[Mime] FormDataPart and multidimensional arrays structure #34031

jvahldick · 2019-10-18T15:24:40Z

Symfony version(s) affected: 4.3

Description
I have had some issues trying to send (POST) data collections using the HttpClient component together with the Mime component.
The problem itself, or what I believe is a problem, lives on the Mime component.

Let's say I want to send a collection of names to the backend. Usually, what I've done can be seen on the code below:

<input type="text" name="names[]" value="John" />
<input type="text" name="names[]" value="Doe" />

It generates the following results on the $_POST globals on php

[
    'names' => [
        'John', 'Doe'
    ]
]

This is actual the raw body of the request:

----------------------------466490401959219490193856
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="names[]"

John
----------------------------466490401959219490193856
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="names[]"

Doe
----------------------------466490401959219490193856--

So, I tried to do same using the Symfony HttpClient:

$httpClient = new CurlHttpClient([
    'headers' => [
        'Content-Type' => 'multipart/form-data'
    ]
]);

$formFields = [
    'names' => [
        'John',
        'Doe',
    ],
];

$formData = new FormDataPart($formFields);

$response = $httpClient->request('POST', 'https://eng9788fdqqri.x.pipedream.net/', [
    'headers' => $formData->getPreparedHeaders()->toArray(),
    'body' => $formData->bodyToIterable(),
]);

The raw body received on the server was:

--_=_symfony_1571410806_b9d8ed1979329f4173335201a24a9293_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data

John
--_=_symfony_1571410806_b9d8ed1979329f4173335201a24a9293_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=1

Doe
--_=_symfony_1571410806_b9d8ed1979329f4173335201a24a9293_=_--

Let's say I add more levels on the payload.

$formFields = [
    'people' => [
        [
            'forename' => 'John',
            'surname' => 'Doe',
            'visits' => [
                'Monday',
                'Tuesday',
            ]
        ],
        [
            'forename' => 'Foo',
            'surname' => 'Baz',
            'visits' => [
                'Monday',
                'Tuesday',
            ]
        ],
    ],
];

When building the form data, the fields are not well recognized as showing below

--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=forename
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=forename

John
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=surname
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=surname

Doe
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data

Monday
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=1

Tuesday
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=forename
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=forename

Foo
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=surname
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=surname

Baz
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data

Monday
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: form-data; name=1

Tuesday
--_=_symfony_1571411167_e78fb7990a9a6884b665462eb252cc74_=_--

As you can see, some names are repeated, and also, it is not actually well reconized by the server.
The result I got on this payload on Symfony ($request->request->all()) was:

{
    "request": {
        "forename": "John",
        "surname": "Doe"
    }
}

I created an example that can be checked at:
https://github.com/jvahldick/symfony-issue-mime-component/blob/master/src/Controller/MyController.php

There is a similar issue that can be found at #33063, which also has a PR (#33064).
I tested it, however, I didn't get what I believe is the desirable result.

What actually I expect to be the result is:

{
    "request": {
        "people": [
            {
                "forename": "John",
                "surname": "Doe",
                "visits": [
                    "Monday",
                    "Tuesday"
                ]
            },
            {
                "forename": "Foo",
                "surname": "Baz",
                "visits": [
                    "Monday",
                    "Tuesday"
                ]
            }
        ]
    }
}

Possible Solution
Will be creating the PR.

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

…taPart (jvahldick) This PR was merged into the 4.4 branch. Discussion ---------- [Mime] Fixing multidimensional array structure with FormDataPart | Q | A | ------------- | --- | Branch? | 4.3 | Bug fix? | yes | New feature? | no | Deprecations? | no | Tickets | Fix #33063 #34031 | License | MIT | Doc PR | - The issue is pretty much described on #34031 The current structure of the raw body build on FormDataPart is not well recognized by the server. It considers all the fields as a root type, when actually it is possible to send arrays by html forms. Lets the following structure on the html ```html <input type="text" name="names[]" value="John" /> <input type="text" name="names[]" value="Doe" /> ``` It creates the following raw body: ``` ----------------------------466490401959219490193856 Content-Disposition: form-data; name="names[]" John ----------------------------466490401959219490193856 Content-Disposition: form-data; name="names[]" Doe ----------------------------466490401959219490193856-- ``` Meanwhile, the FormDataPart on Mime component generates the following body: ``` --_=_symfony_1571410799_b7846b3b4e86d821cdec4379e62b4068_=_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Disposition: form-data John --_=_symfony_1571410799_b7846b3b4e86d821cdec4379e62b4068_=_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; name=1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Disposition: form-data; name=1 Doe --_=_symfony_1571410799_b7846b3b4e86d821cdec4379e62b4068_=_-- ``` For more complex structures, the $_POST doesn't even recognize properly the field names and values. Commits ------- ca630e5 Changing the multipart form-data behavior to use the form name as an array, which makes it recognizable as an array by PHP on the $_POST globals once it is coming from the HttpClient component

jvahldick mentioned this issue Oct 18, 2019

[Mime] Fixing multidimensional array structure with FormDataPart #34032

Merged

javiereguiluz added Bug Mime labels Oct 18, 2019

carsonbot added the Status: Needs Review label Oct 18, 2019

fabpot closed this as completed Nov 30, 2019

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

[Mime] FormDataPart and multidimensional arrays structure #34031

[Mime] FormDataPart and multidimensional arrays structure #34031

jvahldick commented Oct 18, 2019

[Mime] FormDataPart and multidimensional arrays structure #34031

[Mime] FormDataPart and multidimensional arrays structure #34031

Comments

jvahldick commented Oct 18, 2019