cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Reply
JonathanM
Frequent Visitor

HTTP Post multipart/form-data

Hi,

 

I am trying to post SharePoint files to a 3rd party via their API.  Their API uses multipart/form-data.  After some trial and error, I can POSTcontent, but only text files come out correctly on the destination.  Other files (Excel, Word, jpg, etc.) post, but the data is not readable. What do I need to do to the file content to format it properly?

 

Thanks!

 

http post.png

 

50 REPLIES 50
v-yuazh-msft
Community Support
Community Support

Hi @JonathanM,

 

The file content is with type base 64 when the files with type Excel, Word, jpg, etc.

 

Best regards,

Alice

Thanks Alice.  I've tried converting the content a variety of ways, but have not been able to get it converted properly.  What should the formula be to convert the file content?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

SamPo
Power Participant
Power Participant

@JonathanM Did you ever resolve this issue?

How were you able to post text files using this method in the first place? Everthing I try just converts the whole string to base64 and flow completely ignores the multipart sections.

I'm trying to do it now through swagger but still no luck yet.

Any updates you have here would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Sam

Hi @SamPo 

 

This worked for me for any type of content (text, Word, Excel, etc.)

2019-04-02_08h15_42.png

@JonathanM Thanks for this.

Unfortunately it's not working for me. I'm posting to the API for Atlassian Jira Cloud.

It responds with a code of 200 but no file is actually created.

 

2019-04-02_1817.png

SamPo
Power Participant
Power Participant

I got it working in the end. I had to specifically define the content type in the body

Screenshot 2019-04-02 at 22.10.53.png

@JonathanMor @SamPo  Do you know how to modify the request body to include other parameters in the multi-part form? Your examples appear just to have a single part, which is the file itself.

SamPo
Power Participant
Power Participant

@WillPage  What else are you trying to update?

 

Also are you able to make the call you wish from Postman? I used postman calls to a test flow I built to figure out the structure I needed. Perhaps you can do the same. If you have an example of the postman call then screenshot it here as well if you can.

@SamPo  Thanks for responding.

 

It's a file upload to Bamboo HR. They need a bit of metadata with the file; a category, which is basically the folder it goes in and whether it's shared or not. Here's their doco https://www.bamboohr.com/api/documentation/employees.php#uploadEmployeeFile

 

It works fine in Postman, and it works fine posting plain text in the file content using the example copy-pasted in the documentation (with the category changed).

 

I've tried using your example and adding the metatdata as extra records in the $multipart object like this

 

{
  "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
  "$multipart": [
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"category\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "18"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"fileName\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "test.bmp"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"share\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "yes"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers:": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name = \"file\"; filename=\"test.bmp\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content-type": "application/octet-stream",
        "$content": {
          "$content-type": "image/bmp",
          "$content": "iVBORw0KGgoAAA............Jggg=="
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

However, I get 403 Forbidden back from the server. File category 18 is the only one I have write access to, so there's every chance the metadata isn't being sent properly and it's denying me to write whatever the default file category is.

 

Here's the screen shot from Postman:Capture.PNG

 

What I pasted as the request body there was copied from the output of a failed run. I spotted that Flow is adding its own record for the body... However, it still fails with a 403:

 

Request body as seen in the designer:

{
  "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
  "$multipart": [
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"category\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "18"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"fileName\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "test.bmp"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"share\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "yes"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers:": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name = \"file\"; filename=\"test.bmp\""
      },
      "body":  @{body('Get_file_content_using_path')}
      
    }
  ]
}

And as seen in the output of a failed run:

 

{
  "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
  "$multipart": [
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"category\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "18"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"fileName\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "test.bmp"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"share\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content": "yes"
      }
    },
    {
      "headers:": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name = \"file\"; filename=\"test.bmp\""
      },
      "body": {
        "$content-type": "image/bmp",
        "$content": "iVBORw.................Jggg=="
      }
    }
  ]
}
SamPo
Power Participant
Power Participant

@WillPage  Sorry for the late reply.

 

1) Does your postman flow work?

2) Assuming it does work, change the endpoint of the postman flow to a new flow just with an HTTP request trigger (add just a compose or something so you can save it. Then run it once and open the log of the flow that ran then copy the body received by the HTTP trigger here. If one of the items youve posted above is already this then let me know which one.

 

Sam

@SamPoNow that I've done that it's clear why it isn't working.

 

This is the body of the request coming from Postman, as captured by a flow with HTTP trigger:

 

----------------------------633613363255592221149085
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="category"

18
----------------------------633613363255592221149085
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fileName"

Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf
----------------------------633613363255592221149085
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="share"

yes
----------------------------633613363255592221149085
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf"
Content-Type: application/pdf

%PDF-1.7
... Rest of PDF file.

 

 

..and this is from Flow:

 

--cbd9b14e-6955-43e3-a757-c4e5d1d3d3c3
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="category"

{"$content":"18"}
--cbd9b14e-6955-43e3-a757-c4e5d1d3d3c3
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fileName"

{"$content":"Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf"}
--cbd9b14e-6955-43e3-a757-c4e5d1d3d3c3
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="share"

{"$content":"yes"}
--cbd9b14e-6955-43e3-a757-c4e5d1d3d3c3
content-type: application/pdf

%PDF-1.7
... Rest of PDF file

 

 

I do note that the file content is not corrupt. It looks the same as the original in a text editor at least, which is more than can be said when adding dynamic content from a Get file content action directly into a plain text request body, (like the output from Postman above or the example on the Bamboo HR documentation).

 

Now, if I can define the multipart boundaries using JSON, and the file content but have the metadata as plain text this would work. Is that possible, or am I going to have to do this in an Azure Function?

So, this body:

 

{
  "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
  "$multipart": [
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"category\""
      },
      "body": "18"
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"fileName\""
      },
      "body": "Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf"
  
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"share\""
      },
      "body": "yes"
    },
    {
      "headers:": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf\""
      },
      "body": @{body('Get_file_content')}
    }
  ]
}

Gives me this output:

--3b77c044-c94c-4156-8322-01ca7e812bcb
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="category"

18
--3b77c044-c94c-4156-8322-01ca7e812bcb
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fileName"

Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf
--3b77c044-c94c-4156-8322-01ca7e812bcb
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="share"

yes
--3b77c044-c94c-4156-8322-01ca7e812bcb
content-type: application/pdf

%PDF-1.7

...which looks OK apart from the Content-Type header I didn't ask for in each section. Unfortunately though, The Bamboo HR API gives me a 400 error when I send it this. Guess I'm stuck!

This is the error coming back from the Bamboo HR API now....

Capture.PNG

It's just clicked. For some reason the last part:

 

 {
      "headers:": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf\"",
"Content-Type": "application/pdf"
      },
      "body": @{body('Get_file_content')}
    }

When run through the Flow comes out without the Content-Disposition attached:

--4a6c27da-af8b-479d-af08-824f21977c40
content-type: application/pdf

%PDF-1.7
..Rest of PDF

--4a6c27da-af8b-479d-af08-824f21977c40

..so close but not quite there!

@SamPoThanks so much for your help. I finally figured this out:

 

{
  "$content-type": "multipart/form-data",
  "$multipart": [
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"category\""
      },
      "body": "18"
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"fileName\""
      },
      "body": "Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf"
    },
    {
      "headers": {
        "Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"share\""
      },
      "body": "yes"
    },
    {
      "headers": {
"Content-Disposition": "form-data; name=\"file\"; filename=\"Will Page - Signed Induction.pdf\""},
      "body": {
"$content-type": "application/pdf",
"$content": "@{base64(body('Get_file_content'))}"
}
    }
  ]
}

Without your tip of creating a Flow to capture and debug the output I'd have spent a million years on this - having that info was crucial.

 

The last part was simply to convert the output of Get file content to Base64 rather than feed the raw content straight into the Flow and let it infer the content type and create an object out of it.

 

So happy to see this working!

SamPo
Power Participant
Power Participant

@WillPage So happy to see you've got it working! 

Glad to be of service.

davidlist87
Advocate I
Advocate I

Hi Guys,

 

I was wondering if you could help with my problem.

 

I am try to POST an image to a machine learning service but I'm getting a weird error back.

JPG is one of the only content types allowable. I have tested this using Postman multipart/form-data but I am struggling to POST is using raw JSON.

Image 1.jpgImage 3.jpg

 

You need to show us the body of your HTTP request and the error message, to be in with any chance of getting help.

Helpful resources

Announcements

Power Platform Connections - Episode 7 | March 30, 2023

Episode Seven of Power Platform Connections sees David Warner and Hugo Bernier talk to Microsoft MVP Dian Taylor, alongside the latest news, product reviews, and community blogs.     Use the hashtag #PowerPlatformConnects on social media for a chance to have your work featured on the show!      Show schedule in this episode:    0:00 Cold Open 00:30 Show Intro 01:02 Dian Taylor Interview 18:03 Blogs & Articles 26:55 Outro & Bloopers    Check out the blogs and articles featured in this week’s episode:    https://francomusso.com/create-a-drag-and-drop-experience-to-upload-case-attachments @crmbizcoach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3522H834Ro​/  @pranavkhuranauk https://github.com/pnp/powerapps-designtoolkit/tree/main/materialdesign%20components @MMe2K​ https://2die4it.com/2023/03/27/populate-a-dynamic-microsoft-word-template-in-power-automate-flow/ @StefanS365 https://d365goddess.com/viva-sales-administrator-settings/ @D365Goddess https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=megel.mme2k-powerapps-helper#Visualize_Dataverse_Environments @MMe2K    Action requested:  Feel free to provide feedback on how we can make our community more inclusive and diverse.    This episode premiered live on our YouTube at 12pm PST on Thursday 30th March 2023.    Video series available at Power Platform Community YouTube channel.    Upcoming events:  Business Applications Launch – April 4th – Free and Virtual! M365 Conference - May 1-5th - Las Vegas Power Apps Developers Summit – May 19-20th - London European Power Platform conference – Jun. 20-22nd - Dublin Microsoft Power Platform Conference – Oct. 3-5th - Las Vegas    Join our Communities:  Power Apps Community Power Automate Community Power Virtual Agents Community Power Pages Community    If you’d like to hear from a specific community member in an upcoming recording and/or have specific questions for the Power Platform Connections team, please let us know. We will do our best to address all your requests or questions.       

Announcing | Super Users - 2023 Season 1

Super Users – 2023 Season 1    We are excited to kick off the Power Users Super User Program for 2023 - Season 1.  The Power Platform Super Users have done an amazing job in keeping the Power Platform communities helpful, accurate and responsive. We would like to send these amazing folks a big THANK YOU for their efforts.      Super User Season 1 | Contributions July 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022  Super User Season 2 | Contributions January 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023    Curious what a Super User is? Super Users are especially active community members who are eager to help others with their community questions. There are 2 Super User seasons in a year, and we monitor the community for new potential Super Users at the end of each season. Super Users are recognized in the community with both a rank name and icon next to their username, and a seasonal badge on their profile.  Power Apps  Power Automate  Power Virtual Agents  Power Pages  Pstork1*  Pstork1*  Pstork1*  OliverRodrigues  BCBuizer  Expiscornovus*  Expiscornovus*  ragavanrajan  AhmedSalih  grantjenkins  renatoromao    Mira_Ghaly*  Mira_Ghaly*      Sundeep_Malik*  Sundeep_Malik*      SudeepGhatakNZ*  SudeepGhatakNZ*      StretchFredrik*  StretchFredrik*      365-Assist*  365-Assist*      cha_cha  ekarim2020      timl  Hardesh15      iAm_ManCat  annajhaveri      SebS  Rhiassuring      LaurensM  abm      TheRobRush  Ankesh_49      WiZey  lbendlin      Nogueira1306  Kaif_Siddique      victorcp  RobElliott      dpoggemann  srduval      SBax  CFernandes      Roverandom  schwibach      Akser  CraigStewart      PowerRanger  MichaelAnnis      subsguts  David_MA      EricRegnier  edgonzales      zmansuri  GeorgiosG      ChrisPiasecki  ryule      AmDev  fchopo      phipps0218  tom_riha      theapurva  takolota     Akash17  momlo     BCLS776  Shuvam-rpa     rampprakash  ScottShearer     Rusk  ChristianAbata     cchannon  Koen5     a33ik  Heartholme     AaronKnox  okeks      Matren   David_MA     Alex_10        Jeff_Thorpe        poweractivate        Ramole        DianaBirkelbach        DavidZoon        AJ_Z        PriyankaGeethik        BrianS        StalinPonnusamy        HamidBee        CNT        Anonymous_Hippo        Anchov        KeithAtherton        alaabitar        Tolu_Victor        KRider        sperry1625        IPC_ahaas      zuurg    rubin_boer   cwebb365   Dorrinda   G1124   Gabibalaban   Manan-Malhotra   jcfDaniel   WarrenBelz   Waegemma   drrickryp   GuidoPreite    If an * is at the end of a user's name this means they are a Multi Super User, in more than one community. Please note this is not the final list, as we are pending a few acceptances.  Once they are received the list will be updated. 

Register now for the Business Applications Launch Event | Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Join us for an in-depth look into the latest updates across Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform that are helping businesses overcome their biggest challenges today.   Find out about new features, capabilities, and best practices for connecting data to deliver exceptional customer experiences, collaborating, and creating using AI-powered capabilities, driving productivity with automation—and building towards future growth with today’s leading technology.   Microsoft leaders and experts will guide you through the full 2023 release wave 1 and how these advancements will help you: Expand visibility, reduce time, and enhance creativity in your departments and teams with unified, AI-powered capabilities.Empower your employees to focus on revenue-generating tasks while automating repetitive tasks.Connect people, data, and processes across your organization with modern collaboration tools.Innovate without limits using the latest in low-code development, including new GPT-powered capabilities.    Click Here to Register Today!    

Check out the new Power Platform Communities Front Door Experience!

We are excited to share the ‘Power Platform Communities Front Door’ experience with you!   Front Door brings together content from all the Power Platform communities into a single place for our community members, customers and low-code, no-code enthusiasts to learn, share and engage with peers, advocates, community program managers and our product team members. There are a host of features and new capabilities now available on Power Platform Communities Front Door to make content more discoverable for all power product community users which includes ForumsUser GroupsEventsCommunity highlightsCommunity by numbersLinks to all communities Users can see top discussions from across all the Power Platform communities and easily navigate to the latest or trending posts for further interaction. Additionally, they can filter to individual products as well.   Users can filter and browse the user group events from all power platform products with feature parity to existing community user group experience and added filtering capabilities.     Users can now explore user groups on the Power Platform Front Door landing page with capability to view all products in Power Platform.      Explore Power Platform Communities Front Door today. Visit Power Platform Community Front door to easily navigate to the different product communities, view a roll up of user groups, events and forums.

Microsoft Power Platform Conference | Registration Open | Oct. 3-5 2023

We are so excited to see you for the Microsoft Power Platform Conference in Las Vegas October 3-5 2023! But first, let's take a look back at some fun moments and the best community in tech from MPPC 2022 in Orlando, Florida.   Featuring guest speakers such as Charles Lamanna, Heather Cook, Julie Strauss, Nirav Shah, Ryan Cunningham, Sangya Singh, Stephen Siciliano, Hugo Bernier and many more.   Register today: https://www.powerplatformconf.com/   

Users online (3,341)