HOWTO: Uploading files through REST API?

rubyonrails-talk
1

Hello!    I am building a REST API on top of an application and I wonder how do I manage the file uploads through REST?

In my API, JSON is used for communication. Consider the case of creating a user:

I POST the following JSON to: {"name": "Mohsin", "picture": "/home/mohsin/Pictures/mohsin.jpg"}

like this:

POST /users

Then how do I upload the file?

I know even the question is missing the details like the REST call is not mentioning important HTTP headers, but nonetheless, lets discuss it.

Regards, Mohsin

2

In this instance you probably have to drop back to a standard postback rather than using JS. Most people using the attachment_fu plugin for handling the file in the controller. For the upload process itself I prefer the "ajax-like" solution that uses the 'respond_to_parent' plugin as described here:

http://khamsouk.souvanlasy.com/2007/5/1/ajax-file-uploads-in-rails-using-attachment_fu-and-responds_to_parent

3

Well, this can be done without any plug in. I just devised the method of it. First thing is that your post request should have Content-Type set to "Content-Type: multipart/form-data". Now, you should post the request with following parameters in the request header:

person: {"Name": "Mohsin", "Age": 12, "Picture": "picFile"} picFile: --text/binary data of the pic file here --

Now POST all this to /users.

In your controller, parse the incoming JSON resource like this: require 'json' person = JSON.parse(params[:person])

# Now the picture is an IO object! picture = person['Picture'] #rewind this file picture.rewind

# Save the file File.open('/usr/local/uploads/pic.jpg', "wb") do |file|   file.write(picture.read) end

And you are done with the File upload with REST API.