Request Body

The request body can be encoded from any asynchronous type handled by ReactiveAdapterRegistry, like Mono or Kotlin Coroutines Deferred as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

Mono<Person> personMono = ... ;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/persons/{id}", id)
		.contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
		.body(personMono, Person.class)
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
val personDeferred: Deferred<Person> = ...

client.post()
		.uri("/persons/{id}", id)
		.contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
		.body<Person>(personDeferred)
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

You can also have a stream of objects be encoded, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

Flux<Person> personFlux = ... ;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/persons/{id}", id)
		.contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_STREAM_JSON)
		.body(personFlux, Person.class)
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
val people: Flow<Person> = ...

client.post()
		.uri("/persons/{id}", id)
		.contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
		.body(people)
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

Alternatively, if you have the actual value, you can use the bodyValue shortcut method, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

Person person = ... ;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/persons/{id}", id)
		.contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
		.bodyValue(person)
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
val person: Person = ...

client.post()
		.uri("/persons/{id}", id)
		.contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
		.bodyValue(person)
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

Form Data

To send form data, you can provide a MultiValueMap<String, String> as the body. Note that the content is automatically set to application/x-www-form-urlencoded by the FormHttpMessageWriter. The following example shows how to use MultiValueMap<String, String>:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

MultiValueMap<String, String> formData = ... ;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.bodyValue(formData)
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
val formData: MultiValueMap<String, String> = ...

client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.bodyValue(formData)
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

You can also supply form data in-line by using BodyInserters, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import static org.springframework.web.reactive.function.BodyInserters.*;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.body(fromFormData("k1", "v1").with("k2", "v2"))
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.BodyInserters.*

client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.body(fromFormData("k1", "v1").with("k2", "v2"))
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

Multipart Data

To send multipart data, you need to provide a MultiValueMap<String, ?> whose values are either Object instances that represent part content or HttpEntity instances that represent the content and headers for a part. MultipartBodyBuilder provides a convenient API to prepare a multipart request. The following example shows how to create a MultiValueMap<String, ?>:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

MultipartBodyBuilder builder = new MultipartBodyBuilder();
builder.part("fieldPart", "fieldValue");
builder.part("filePart1", new FileSystemResource("...logo.png"));
builder.part("jsonPart", new Person("Jason"));
builder.part("myPart", part); // Part from a server request

MultiValueMap<String, HttpEntity<?>> parts = builder.build();
val builder = MultipartBodyBuilder().apply {
	part("fieldPart", "fieldValue")
	part("filePart1", FileSystemResource("...logo.png"))
	part("jsonPart", Person("Jason"))
	part("myPart", part) // Part from a server request
}

val parts = builder.build()

In most cases, you do not have to specify the Content-Type for each part. The content type is determined automatically based on the HttpMessageWriter chosen to serialize it or, in the case of a Resource, based on the file extension. If necessary, you can explicitly provide the MediaType to use for each part through one of the overloaded builder part methods.

Once a MultiValueMap is prepared, the easiest way to pass it to the WebClient is through the body method, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

MultipartBodyBuilder builder = ...;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.body(builder.build())
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
val builder: MultipartBodyBuilder = ...

client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.body(builder.build())
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

If the MultiValueMap contains at least one non-String value, which could also represent regular form data (that is, application/x-www-form-urlencoded), you need not set the Content-Type to multipart/form-data. This is always the case when using MultipartBodyBuilder, which ensures an HttpEntity wrapper.

As an alternative to MultipartBodyBuilder, you can also provide multipart content, inline-style, through the built-in BodyInserters, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

import static org.springframework.web.reactive.function.BodyInserters.*;

Mono<Void> result = client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.body(fromMultipartData("fieldPart", "value").with("filePart", resource))
		.retrieve()
		.bodyToMono(Void.class);
import org.springframework.web.reactive.function.BodyInserters.*

client.post()
		.uri("/path", id)
		.body(fromMultipartData("fieldPart", "value").with("filePart", resource))
		.retrieve()
		.awaitBody<Unit>()

PartEvent

To stream multipart data sequentially, you can provide multipart content through PartEvent objects.

  • Form fields can be created via FormPartEvent::create.

  • File uploads can be created via FilePartEvent::create.

You can concatenate the streams returned from methods via Flux::concat, and create a request for the WebClient.

For instance, this sample will POST a multipart form containing a form field and a file.

  • Java

  • Kotlin

Resource resource = ...
Mono<String> result = webClient
    .post()
    .uri("https://example.com")
    .body(Flux.concat(
            FormPartEvent.create("field", "field value"),
            FilePartEvent.create("file", resource)
    ), PartEvent.class)
    .retrieve()
    .bodyToMono(String.class);
var resource: Resource = ...
var result: Mono<String> = webClient
	.post()
	.uri("https://example.com")
	.body(
		Flux.concat(
			FormPartEvent.create("field", "field value"),
			FilePartEvent.create("file", resource)
		)
	)
	.retrieve()
	.bodyToMono()

On the server side, PartEvent objects that are received via @RequestBody or ServerRequest::bodyToFlux(PartEvent.class) can be relayed to another service via the WebClient.