Java Rest Jersey : Posting multiple types of data (File and JSON)

Question

I have a Jersey REST service to which data will be posted. There will be a a CSV file which is the actual data and some meta-data for that CSV (the meta can either be in JSO

Answer 1

You should use some multipart format. It basically consists of a single message of type multipart/xxx (where xxx can be something like form-data), and that message consists of other "complete" messages with their own content-type and other meta data.

You haven't specified which Jersey version, but starting with Jersey 2.x.x, there is multipart support available, in the form of a separate artifact:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.media</groupId>
    <artifactId>jersey-media-multipart</artifactId>
    <version>${jersey.version}</version>
</dependency>

Then you just need to register the feature, as seen here in Registration.

Then you can just use @FormDataParam

@POST
@Consumes(MediaType.MULTIPART_FORM_DATA)
@Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
public CreateTaskVO provideService(
               @FormDataParam("meta") String jsonMeta,
               @FormDataParam("data") InputStream file,
               @FormDataParam("data") FormDataContentDisposition fileDetail) {

You can see here an example of how the data can be sent from the client, and also the internal message body format of a multipart

Other rreading:

• General Information on Jersey Multipart support
• General information on multipart/form-data
• JAX-RS Post multiple objects

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UPDATE

There is also support for multipart in Jersey 1.x.x, in the form of this artifact

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.jersey.contribs</groupId>
    <artifactId>jersey-multipart</artifactId>
    <version>${jersey.version}</version>
</dependency>