# Upload via API leads to missing plus signs in HTTP-Body **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 23, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412 "2009-01-23T01:22:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TKAB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412/1 "2009-01-23T01:22:33Z")
Hi! I’m developing a Rails-app that needs to take images from a separate program. I managed to upload base64 encoded images via HTTP-Post- Request (Cocoa), the HTTP-Body looks like (base64-data is shortened) this: “filename=Pic1.jpg&content\_type=image/jpeg&data=/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQECeUJ +woRAD/4gxYSU” When I access the data via params[:data] in my controller, all the plus signs are gone and substituted with spaces. I checked the outgoing data of the separate program with a sniffer and it contains the plus signs, so the substitution must take place somewhere on the server. Does anybody have an idea what causes this behaviour? Thanks, Thomas ---
**Author:** ![TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TKAB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412/2 "2009-01-23T01:24:53Z")
On Jan 22, 11:00 pm, TKAB [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > When I access the data via params[:data] in my controller, all the > plus signs are gone and substituted with spaces. I checked the > outgoing data of the separate program with a sniffer and it contains > the plus signs, so the substitution must take place somewhere on the > server. The standards dictate that with application/x-www-form-urlencoded data (the default; [Forms in HTML documents](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#h-17.13.3.3)) spaces are encoded by + signs, so the server is doing the correct thing by turning them into spaces. Fred ---
**Author:** ![TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TKAB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 9:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412/3 "2009-01-23T09:19:21Z")
Thank you very much, I was completely unaware of that. So it would be a better idea to imitate a form upload and set the Content-Type to multipart/form-data? Or is there any other way? ---
**Author:** ![TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TKAB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412/4 "2009-01-23T13:01:09Z")
On 23 Jan 2009, at 08:18, TKAB wrote: > Thank you very much, I was completely unaware of that. > So it would be a better idea to imitate a form upload and set the > Content-Type to multipart/form-data? > Certainly an option > Or is there any other way? You could replace + signs with what ever the correct % escape sequence is, but the multipart/form-data route is probably simpler. Fred ---
**Author:** ![TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TKAB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412/5 "2009-01-23T16:47:52Z")
OK, I understand. Thanks for your help! ---
**Author:** ![TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TKAB](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/TKAB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/upload-via-api-leads-to-missing-plus-signs-in-http-body/158412/6 "2009-01-23T22:47:03Z")
TKAB wrote: > OK, I understand. > > Thanks for your help! > **[Base64 | URL applications](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64#URL_applications)** > > Base64 encoding can be helpful when fairly lengthy identifying information is used in an HTTP environment. For example, a database persistence framework for Java objects might use Base64 encoding to encode a relatively large unique id (generally 128-bit UUIDs) into a string for use as an HTTP parameter in HTTP forms or HTTP GET URLs. Also, many applications need to encode binary data in a way that is convenient for inclusion in URLs, including in hidden web form fields, and Base64 is a convenient... This might help. See the section on an alternative base64 that is safe for URL encoding.