BOX API Upload a file Java

Question

I try to upload a file to Box, using Box API.

But whatever I try, I always receive 400 Bad Request without any other information.

Any idea about the problem?

The example from the API is this curl request :

curl https://upload.box.com/api/2.0/files/content \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN" -X POST \
-F attributes='{"name":"tigers.jpeg", "parent":{"id":"11446498"}}' \
-F [email protected]

My code is below :

    String URL = "https://upload.box.com/api/2.0/files/content/";

    HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
    PostMethod postMethod = new PostMethod(URL);
    postMethod.setRequestHeader("Authorization", "Bearer "+ this.token);

    try {
        List<Part> parts = new ArrayList<Part>();

        JSONObject parent = new JSONObject();
        parent.put("id", this.parentId);

        JSONObject attributes = new JSONObject();
        attributes.put("parent", parent);
        attributes.put("name", file.getName());

        StringPart strPart = new StringPart("attributes", attributes.toString());
        strPart.setContentType("application/json");
        parts.add(strPart);

        ByteArrayPartSource source = new ByteArrayPartSource(file.getName(),
                IOUtils.toByteArray(this.file);
        parts.add(new FilePart("file", source));

        postMethod.setRequestEntity(new MultipartRequestEntity(parts.toArray(new Part[0]), postMethod.getParams()));
        httpClient.executeMethod(postMethod);

        int status = postMethod.getStatusCode();

        if (status == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK || status == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_ACCEPTED) {
            String jsonText = postMethod.getResponseBodyAsString();
            JSONObject json = new JSONObject(jsonText);
            System.out.println(jsonText);
        } else {
            throw new MyException(postMethod.getResponseBodyAsString());
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        postMethod.releaseConnection();
    }

Answer 1

I found out the solution, the different parts were not correct. I had to create 3 parts:

1. Parent_id : the id of the parent folder
2. Metadata : the json
3. File : the file to upload

This code works :

    String URL = "https://upload.box.com/api/2.0/files/content";
    HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
    PostMethod postMethod = new PostMethod(URL);
    postMethod.setRequestHeader("Authorization", "Bearer "+ this.token);

    try {
        List<Part> parts = new ArrayList<Part>();

        parts.add(new StringPart("parent_id", parentId));

        JSONObject parent = new JSONObject();
        parent.put("id", this.parentId);

        JSONObject attributes = new JSONObject();
        attributes.put("parent", parent);
        attributes.put("name", file.getName());

        StringPart strPart = new StringPart("metadata", attributes.toString());
        strPart.setContentType("text/plain");
        parts.add(strPart);

        ByteArrayPartSource source = new ByteArrayPartSource(file.getName(),
                IOUtils.toByteArray(this.file));
        parts.add(new FilePart("file", source));

        postMethod.setRequestEntity(new MultipartRequestEntity(parts.toArray(new Part[0]), postMethod.getParams()));
        httpClient.executeMethod(postMethod);

        // checks server's status code first
        int status = postMethod.getStatusCode();
        System.out.println(status);
        if (status == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK || status == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_CREATED) {
            String jsonText = postMethod.getResponseBodyAsString();
            JSONObject json = new JSONObject(jsonText);
            System.out.println(jsonText);
        } else {
            throw new MyException(postMethod.getResponseBodyAsString());
        }
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        postMethod.releaseConnection();
    }

Answer 2

Have you validated the parent ID = 11446498 is valid? If you're just testing this endpoint, try with the ID = 0 which will represent the root folder.

Answer 3

BoxConfig boxConfig = BoxConfig.readFrom(new FileReader("box_config.json"));  //.json configuration file can be downloaded from dev console based on your app settings      
BoxAPIConnection api = BoxDeveloperEditionAPIConnection.
                                          getAppUserConnection(USER_ID, boxConfig);
BoxFolder boxFolder = new BoxFolder(api, FOLDER_ID);
boxFolder.uploadFile(stream, filename);

Be aware that it is not enough to just create the App and set it to read and write, you also needs to authorize the app in admin console - Enterprise Settings. Use client Id to authorize the new app