How do I write a restful web service that accepts a binary file (pdf)

Question

I'm trying to write a restful web service in java that will take a few string params and a binary file (pdf) param.

I understand how to do the strings but I'm getting hung up on the binary file. Any ideas / examples?

Here's what I have so far

@GET
@ConsumeMime("multipart/form-data")
@ProduceMime("text/plain")
@Path("submit/{client_id}/{doc_id}/{html}/{password}")
public Response submit(@PathParam("client_id") String clientID,
                   @PathParam("doc_id") String docID,
                   @PathParam("html") String html,
                   @PathParam("password") String password,
                   @PathParam("pdf") File pdf) {
  return Response.ok("true").build();
}

Answer 1

You could store the binary attachment in the body of the request instead. Alternatively, check out this mailing list archive here:

http://markmail.org/message/dvl6qrzdqstrdtfk

It suggests using Commons FileUpload to take the file and upload it appropriately.

Another alternative here using the MIME multipart API:

http://n2.nabble.com/File-upload-with-Jersey-td2377844.html

Answer 2

sample program to upload file using jersey restful web service

Require Jar Files (download from Apache site) : commons-fileupload.jar, commons-io.jar

package com.sms.web;

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;

import javax.ws.rs.POST;
import javax.ws.rs.Path;
import javax.ws.rs.core.Context;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;

import org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileItem;
import org.apache.commons.fileupload.FileUploadException;
import org.apache.commons.fileupload.disk.DiskFileItemFactory;
import org.apache.commons.fileupload.servlet.ServletFileUpload;


@Path("/UploadTest")
public class UploadData {


    @POST 
    // public String upload(@Context HttpServletRequest request, @PathParam("myfile") String fileName) throws Exception {
    public String upload(@Context HttpServletRequest request) throws Exception {

        String response = "none";

        if (ServletFileUpload.isMultipartContent(request)) { 

            response="got file in request";

            // Create a factory for disk-based file items 
            DiskFileItemFactory  fileItemFactory = new DiskFileItemFactory();

            String path = request.getRealPath("") + File.separatorChar + "publishFiles" + File.separatorChar;

            // File f = new File(path + "myfile.txt");
            // File tmpDir = new File("c:\\tmp");

            File destinationDir = new File(path);


            // Set the size threshold, above which content will be stored on disk.
            // fileItemFactory.setSizeThreshold(1*1024*1024); //1 MB

            // Set the temporary directory to store the uploaded files of size above threshold.
            // fileItemFactory.setRepository(tmpDir);

            // Create a new file upload handler             
            ServletFileUpload uploadHandler = new ServletFileUpload(fileItemFactory);

            try {
                /*
                 * Parse the request
                 */
                List items = uploadHandler.parseRequest(request);
                Iterator itr = items.iterator();

                while(itr.hasNext()) {
                    FileItem item = (FileItem) itr.next();
                    /*
                     * Handle Form Fields.
                     */
                    if(item.isFormField()) {
                        response += "<BR>" + "Field Name = "+item.getFieldName()+", Value = "+item.getString();
                    } else {
                        //Handle Uploaded files.
                        response += "<BR>" + "File Field Name = "+item.getFieldName()+
                            ", File Name = "+item.getName()+
                            ", Content type = "+item.getContentType()+
                            ", File Size = "+item.getSize();
                        /*
                         * Write file to the ultimate location.
                         */
                        File file = new File(destinationDir,item.getName());
                        item.write(file);
                    }
                }
            }catch(FileUploadException ex) {
                response += "Error encountered while parsing the request " + ex;
            } catch(Exception ex) {
                response += "Error encountered while uploading file " + ex;
            }
        } 

        return response;

        }
}