1 .\" You can view this file with:
3 .\" $Id: curl_formadd.3,v 1.1.1.1 2008-09-23 16:32:05 hoffman Exp $
5 .TH curl_formadd 3 "24 June 2002" "libcurl 7.9.8" "libcurl Manual"
7 curl_formadd - add a section to a multipart/formdata HTTP POST
9 .B #include <curl/curl.h>
11 .BI "CURLFORMcode curl_formadd(struct curl_httppost ** " firstitem,
12 .BI "struct curl_httppost ** " lastitem, " ...);"
15 curl_formadd() is used to append sections when building a multipart/formdata
16 HTTP POST (sometimes referred to as rfc1867-style posts). Append one section at
17 a time until you've added all the sections you want included and then you pass
18 the \fIfirstitem\fP pointer as parameter to \fBCURLOPT_HTTPPOST\fP.
19 \fIlastitem\fP is set after each call and on repeated invokes it should be
20 left as set to allow repeated invokes to find the end of the list faster.
22 After the \fIlastitem\fP pointer follow the real arguments.
24 The pointers \fI*firstitem\fP and \fI*lastitem\fP should both be pointing to
25 NULL in the first call to this function. All list-data will be allocated by
26 the function itself. You must call \fIcurl_formfree(3)\fP after the form post
27 has been done to free the resources.
29 Using POST with HTTP 1.1 implies the use of a "Expect: 100-continue" header.
30 You can disable this header with \fICURLOPT_HTTPHEADER\fP as usual.
32 First, there are some basics you need to understand about multipart/formdata
33 posts. Each part consists of at least a NAME and a CONTENTS part. If the part
34 is made for file upload, there are also a stored CONTENT-TYPE and a FILENAME.
35 Below, we'll discuss what options you use to set these properties in the
36 parts you want to add to your post.
38 The options listed first are for making normal parts. The options from
39 \fICURLFORM_FILE\fP through \fICURLFORM_BUFFERLENGTH\fP are for file upload
43 followed by a string which provides the \fIname\fP of this part. libcurl
44 copies the string so your application doesn't need to keep it around after
45 this function call. If the name isn't NUL-terminated, or if you'd
46 like it to contain zero bytes, you must set its length with
47 \fBCURLFORM_NAMELENGTH\fP. The copied data will be freed by
48 \fIcurl_formfree(3)\fP.
50 followed by a string which provides the \fIname\fP of this part. libcurl
51 will use the pointer and refer to the data in your application, so you
52 must make sure it remains until curl no longer needs it. If the name
53 isn't NUL-terminated, or if you'd like it to contain zero
54 bytes, you must set its length with \fBCURLFORM_NAMELENGTH\fP.
55 .IP CURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS
56 followed by a pointer to the contents of this part, the actual data
57 to send away. libcurl copies the provided data, so your application doesn't
58 need to keep it around after this function call. If the data isn't null
59 terminated, or if you'd like it to contain zero bytes, you must
60 set the length of the name with \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTSLENGTH\fP. The copied
61 data will be freed by \fIcurl_formfree(3)\fP.
62 .IP CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS
63 followed by a pointer to the contents of this part, the actual data
64 to send away. libcurl will use the pointer and refer to the data in your
65 application, so you must make sure it remains until curl no longer needs it.
66 If the data isn't NUL-terminated, or if you'd like it to contain zero bytes,
67 you must set its length with \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTSLENGTH\fP.
68 .IP CURLFORM_CONTENTSLENGTH
69 followed by a long giving the length of the contents. Note that for
70 \fICURLFORM_STREAM\fP contents, this option is mandatory.
71 .IP CURLFORM_FILECONTENT
72 followed by a filename, causes that file to be read and its contents used
73 as data in this part. This part does \fInot\fP automatically become a file
74 upload part simply because its data was read from a file.
76 followed by a filename, makes this part a file upload part. It sets the
77 \fIfilename\fP field to the basename of the provided filename, it reads the
78 contents of the file and passes them as data and sets the content-type if the
79 given file match one of the internally known file extensions. For
80 \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP the user may send one or more files in one part by
81 providing multiple \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP arguments each followed by the filename
82 (and each \fICURLFORM_FILE\fP is allowed to have a
83 \fICURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE\fP).
84 .IP CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE
85 is used in combination with \fICURLFORM_FILE\fP. Followed by a pointer to a
86 string which provides the content-type for this part, possibly instead of an
87 internally chosen one.
89 is used in combination with \fICURLFORM_FILE\fP. Followed by a pointer to a
90 string, it tells libcurl to use the given string as the \fIfilename\fP in the
91 file upload part instead of the actual file name.
93 is used for custom file upload parts without use of \fICURLFORM_FILE\fP. It
94 tells libcurl that the file contents are already present in a buffer. The
95 parameter is a string which provides the \fIfilename\fP field in the content
97 .IP CURLFORM_BUFFERPTR
98 is used in combination with \fICURLFORM_BUFFER\fP. The parameter is a pointer
99 to the buffer to be uploaded. This buffer must not be freed until after
100 \fIcurl_easy_cleanup(3)\fP is called. You must also use
101 \fICURLFORM_BUFFERLENGTH\fP to set the number of bytes in the buffer.
102 .IP CURLFORM_BUFFERLENGTH
103 is used in combination with \fICURLFORM_BUFFER\fP. The parameter is a
104 long which gives the length of the buffer.
106 Tells libcurl to use the \fICURLOPT_READFUNCTION\fP callback to get data. The
107 parameter you pass to \fICURLFORM_STREAM\fP is the pointer passed on to the
108 read callback's fourth argument. If you want the part to look like a file
109 upload one, set the \fICURLFORM_FILENAME\fP parameter as well. (Option added
112 Another possibility to send options to curl_formadd() is the
113 \fBCURLFORM_ARRAY\fP option, that passes a struct curl_forms array pointer as
114 its value. Each curl_forms structure element has a CURLformoption and a char
115 pointer. The final element in the array must be a CURLFORM_END. All available
116 options can be used in an array, except the CURLFORM_ARRAY option itself! The
117 last argument in such an array must always be \fBCURLFORM_END\fP.
118 .IP CURLFORM_CONTENTHEADER
119 specifies extra headers for the form POST section. This takes a curl_slist
120 prepared in the usual way using \fBcurl_slist_append\fP and appends the list
121 of headers to those libcurl automatically generates. The list must exist while
122 the POST occurs, if you free it before the post completes you may experience
125 When you've passed the HttpPost pointer to \fIcurl_easy_setopt(3)\fP (using
126 the \fICURLOPT_HTTPPOST\fP option), you must not free the list until after
127 you've called \fIcurl_easy_cleanup(3)\fP for the curl handle.
131 0 means everything was ok, non-zero means an error occurred corresponding
132 to a CURL_FORMADD_* constant defined in
137 struct curl_httppost* post = NULL;
138 struct curl_httppost* last = NULL;
139 char namebuffer[] = "name buffer";
140 long namelength = strlen(namebuffer);
141 char buffer[] = "test buffer";
142 char htmlbuffer[] = "<HTML>test buffer</HTML>";
143 long htmlbufferlength = strlen(htmlbuffer);
144 struct curl_forms forms[3];
145 char file1[] = "my-face.jpg";
146 char file2[] = "your-face.jpg";
147 /* add null character into htmlbuffer, to demonstrate that
148 transfers of buffers containing null characters actually work
150 htmlbuffer[8] = '\\0';
152 /* Add simple name/content section */
153 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "name",
154 CURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS, "content", CURLFORM_END);
156 /* Add simple name/content/contenttype section */
157 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "htmlcode",
158 CURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS, "<HTML></HTML>",
159 CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE, "text/html", CURLFORM_END);
161 /* Add name/ptrcontent section */
162 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "name_for_ptrcontent",
163 CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS, buffer, CURLFORM_END);
165 /* Add ptrname/ptrcontent section */
166 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_PTRNAME, namebuffer,
167 CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS, buffer, CURLFORM_NAMELENGTH,
168 namelength, CURLFORM_END);
170 /* Add name/ptrcontent/contenttype section */
171 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "html_code_with_hole",
172 CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS, htmlbuffer,
173 CURLFORM_CONTENTSLENGTH, htmlbufferlength,
174 CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE, "text/html", CURLFORM_END);
176 /* Add simple file section */
177 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "picture",
178 CURLFORM_FILE, "my-face.jpg", CURLFORM_END);
180 /* Add file/contenttype section */
181 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "picture",
182 CURLFORM_FILE, "my-face.jpg",
183 CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE, "image/jpeg", CURLFORM_END);
185 /* Add two file section */
186 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "pictures",
187 CURLFORM_FILE, "my-face.jpg",
188 CURLFORM_FILE, "your-face.jpg", CURLFORM_END);
190 /* Add two file section using CURLFORM_ARRAY */
191 forms[0].option = CURLFORM_FILE;
192 forms[0].value = file1;
193 forms[1].option = CURLFORM_FILE;
194 forms[1].value = file2;
195 forms[2].option = CURLFORM_END;
197 /* Add a buffer to upload */
198 curl_formadd(&post, &last,
199 CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "name",
200 CURLFORM_BUFFER, "data",
201 CURLFORM_BUFFERPTR, record,
202 CURLFORM_BUFFERLENGTH, record_length,
205 /* no option needed for the end marker */
206 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "pictures",
207 CURLFORM_ARRAY, forms, CURLFORM_END);
208 /* Add the content of a file as a normal post text value */
209 curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "filecontent",
210 CURLFORM_FILECONTENT, ".bashrc", CURLFORM_END);
211 /* Set the form info */
212 curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HTTPPOST, post);
215 .BR curl_easy_setopt "(3), "
216 .BR curl_formfree "(3)"