}
return response;
} catch (Exception e) {
return null;
}
}
Lastly, I figured I might as well add the unit tests for this class, which currently have 100% coverage.
@IsTest
private static void test_vNHttpFormBuilder() {
blob fileABlob = EncodingUtil.base64Decode('/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wBDAAEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQECAgICAgICAgICAgMDAwMDAwMDAwP/2wBDAQEBAQEBAQIBAQICAgECAgMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwP/wAARCAAKAAoDAREAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/xAAmEAAAAwMNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFhfI6PAYKCk2R2ZnaoaJmKn4/8QAFAEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/EABQRAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AJ1euwWNClEi8WE6TqSxg6S0dsdR2joB5Hcmdd6ywCJo7EzLu2WARGQDAf/Z');
blob fileBBlob = EncodingUtil.base64Decode('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');
blob fileCBlob = EncodingUtil.base64Decode('/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wBDAAEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQEBAQECAgICAgICAgICAgMDAwMDAwMDAwP/2wBDAQEBAQEBAQIBAQICAgECAgMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwP/wAARCAAMAAwDAREAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP/xAAtEAAAAgQLCQAAAAAAAAAAAAAWFwA3OGcYGSk2OUdJZoen8Gl3hoiJmKi4x//EABQBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/xAAUEQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwCc3rsBjgUIgXtYLouoLDnQWTtTpOydAHc5WeKqg8m2TnN7OJAbucLPgbKvKcpvBuziQHrVrpLUS2ot1A//2Q==');
string formA64 = '';
string formB64 = '';
string formC64 = '';
Test.startTest();
string contentType = vNHttpFormBuilder.GetContentType();
formA64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
formA64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBodyParameter('key', 'value');
formA64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFileResult resultA = vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFile('key', 'value', 'image/jpeg', fileABlob);
formA64 += resultA.Content;
formA64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary(resultA.EndingType);
formB64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
formB64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBodyParameter('key', 'value');
formB64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFileResult resultB = vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFile('key', 'value', 'image/jpeg', fileBBlob);
formB64 += resultB.Content;
formB64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary(resultB.EndingType);
formC64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
formC64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBodyParameter('key', 'value');
formC64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary();
vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFileResult resultC = vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteFile('key', 'value', 'image/jpeg', fileCBlob);
formC64 += resultC.Content;
formC64 += vNHttpFormBuilder.WriteBoundary(resultC.EndingType);
Test.stopTest();
System.assert(contentType == 'multipart/form-data; charset="UTF-8"; boundary="1ff13444ed8140c7a32fc4e6451aa76d"');
System.assert(formA64 == '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');
System.assert(formB64 == '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');
System.assert(formC64 == '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');
}
Here's my version of the solution...
string formBoundary = '----sfdc-multi-form',
footer = '\r\n--'+formBoundary+'--',
headerForm = '--'+formBoundary+'\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name="{0}";\r\n\n',
headerFile = '--'+formBoundary+'\r\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name="{0}"; filename="{1}";\r\nContent-Type: {2}\r\n\n';
string documentHexContent = EncodingUtil.convertToHex(blob.valueOf((string.format(headerForm, new list {'document'})+
)));
string fileHexContent = EncodingUtil.convertToHex(blob.valueOf('\r\n'+string.format(headerFile, new list {'filename',fileName,'application/pdf'})))+
EncodingUtil.convertToHex()+
EncodingUtil.convertToHex(blob.valueof(footer));
HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
req.setMethod('POST');
req.setEndpoint('#resource URL#');
req.setHeader('Accept', '#Accept content type#');
req.setHeader('Content-Type', 'multipart/form-data; boundary='+formBoundary);
req.setBodyAsBlob(body);
req.setHeader('Content-Length',string.valueOf(req.getBodyAsBlob().size()));
HttpResponse resp = new Http().send(req);
I needed to create a multipart Form Data Body without padded spaces... so I used @Gup3rSuR4c's answer as a base and modified to use Hex instead of Base64. The downside is that the resulting string is larger than the Base64, so you can only attach about 2.5MB of files to a single email. The upside is, it works with AWS because it doesn't need to add spaces.
// ********************************************************************************
// multipart/form-data requests
// ********************************************************************************
/**
* Usage:
* Blob blobBody = APIUtils.CreateMultiPartFormDataBody(mapKeyValues, mapFiles);
* httpRequest.setBodyAsBlob(blobBody);
* httpRequest.setHeader('Content-Length', String.valueOf(blobBody.size()));
* httpRequest.setHeader('Content-Type', APIUtils.GetMultiPartFormContentType() );
* httpRequest.setMethod('POST');
*/
private final static String Boundary = '9b37acb6267c40cda4643792183d0def';
// Returns the request's content type for multipart/form-data requests.
public static String GetMultiPartFormContentType () {
return 'multipart/form-data; boundary="' + Boundary + '"';
}
public static Blob CreateMultiPartFormDataBody ( Map<String,String> mapKeyValues, Map<String,Blob> mapFiles ) {
// Compose the form
Blob theForm = Blob.valueOf('');
String tmpString = '';
String mergeBlobsAsHex;
if ( mapKeyValues != null ) for ( String k : mapKeyValues.keySet() ) {
tmpString += '--' + Boundary + '\r\n';
tmpString += 'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="' + k + '"\r\n';
tmpString += '\r\n';
tmpString += mapKeyValues.get(k) + '\r\n';
}
mergeBlobsAsHex = EncodingUtil.convertToHex( theForm )
+ EncodingUtil.convertToHex( Blob.valueOf(tmpString) );
theForm = EncodingUtil.convertFromHex(mergeBlobsAsHex);
if (mapFiles != null ) for ( String fileName : mapFiles.keySet() ) {
tmpString = '--' + Boundary + '\r\n';
tmpString += 'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="' + fileName + '"\r\n';
tmpString += 'Content-Type: ' + getMimeType2(fileName) + '\r\n';
tmpString += '\r\n';
mergeBlobsAsHex = EncodingUtil.convertToHex( theForm )
+ EncodingUtil.convertToHex( Blob.valueOf(tmpString) )
+ EncodingUtil.convertToHex( mapFiles.get(fileName) );
theForm = EncodingUtil.convertFromHex(mergeBlobsAsHex);
}
tmpString = '\r\n';
tmpString += '--' + Boundary + '--\r\n';
mergeBlobsAsHex = EncodingUtil.convertToHex( theForm )
+ EncodingUtil.convertToHex( Blob.valueOf(tmpString) );
theForm = EncodingUtil.convertFromHex(mergeBlobsAsHex);
return theForm;
}//GetMultiPartContentBody
public static String getMimeType2 (String inLkupVal) {
if ( String.isBlank(inLkupVal) ) return null;
// Get filename extension and lookup value...
String strLkupVal = inLkupVal.toLowerCase();
if ( strLkupVal.contains('.') ) {
List<String> lstFilenameParts = strLkupVal.split('\\.');
strLkupVal = '.' + lstFilenameParts[ lstFilenameParts.size() - 1 ];
}
MIME_Types__c mt = MIME_Types__c.getInstance(strLkupVal);
if ( mt == null ) return null;
return mt.Type__c.toLowerCase();
}//getMimeType2
NOTE: MIME_Types__c is a Custom Setting (of "Name" and "Type__c"), which lists conversion of File Extensions to/from MIME Types based on https://github.com/samuelneff/MimeTypeMap
Example: Name = '.txt' / Type__c = 'text/plain'