cowboy/doc/src/guide/multipart.asciidoc

[[multipart]]
== Multipart requests

Multipart originates from MIME, an Internet standard that
extends the format of emails. Multipart messages are a
container for parts of any content-type.

For example, a multipart message may have a part
containing text and a second part containing an
image. This is what allows you to attach files
to emails.

In the context of HTTP, multipart is most often used
with the `multipart/form-data` content-type. This is
the content-type you have to use when you want browsers
to be allowed to upload files through HTML forms.

Multipart is of course not required for uploading
files, it is only required when you want to do so
through HTML forms.

You can read and parse multipart messages using the
Req object directly.

Cowboy defines two functions that allows you to get
information about each part and read their contents.

=== Structure

A multipart message is a list of parts. Parts may
contain either a multipart message or a non-multipart
content-type. This allows parts to be arranged in a
tree structure, although this is a rare case as far
as the Web is concerned.

=== Form-data

In the normal case, when a form is submitted, the
browser will use the `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`
content-type. This type is just a list of keys and
values and is therefore not fit for uploading files.

That's where the `multipart/form-data` content-type
comes in. When the form is configured to use this
content-type, the browser will use one part of the
message for each form field. This means that a file
input field will be sent in its own part, but the
same applies to all other kinds of fields.

A form with a text input, a file input and a select
choice box will result in a multipart message with
three parts, one for each field.

The browser does its best to determine the content-type
of the files it sends this way, but you should not
rely on it for determining the contents of the file.
Proper investigation of the contents is recommended.

=== Checking the content-type

While there is a variety of multipart messages, the
most common on the Web is `multipart/form-data`. It's
the type of message being sent when an HTML form
allows uploading files.

You can quickly figure out if a multipart message
has been sent by parsing the `content-type` header.

[source,erlang]
----
{<<"multipart">>, <<"form-data">>, _}
    = cowboy_req:parse_header(<<"content-type">>, Req).
----

=== Reading a multipart message

To read a message you have to iterate over all its
parts. Then, for each part, you can inspect its headers
and read its body.

[source,erlang]
----
multipart(Req) ->
    case cowboy_req:part(Req) of
        {ok, _Headers, Req2} ->
            {ok, _Body, Req3} = cowboy_req:part_body(Req2),
            multipart(Req3);
        {done, Req2} ->
            Req2
    end.
----

Parts do not have a size limit. When a part body is
too big, Cowboy will return what it read so far and
allow you to continue if you wish to do so.

The function `cow_multipart:form_data/1` can be used
to quickly obtain information about a part from a
`multipart/form-data` message. This function will
tell you if the part is for a normal field or if it
is a file being uploaded.

This can be used for example to allow large part bodies
for files but crash when a normal field is too large.

[source,erlang]
----
multipart(Req) ->
    case cowboy_req:part(Req) of
        {ok, Headers, Req2} ->
            Req4 = case cow_multipart:form_data(Headers) of
                {data, _FieldName} ->
                    {ok, _Body, Req3} = cowboy_req:part_body(Req2),
                    Req3;
                {file, _FieldName, _Filename, _CType, _CTransferEncoding} ->
                    stream_file(Req2)
            end,
            multipart(Req4);
        {done, Req2} ->
            Req2
    end.

stream_file(Req) ->
    case cowboy_req:part_body(Req) of
        {ok, _Body, Req2} ->
            Req2;
        {more, _Body, Req2} ->
            stream_file(Req2)
    end.
----

By default the body chunk Cowboy will return is limited
to 8MB. This can of course be overriden. Both functions
can take a second argument, the same list of options that
will be passed to `cowboy_req:body/2` function.

=== Skipping unwanted parts

If you do not want to read a part's body, you can skip it.
Skipping is easy. If you do not call the function to read
the part's body, Cowboy will automatically skip it when
you request the next part.

The following snippet reads all part headers and skips
all bodies:

[source,erlang]
----
multipart(Req) ->
    case cowboy_req:part(Req) of
        {ok, _Headers, Req2} ->
            multipart(Req2);
        {done, Req2} ->
            Req2
    end.
----

Similarly, if you start reading the body and it ends up
being too big, you can simply continue with the next part,
Cowboy will automatically skip what remains.

Note that the skipping rate may not be adequate for your
application. If you observe poor performance when skipping,
you might want to consider manually skipping by calling
the `cowboy_req:part_body/1` function directly.

And if you started reading the message but decide that you
do not need the remaining parts, you can simply stop reading
entirely and Cowboy will automatically figure out what to do.