How to post an array of emails as cfhttpparam?

Question

so I am trying to post to an API using Coldfusion with an array of emails.

For a quick over view of the API schema,

{
 "emails":["foo@bar.com", "bar@foo.com"],
 "orgId":1,
 "subject":"foobar",
 "body":"foobar",
 "sender":"foobar@com"
}

Now this is my coldfusion script

<cffunction name="inviteusers" access="public" returntype="any">
    <cfset var data = "" />
    <cfhttp url="urlserver#UserInvite" method="post" username="#username#" password="#urlpass#" result="data">
        <cfhttpparam name="emails"  this is array or emails>
        <cfhttpparam name="orgID" type="formType" value="1">
        <cfhttpparam name="body" type="formType" value="this is the body">
        <cfhttpparam name="sender" type="formType" value="hmm@yahoo.com">
    </cfhttp>
</cffunction>

The emails is where I am stuck at.. I'm not sure how to approach this problem..

Thank you guys!

Is the API actually expecting to receive JSON? If so, the above won't work. Otherwise, try using two `` tags, one for each address. What are the results? — Leigh, Jan 26 '15 at 22:30
Hi @Leigh, can you kindly explain why the above won't work if the API expects JSON? Yes, the API receives and returns JSON. And if I did one for each addresses, that means that I would have to call this API according to the number of email addresses or do a foreach loop.. — jmesolomon, Jan 27 '15 at 00:17
[JSON](http://json.org/) is a string in a specific format. The code above just sends the key/value pairs via a standard post. It won't automatically convert the data to JSON. So if that is what the receiving end is expecting, it probably will not work. Can you provide a link to the API docs? Most likely you will need to create a CF structure, with the various orgId, etcetera.. Then use `SerializeJSON`, but we need to see the API to offer more specific advice. — Leigh, Jan 27 '15 at 04:03
@Leigh ah! I see, my bad. Sorry for incomplete details. I am using Jquery post with `datatype: 'json'` to `inviteuser` method to a controller class (working on MVC framework). I've created a Javascript obj to contain the data that I need, just as what you have explained above (just in Javascript hehe ^^).. Thank you very much Leigh! I've finally managed to answer this question.. I'll post it here — jmesolomon, Jan 27 '15 at 04:21

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

Allrighty,

here is how I answered this question. Since I am working on an MVC framework, in the view where I have the form, I've created a JQuery post function to the function in a controller.

I have an html input where a user can type in any number of emails separated by comma. I have a javascript function that takes the value of the input and splits them at 'comma' then add them to an array object.

Since the API is structured as this :

{
 "emails":["foo@bar.com", "bar@foo.com"],
 "orgId":1,
 "subject":"foobar",
 "body":"foobar",
 "sender":"foobar@com"
}

in my $.post() function I have an object for to be used as the data:

var myData = {
                "emails" : myEmails, //This myEmails is an array['fooBar@.com', 'barfoo@.com'] of emails from the single email input.
                "orgId" : 1,
                "subject" : $('#vgridSubject').val(),
                "body" : $('#vgridText').val(),
                "sender" : "foobar@ls.com"
            }

now in my controller, here is how I handle the array of emails

<cfscript>
  sendInvites = postUserInvite(emails = FORM['EMAILS[]'], orgID = FORM.orgID, subject = FORM.subject, body = FORM.body, sender = FORM.sender)
</cfscript>

Take note of FORM['EMAILS[]'] as this lets me access the values from form scope.

Link to the form array Working with Form Arrays in ColdFusion?

Not sure I follow how that relates to cfhttpparam, but glad you figured something out. RE: *Take note of `FORM['EMAILS[]']`* Where in the code are you using the field name "emails[]" ? — Leigh, Jan 27 '15 at 22:00

How to post an array of emails as cfhttpparam?

1 Answers1