.\" You can view this file with: .\" nroff -man [file] .\" $Id$ .\" .TH curl_formadd 3 "29 October 2001" "libcurl 7.9.1" "libcurl Manual" .SH NAME curl_formadd - add a section to a multipart/formdata HTTP POST .SH SYNOPSIS .B #include .sp .BI "int curl_formadd(struct HttpPost ** " firstitem, .BI "struct HttpPost ** " lastitem, " ...);" .ad .SH DESCRIPTION curl_formadd() is used to append sections when building a multipart/formdata HTTP POST (sometimes refered to as rfc1867-style posts). Append one section at a time until you've added all the sections you want included and then you pass the \fIfirstitem\fP pointer as parameter to \fBCURLOPT_HTTPPOST\fP. \fIlastitem\fP is set after each call and on repeated invokes it should be left as set to allow repeated invokes to find the end of the list faster. After the \fIlastitem\fP pointer follow the real arguments. (If the following description confuses you, jump directly to the examples): \fBCURLFORM_COPYNAME\fP or \fBCURLFORM_PTRNAME\fP followed by a string is used for the name of the section. Optionally one may use \fBCURLFORM_NAMELENGTH\fP to specify the length of the name (allowing null characters within the name). All options that use the word COPY in their names copy the given contents, while the ones with PTR in their names simply points to the (static) data you must make sure remain until curl no longer needs it. The four options for providing values are: \fBCURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS\fP, \fBCURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS\fP, \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP, or \fBCURLFORM_FILECONTENT\fP followed by a char or void pointer (allowed for PTRCONTENTS). \fBCURLFORM_FILECONTENT\fP does a normal post like \fBCURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS\fP but the actual value is read from the filename given as a string. Other arguments may be \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE\fP if the user wishes to specify one (for FILE if no type is given the library tries to provide the correct one; for CONTENTS no Content-Type is sent in this case). For \fBCURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS\fP or \fBCURLFORM_COPYNAME\fP the user may also add \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTSLENGTH\fP followed by the length as a long (if not given the library will use strlen to determine the length). For \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP the user may send multiple files in one section by providing multiple \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP arguments each followed by the filename (and each FILE is allowed to have a CONTENTTYPE). Another possibility to send single or multiple files in one section is to use \fBCURLFORM_ARRAY\fP that gets a struct curl_forms array pointer as its value. Each structure element has a CURLformoption and a char pointer. For the options only \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP, \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE\fP, and \fBCURLFORM_END\fP (that is used to determine the end of the array and thus must be the option of the last and no other element of the curl_forms array) are allowed. The effect of this parameter is the same as giving multiple \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP options possibly with \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE\fP after or before each \fBCURLFORM_FILE\fP option. Should you need to specify extra headers for the form POST section, use \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTHEADER\fP. This takes a curl_slist prepared in the usual way using \fBcurl_slist_append\fP and appends the list of headers to those Curl automatically generates for \fBCURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE\fP and the content disposition. The list must exist while the POST occurs, if you free it before the post completes you may experience problems. The last argument in such an array must always be \fBCURLFORM_END\fP. The pointers \fI*firstitem\fP and \fI*lastitem\fP should both be pointing to NULL in the first call to this function. All list-data will be allocated by the function itself. You must call \fIcurl_formfree\fP after the form post has been done to free the resources again. This function will copy all input data except the data pointed to by the arguments after \fBCURLFORM_PTRNAME\fP and \fBCURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS\fP and keep its own version of it allocated until you call \fIcurl_formfree\fP. When you've passed the pointer to \fIcurl_easy_setopt\fP, you must not free the list until after you've called \fIcurl_easy_cleanup\fP for the curl handle. If you provide a pointer as an arguments after \fBCURLFORM_PTRNAME\fP or \fBCURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS\fP you must ensure that the pointer stays valid until you call \fIcurl_form_free\fP and \fIcurl_easy_cleanup\fP. See example below. .SH RETURN VALUE Returns non-zero if an error occurs. .SH EXAMPLE .nf HttpPost* post = NULL; HttpPost* last = NULL; char namebuffer[] = "name buffer"; long namelength = strlen(namebuffer); char buffer[] = "test buffer"; char htmlbuffer[] = "test buffer"; long htmlbufferlength = strlen(htmlbuffer); struct curl_forms forms[3]; char file1[] = "my-face.jpg"; char file2[] = "your-face.jpg"; /* add null character into htmlbuffer, to demonstrate that transfers of buffers containing null characters actually work */ htmlbuffer[8] = '\\0'; /* Add simple name/content section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "name", CURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS, "content", CURLFORM_END); /* Add simple name/content/contenttype section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "htmlcode", CURLFORM_COPYCONTENTS, "", CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE, "text/html", CURLFORM_END); /* Add name/ptrcontent section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "name_for_ptrcontent", CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS, buffer, CURLFORM_END); /* Add ptrname/ptrcontent section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_PTRNAME, namebuffer, CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS, buffer, CURLFORM_NAMELENGTH, namelength, CURLFORM_END); /* Add name/ptrcontent/contenttype section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "html_code_with_hole", CURLFORM_PTRCONTENTS, htmlbuffer, CURLFORM_CONTENTSLENGTH, htmlbufferlength, CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE, "text/html", CURLFORM_END); /* Add simple file section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "picture", CURLFORM_FILE, "my-face.jpg", CURLFORM_END); /* Add file/contenttype section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "picture", CURLFORM_FILE, "my-face.jpg", CURLFORM_CONTENTTYPE, "image/jpeg", CURLFORM_END); /* Add two file section */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "pictures", CURLFORM_FILE, "my-face.jpg", CURLFORM_FILE, "your-face.jpg", CURLFORM_END); /* Add two file section using CURLFORM_ARRAY */ forms[0].option = CURLFORM_FILE; forms[0].value = file1; forms[1].option = CURLFORM_FILE; forms[1].value = file2; forms[2].option = CURLFORM_END; /* no option needed for the end marker */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "pictures", CURLFORM_ARRAY, forms, CURLFORM_END); /* Add the content of a file as a normal post text value */ curl_formadd(&post, &last, CURLFORM_COPYNAME, "filecontent", CURLFORM_FILECONTENT, ".bashrc", CURLFORM_END); /* Set the form info */ curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_HTTPPOST, post); .SH "SEE ALSO" .BR curl_easy_setopt "(3), " .BR curl_formparse "(3) [deprecated], " .BR curl_formfree "(3)" .SH BUGS Surely there are some, you tell me!