Using the JetBrains PhpStorm HTTP REST Client

I’ll admit it: I have previously tried and failed to get the new HTTP REST client in JetBrains PhpStorm to do what I wanted, especially with POST requests and file uploads. This morning, the stars aligned properly and my magic beans sprouted and life is beautiful.

Here is the code. It does a POST call with three form fields, api_key, max_to_ban, and testing. It also has a file upload field. The filename presented to the server is “customers.csv”. The contents of the file on my workstation are read from /home/azemon/Desktop/customers.csv.

POST http://localhost:8080/import/import_users
Accept: application/json
Cache-Control: no-cache
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=WebAppBoundary

--WebAppBoundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="api_key"
Content-Type: text/plain

kzce06oenUoTYorFQ7fEXA**

--WebAppBoundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="max_to_ban"
Content-Type: text/plain

0

--WebAppBoundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="testing"
Content-Type: text/plain

1

--WebAppBoundary
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="customers.csv"
Content-Type: text/plain

< /home/azemon/Desktop/customers.csv

--WebAppBoundary--


###

It is kind of verbose, so typing it all the first time was tedious. On the other hand, changes are trivial because it is just text and easy for me to edit. When I run this, PhpStorm pops open the Run pane and I see this:

POST http://localhost:8080/import/import_users

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2018 17:38:46 GMT
Server: Apache/2.4.34 (Ubuntu)
Referrer-Policy: origin-when-cross-origin, strict-origin-when-cross-origin
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self';   connect-src 'self' https://www.google-analytics.com;   script-src 'self' www.google-analytics.com 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval';   style-src 'self' https://fonts.googleapis.com 'unsafe-inline'; frame-src 'self' www.youtube.com;   img-src * data: blob: filesystem:; media-src *;   font-src 'self' https://fonts.gstatic.com;
Vary: Origin
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: <snip>
Keep-Alive: timeout=5, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "error": "<snip>",
  "code": 500,
  "success": 0
}

Response code: 200 (OK); Time: 1205ms; Content length: 82 bytes