How to upload a file and JSON data in Postman?

Question

I am using Spring MVC and this is my method:

/**
* Upload single file using Spring Controller.
*/
@RequestMapping(value = "/uploadFile", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public @ResponseBody ResponseEntity<GenericResponseVO<? extends IServiceVO>> uploadFileHandler(
            @RequestParam("name") String name,
            @RequestParam("file") MultipartFile file,
            HttpServletRequest request,
            HttpServletResponse response) {

    if (!file.isEmpty()) {
        try {
            byte[] bytes = file.getBytes();

            // Creating the directory to store file
            String rootPath = System.getProperty("catalina.home");
            File dir = new File(rootPath + File.separator + "tmpFiles");
            if (!dir.exists()) {
                dir.mkdirs();
            }

            // Create the file on server
            File serverFile = new File(dir.getAbsolutePath() + File.separator + name);
            BufferedOutputStream stream = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(serverFile));
            stream.write(bytes);
            stream.close();

            System.out.println("Server File Location=" + serverFile.getAbsolutePath());

            return null;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            return null;
        }
    }
}

I need to pass the session id in postman and also the file. How can I do that?

Fezzan

AFTER ALL IS SAID AND DONE this fixed my issue add [] to the name of the file upload parameter eg. image[] file[] upload[] – Dipnoan

Answer 1

In Postman:

• Set HTTP method type to POST.
• Then select Body -> form-data -> Enter your parameter name (file according to your code)
• On the right side of the Key field, while hovering your mouse over it, there is a dropdown menu to select between Text/File. Select File, then a "Select Files" button will appear in the Value field.

For rest of "text" based parameters, you can post it like normally you do with Postman. Just enter parameter name and select "text" from that right side dropdown menu and enter any value for it, hit send button. Your controller method should get called.

Supination

Why POST? What about PUT? – Loanloanda

What do you mean by "Doesnt work"? Why dont you show your code for us to debug issue easily? – Supination

I get the text part as String always. Why does it not map to my DTO? @PostMapping ( value = "/byImageFile", consumes = { "multipart/form-data" }) public ResponseEntity<?> postMap( @RequestPart ( "imageFile") MultipartFile imageFile, @RequestPart ( "fieldsToExtract") RequestDto requestDto ) Iam not able to send the requesst from postman at all in this case – Incomer

@ArunGowda Try posting your query as new Question. As it is different from the question poster here and answer given is relevant to question posted here by OP. – Supination

I found my solution. It won't map to RequestDtoautomatically. I took it as a string, parsed the Json and mapped it to RequestDto explicitly. – Incomer

I want to send the file along with the json data not with the form-data, is there any way possible to do it ? – Junk

@SumitBadaya can i send file using raw option with other paramters in json form? – Newcastle

@Loanloanda Checkout Kubilay's answer regarding PUT. https://mcmap.net/q/80411/-how-to-upload-a-file-and-json-data-in-postman – Janae

This is partly correct. You must also set the content type for each json field to application/json. You can do this by clicking the ellipsis next to the 'Bulk edit' link inside Postman. – Sinusoidal

Can you please tell me how to implement get() with postman to receive file response – Insecurity

Answer 2

The Missing Visual Guide

You must first find the nearly-invisible pale-grey-on-white dropdown for File which is the magic key that unlocks the Choose Files button.

After you choose POST, then choose Body->form-data, then find the File dropdown, and then choose 'File', only then will the 'Choose Files' button magically appear:

Harrisharrisburg

you are correct in that the UI for this is invisible to the non-initiated. Thank you for the visual version! – Abcoulomb

what if I have an XML body payload and the attachment? – Blanca

gce's answer seems to say you can do it easily enought? I'm not sure . You might have to learn how to combine the attachment and the XML into a single document by learning about the multi-part mime format. Which isn't too complicated, you can create a multipart mime body by hand. – Harrisharrisburg

Two years later, the UI has not been improved any. – Demisemiquaver

Can you please tell me how to implement get() with postman to receive file response? – Insecurity

Ah. Perhaps another picture is need. Depending on how your postman window is laid out, the response should simply appear underneath where you send the request. It displays html and images but for other files there is a save button? – Harrisharrisburg

Brother. You are the boss – Tyndall

Late 2021 update about the UI and the nearly invisible drowdown: you can only see that dropdown if none of the text inputs of that line currently holds the cursor. So move away with tab key to make it appear... – Lanner

I would have never found that nearly invisible dropdown. What an odd design choice. Thank you for the heads up! – Carbonaceous

And @Blanca I came here looking for that answer. I believe you do the above instructions to send a file and then select the 'raw' radio button to the right. You'll then get a dropdown for format to choose - 'XML' and throw your XML in there. Not sure if that will work though - I'm going to test soon. – Alansen

it's almost 2024 and still the UI has not been improved for the dropdown select – Untwine

Answer 3

Maybe you could do it this way:

Mortgage

What 6 headers have you set there? – Loanloanda

This solution works for me. Didn't pass any headers and it's working fine. Thanks. Passing JSON was the tricky part for me. :) – Threesquare

Ha, clever - changed my endpoint to do that :) A bit ugly but super convenient – Pintail

Can you explain what you are talking about? @ChrisKoston – Hester

@GauravSharma how did you set up JSON with form-data. Can you please share input request? – Cardiology

Answer 4

I got confused after seeing all of the answers, I couldn't find any proper screenshot to bring the Content Type column. After some time, I found it by my own. Hope this will help somebody like me.

Here is the steps:

1. click on red marked area of postman.
2. Now check the green marked option (Content Type).
3. Now change the search content type, in the yellow marked area.

In my case:

1. invoice_id_ls (key) contains the json data.
2. documents contains the file data.
3. placed_amount contains normal text string.

Superfetation

How does the filename relate to the file to be included in the JSON attached? – Jea

Yes, this is the missing part of this quest. Spring doesn't want to treat json text as json until its content-type is set manually. – Cannibalize

This solution worked for me, the clearest answer in this post. Normally my request body has several fields, so had to set several key-value paris as application/json in the CONTENT_TYPE column. Leaving the file as auto in that same column. – Sphagnum

This is the correct answer for sending files + a json text filed in the form-data post request. Thank you so much!!! – Extremity

This feature is so obtusely hidden away. Many thanks. – Kovacev

Answer 5

Like this :

Body -> form-data -> select file

You must write "file" instead of "name"

Also you can send JSON data from Body -> raw field. (Just paste JSON string)

Stylobate

actually i need to pass some values and file in postman for one service is that possible – Fezzan

Headers? what headers to set? – Loanloanda

The question asks for uploading json data as well, which is not covered here in this answer. – Goldner

The correct way to do this : #21329926 – Applesauce

files + (json)? – Nobleminded

@JehadNasser yup – Stylobate

this option saved me from creating files then reading them one by one to send to the server. here you upload the json string directly – Philippe

This does not answer the question that asked – Redheaded

You can't utilize form-data and raw(JSON) body types at the same time (that is in the same request), it's one or another per request. OP wants to know if there is a way to send both a file with form-data and a JSON at the same time – Monkish

Answer 6

Select [Content Type] from [SHOW COLUMNS] then set content-type of "application/json" to the parameter of json text.

Horrendous

Answer 7

1. Don't give any headers.
2. Put your json data inside a .json file.
3. Select your both files one is your .txt file and other is .json file for your request param keys.

Jervis

This is a good answer.. This can also be used for use cases where multiple file has to be uploaded along with a json payload in a multi-part payload.. – Nonaggression

This is the most correct answer if you want to send a File as well as JSON data. Examples showing selecting a file and then the JSON data being passed as a single JSON string value or splitting the values up do not work (possibly depending on the end point but I can't verify this). It is also mentioned here: github.com/postmanlabs/postman-app-support/issues/3331 – Aintab

Answer 8

If somebody wants to send json data in form-data format just need to declare the variables like this

Postman:

As you see, the description parameter will be in basic json format, result of that:

{ description: { spanish: 'hola', english: 'hello' } }

Misdoubt

This sadly does not work for me on Ubuntu. Anyone else facing this problem? – Bulkhead

Answer 9

Kindly follow steps from top to bottom as shown in below image.

At third step you will find dropdown of type selection as shown in below image

Stitching

could u please help explain or point me to a resource on how to work with these API keys for authenticating apis ? I am using laravel admin for some project and its base code is rather confusing on how to use libraries like passport to generate API tokens. many thanks – Utta

you can pass through the Authorization tab of postman. In that Select Type: API Key and after that pass value in the key & value textbox. Once you are done with after this if you pass a parameter through the body it will automatically get authenticated. – Stitching

Answer 10

Body > binary > Select File

Stentorian

Answer 11

If you need like Upload file in multipart using form data and send json data(Dto object) in same POST Request

Get yor JSON object as String in Controller and make it Deserialize by adding this line

ContactDto contactDto  = new ObjectMapper().readValue(yourJSONString, ContactDto.class);

Pneumectomy

Can you tell me what are the two headers used? – Muscarine

Content-Type : application/json Authorization : bearer (yourTokenString) – Pneumectomy

Yes it worked. Thanks. I used below code and worked : @PostMapping(value = Constant.API_INITIAL + "/uploadFile") public UploadFileResponse uploadFile(@RequestParam("file") MultipartFile file,String jsonFileVo) { FileUploadVo fileUploadVo = null; try { fileUploadVo = new ObjectMapper().readValue(jsonFileVo, FileUploadVo.class); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); } – Nightrider

you can set the Content-Type for contactDtoString to application/json, you can do this for every key – Lauter

Answer 12

If somebody needed:

body -> form-data

Add field name as array

Agram

Answer 13

You can send both Image and optional/mandatory parameters.

In postman, there is Params tab.

Nitre

Answer 14

Use the below code in your Spring REST controller:

@PostMapping(value = Constant.API_INITIAL + "/uploadFile")
public UploadFileResponse uploadFile(@RequestParam("file") MultipartFile file, String jsonFileVo) {
    FileUploadVo fileUploadVo = null;
    try {
        fileUploadVo = new ObjectMapper().readValue(jsonFileVo, FileUploadVo.class);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Nightrider

Answer 15

If you want to make a PUT request, just do everything as a POST request but add _method => PUT to your form-data parameters.

Ozuna

This is what I was looking for. I got confused as to why it worked on POST but not PUT. earlier. Thank you!! – Janae

@Ozuna this didn't work – Resonance

Answer 16

The way to send mulitpart data which containts a file with the json data is the following, we need to set the content-type of the respective json key fields to 'application/json' in the postman body tab like the following:

Magalimagallanes

Answer 17

I needed to pass both: a file and an integer. I did it this way:

1. needed to pass a file to upload: did it as per Sumit's answer.

   Request type : POST

   Body -> form-data

   under the heading KEY, entered the name of the variable ('file' in my backend code).

   in the backend:

   file = request.files['file']

   Next to 'file', there's a drop-down box which allows you to choose between 'File' or 'Text'. Chose 'File' and under the heading VALUE, 'Select files' appeared. Clicked on this which opened a window to select the file.

2. needed to pass an integer:

went to:

Params

entered variable name (e.g.: id) under KEY and its value (e.g.: 1) under VALUE

in the backend:

id = request.args.get('id')

Worked!

Accordingly

It was the file = request.files['file']for me. Thanks, saved my day – Alecalecia

Answer 18

For each form data key you can set Content-Type, there is a postman button on the right to add the Content-Type column, and you don't have to parse a json from a string inside your Controller.

Lauter

Answer 19

first, set post in method and fill link API

Then select Body -> form-data -> Enter your parameter name (file according to your code)

Scuffle

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please edit to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Gramicidin

Answer 20

If you want the Id and File in one object you can add your request object to a method as standard and then within Postman set the Body to form-data and prefix your keys with your request object name. e.g. request.SessionId and request.File.

Nice

Answer 21

The steps of uploading a file through postman along with passing some input data is very well discussed in below blog along with the screenshot. In this blog, the api code is written in node js. You can go through it once to have more clarity.

https://jksnu.blogspot.com/2021/09/how-to-create-post-request-with.html

Brayton

Answer 22

If you are using cookies to keep session, you can use interceptor to share cookies from browser to postman.

Also to upload a file you can use form-data tab under body tab on postman, In which you can provide data in key-value format and for each key you can select the type of value text/file. when you select file type option appeared to upload the file.

Enactment

For what you are getting 500. can you please share some more details – Enactment

Answer 23

At Back-end part

Rest service in Controller will have mixed @RequestPart and MultipartFile to serve such Multipart + JSON request.

@RequestMapping(value = "/executesampleservice", method = RequestMethod.POST,
consumes = {"multipart/form-data"})

@ResponseBody
public boolean yourEndpointMethod(
    @RequestPart("properties") @Valid ConnectionProperties properties,
    @RequestPart("file") @Valid @NotNull @NotBlank MultipartFile file) {
return projectService.executeSampleService(properties, file);
}

At front-end :

formData = new FormData();

formData.append("file", document.forms[formName].file.files[0]);
formData.append('properties', new Blob([JSON.stringify({
            "name": "root",
            "password": "root"                    
        })], {
            type: "application/json"
        }));

See in the image (POSTMAN request):

Click to view Postman request in form data for both file and json

Inscription

Answer 24

To send image along with json data in postman you just have to follow the below steps .

• Make your method to post in postman
• go to the body section and click on form-data
• provide your field name select file from the dropdown list as shown below
• you can also provide your other fields .
• now just write your image storing code in your controller as shown below .

postman :

my controller :

public function sendImage(Request $request)
{
    $image=new ImgUpload;  
    if($request->hasfile('image'))  
    {  
        $file=$request->file('image');  
        $extension=$file->getClientOriginalExtension();  
        $filename=time().'.'.$extension;  
        $file->move('public/upload/userimg/',$filename);  
        $image->image=$filename;  
    }  
    else  
    {  
        return $request;  
        $image->image='';  
    }  
    $image->save();
    return response()->json(['response'=>['code'=>'200','message'=>'image uploaded successfull']]);
}

That's it hope it will help you

Nissensohn