JAX-RS client file upload

Another hiccup in using the wadl2java client generated from a (Jersey) JAX-RS app. This time, it concerns multipart/form-data.

The method:

@POST
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
@Consumes(MediaType.MULTIPART_FORM_DATA)
public JsonFoo create(@FormDataParam("file") InputStream data, 
	@FormDataParam("file") FormDataContentDisposition fileDetail,
	@FormDataParam("file") FormDataBodyPart bodyPart) {
			// Implementation foo bar baz
	}

The WADL exposes something that looks like this.

<method id="create" name="POST">
	<request>
		<representation mediaType="multipart/form-data"/>
	</request>
	<!-- Response omitted for the sake of brevity -->
</method>

And the generated client has a method to go along with it. Unfortunately, it gives you no hints whatsoever as to how to actually provide a file/data.

// Long class names shortened
public static Create create(Client client, URI baseURI) {
	return new Create(client, baseURI);
}
 
// The Create object contains this little gem
public<T >T postMultipartFormDataAsJson(Object input, GenericType<T> returnType);

That’s wonderful. Unfortunately, if you pass in a java.io.File, nothing happens. The client barfs.

Many DuckDuckGo-searches, StackOverflow hunts and headscratchings later, I came up with a working solution:

// import import org.glassfish.jersey.media.multipart.FormDataMultiPart;
// import org.glassfish.jersey.media.multipart.file.FileDataBodyPart;
 
File file = new File(); // Your file!
FormDataMultiPart form = new FormDataMultiPart();
form.field("filename", file.getName());
form.bodyPart(new FileDataBodyPart("file", upload, new MediaType("image", "jpeg")));
 
Api.create(client, uri).postMultipartFormDataAsJson(form, new GenericType<CreateResponse>() {});

But wait! That won’t cut it. You also need to tell your Client that you want to use the Multipart Feature. Makes sense. If you don’t, you’ll end up with this exception.

org.glassfish.jersey.message.internal.MessageBodyProviderNotFoundException: MessageBodyWriter not found for media type=multipart/form-data, type=class org.glassfish.jersey.media.multipart.FormDataMultiPart, genericType=class org.glassfish.jersey.media.multipart.FormDataMultiPart.

// import org.glassfish.jersey.client.ClientConfig;
// import org.glassfish.jersey.media.multipart.MultiPartFeature;
 
final ClientConfig clientConfig = new ClientConfig();
clientConfig.register(MultiPartFeature.class);

And there you have it. File upload with JAX-RS and a wadl2java generated client.

— Elric