[SalesForce] How to create a File (a la Lightning) and link it to a Case via REST API

In the Lightning UI if you attach a file to a Case it won't be created as an Attachment, rather as a File. I could not find anything about this in the REST API docs.

What I found just by try and error is that one must create a ContentBody, a ContentDocument, a ContentDocumentVersion and finally a ContentDocumentLink to link it to the Case. If this is really the way, how to upload the file in the first place? i.e. how to create a ContentBody? Again nothing related to this in the docs.

My assumption is that still a multi-part request with a Body part should work but haven't tried it yet. Any help would be appreciated

Best Answer

Follow these three steps to create a File and link it to your object.

Create a `ContentVersion`

Follow the docs to create a new version with a multipart request. Note that this will automatically create a ContentDocument but unfortunately does not return its id. What it returns is the id of the created ContentVersion which we call $CONTENT_VERSION_ID

Fetch `id` of the automatically created `ContentDocument`

Run the following SOQL query:

SELECT ContentDocumentId FROM ContentVersion WHERE Id = '$CONTENT_VERSION_ID'

It will return an id which we call $CONTENT_DOCUMENT_ID

Link `ContentDocument` to Object

Create a ContentDocumentLink object using the following json:

POST /sobjects/ContentDocumentLink

{ ContentDocumentId: $CONTENT_DOCUMENT_ID, LinkedEntityId: $SOBJECT_ID, ShareType: "V" }

Related Solutions

[SalesForce] How to upload 6Mb attachment in a custom Apex Rest service (heap size issue)

With Summer '14 release, file size limits for attachments were increased to 25MB, so you should be fine:

http://docs.releasenotes.salesforce.com/en-gb/summer14/release-notes/rn_general_attachment_size_increase.htm

[SalesForce] Upload an Attachment via the Rest API

You can do this using forcetk if you are planning to do this in javascript

here is sample code -

<apex:page docType="html-5.0" title="File Uploader">

Select a file to upload as a new Chatter File.

var client = new forcetk.Client();

client.setSessionToken('{!$Api.Session_ID}');

function upload() {
    var file = $("#file")[0].files[0];
    client.createBlob('ContentVersion', {
        Origin: 'H', // 'H' for Chatter File, 'C' for Content Document
        PathOnClient: file.name
    }, file.name, 'VersionData', file, function(response){
        console.log(response);
        $("#message").html("Chatter File created: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"/" + response.id + "\">Take a look!</a>");
    }, function(request, status, response){
        $("#message").html("Error: " + status);
    });
}

here is internal forcetk implementation for sf blob [link - https://github.com/developerforce/Force.com-JavaScript-REST-Toolkit/blob/master/forcetk.js] -

    /* Low level function to create/update records with blob data
 * @param path resource path relative to /services/data
 * @param fields an object containing initial field names and values for 
 *               the record, e.g. {ContentDocumentId: "069D00000000so2", 
 *               PathOnClient: "Q1 Sales Brochure.pdf"}
 * @param filename filename for blob data; e.g. "Q1 Sales Brochure.pdf"
 * @param payloadField 'VersionData' for ContentVersion, 'Body' for Document
 * @param payload Blob, File, ArrayBuffer (Typed Array), or String payload
 * @param callback function to which response will be passed
 * @param [error=null] function to which response will be passed in case of error
 * @param retry true if we've already tried refresh token flow once
 */
forcetk.Client.prototype.blob = function(path, fields, filename, payloadField, payload, callback, error, retry) { 
    var that = this;
    var url = (this.visualforce ? '' : this.instanceUrl) + '/services/data' + path;
    var boundary = randomString();

    var blob = new Blob([
        "--boundary_" + boundary + '\n' 
        + "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"entity_content\";" + "\n" 
        + "Content-Type: application/json" + "\n\n" 
        + JSON.stringify(fields) 
        + "\n\n" 
        + "--boundary_" + boundary + "\n" 
        + "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" + "\n" 
        + "Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"" + payloadField 
          + "\"; filename=\"" + filename + "\"\n\n",
        payload,
        "\n\n" 
        + "--boundary_" + boundary + "--"
    ], {type : 'multipart/form-data; boundary=\"boundary_' + boundary + '\"'});

    var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
    request.open("POST", (this.proxyUrl !== null && ! this.visualforce) ? this.proxyUrl: url, this.asyncAjax);

    request.setRequestHeader('Accept', 'application/json');
    request.setRequestHeader(this.authzHeader, "Bearer " + this.sessionId);
    request.setRequestHeader('X-User-Agent', 'salesforce-toolkit-rest-javascript/' + this.apiVersion);
    if (this.proxyUrl !== null && ! this.visualforce) {
        request.setRequestHeader('SalesforceProxy-Endpoint', url);
    }

    if (this.asyncAjax) {
        request.onreadystatechange = function() {
            // continue if the process is completed
            if (request.readyState == 4) {
                // continue only if HTTP status is good
                if (request.status >= 200 && request.status < 300) {
                    // retrieve the response
                    callback(request.response ? JSON.parse(request.response) : null);
                } else if(request.status == 401 && !retry) {
                    that.refreshAccessToken(function(oauthResponse) {
                        that.setSessionToken(oauthResponse.access_token, null,oauthResponse.instance_url);
                        that.blob(path, fields, fileName, file, callback, error, true);
                    },
                    error);
                } else {
                    // return status message
                    error(request, request.statusText, request.response);
                }
            }            
        }
    }

    request.send(blob);

    return this.asyncAjax ? null : JSON.parse(request.response);
}

Best Answer

Create a ContentVersion

Fetch id of the automatically created ContentDocument

Link ContentDocument to Object