Testing file uploads with codeception

Question

Problem:

No data and files are coming through to the Silex application when a request is made from codeception test using the REST module with PhpBrowser driver.

    // ApiTester $I
    $I->wantTo('Submit files');

    // prepare:
    $data = ['key' => 'value'];
    $files = [
        'file_key' => 'path/to/file.doc',
        'file2_key' => 'path/to/file2.doc'
    ];

    // act:
    $I->haveHttpHeader('Content-Type', 'multipart/form-data');
    $I->sendPOST('/attachments/', $data, $files);

Current response

 I have http header "Content-Type","multipart/form-data"
 I send post "/attachments/",{"key":"value"},{"file_key":"/path/to/file/...}
  [Request] POST http://localhost/attachments/ {"key":"value"}
  [Request Headers] {"Content-Type":"multipart/form-data"}
  [Page] http://localhost/attachments/
  [Response] 400
  [Request Cookies] []
  [Response Headers] {"Date":["Tue, 25 Oct 2016 09:15:31 GMT"],"Server":["Apache/2.4.10 (Debian)"],"Cache-Control":["no-cache"],"Access-Control-Allow-Origin":["*"],"Access-Control-Allow-Headers":["Content-Type, Authorization"],"Access-Control-Allow-Methods":["GET,PATCH,PUT,POST,HEAD,DELETE,OPTIONS"],"Content-Length":["1235"],"Connection":["close"],"Content-Type":["application/json"]}
  [Response] {"status":400,"meta":{"time":"2016-10-25 09:15:31"},"title":"Invalid Request","errors":"No data received","details":{"error_class":"Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\BadRequestHttpException"

Tried:

changing the Content-Type header
changing files array passed to sendPOST to an array of:
- file paths file objects ( UploadedFile )
- file arrays

The test works with Silex driver, but that won't be an option on the CI server. Also we've checked with Postman and the API route works as intended, files are sent and all good.

Have you tried to make a request without setting Content-Type? — Naktibalda, Oct 25 '16 at 16:57
tried, but then I get `[Request Headers] {"Content-Type":"application/vnd.api+json"}` and the API can't handle the request and get "Invalid Request", invalid data — Stefan Rogin, Oct 26 '16 at 12:15
the headers was the issue, it was set from a previous test, and `$I->deleteHeader('content-type');` fixed it — Stefan Rogin, Oct 26 '16 at 13:42
I don't know the root cause and can't come up with a good complete answer for it. — Naktibalda, Oct 26 '16 at 21:36

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

5

The actual problems:

$I->haveHttpHeader('Content-Type', 'multipart/form-data'); overwrites the Content-Type as it should be set by the http library (in phpbrowser is guzzle) to include the boundary, it's related to this.
Also be mindful that the $I->header does not reset after each request, to unset it use $I->deleteHeader('Content-Type');

Solution

Don't set the 'Content-Type' headers when sending files.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

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answered Oct 30 '16 at 09:38

Stefan Rogin

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Had the same issue and I wasn't setting `Content-Type to multipart/form-data`. And still I was getting this issue. However, `$I->deleteHeader('Content-Type');` helped. Thank you – CannotCode Jan 16 '18 at 15:25
Something, somewhere probably did set it for the `$I` object before you made your request, as it should be empty by default. – Stefan Rogin Jan 17 '18 at 01:12