jQuery Ajax file upload : Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present

Question

BACKGROUND

I'm building a Spring MVC web application on Java8 and running it on tomcat8. In addition to this info, Spring version is 4.1.6.RELEASE and Servlet 3.1 I'm giving you the environmental background, because some problem solvers mentioned the version is related to this error.

MY CODE

Below is the root-context.xml

<bean id="multipartResolver" class="org.springframework.web.multipart.commons.CommonsMultipartResolver">          
    <property name="maxUploadSize" value="20000000" />
</bean>

Below is my FileController

@Controller
public class FileController { 
    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(FileController.class);

    private static final String UploadFolder = "Files";

    @RequestMapping("/uploadFile")
    @ResponseBody
    public void uploadFile(@RequestParam("file") MultipartFile file, HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException {     
        String fileName = "";
        PrintWriter script = response.getWriter();

        if (!file.isEmpty()) {
            try {
                byte[] bytes = file.getBytes();

                fileName = FilenameUtils.getName(file.getOriginalFilename());

                String extension = FilenameUtils.getExtension(fileName);



                String base = System.getProperty("catalina.home");

                File dir = new File(base + File.separator + UploadFolder);                

                if (!dir.exists()) {
                    dir.mkdirs();
                }

                Date date = new Date();
                String year = DateTimeUtility.getInstance().getYear(date);
                String month = DateTimeUtility.getInstance().getMonth(date);
                String uniqueFileName = DateTimeUtility.getInstance().getDateTime(date);

                File dateDir = new File(base + File.separator + UploadFolder + File.separator + year + File.separator + month);

                if (!dateDir.exists()) {
                    dateDir.mkdirs();
                }

                File uploadedFile = new File(dateDir.getAbsolutePath() + File.separator + uniqueFileName + WordCollections.UNDERBAR +  fileName);

                BufferedOutputStream stream = new BufferedOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(uploadedFile));

                stream.write(bytes);
                stream.close();

                logger.info("Server File Location = " + uploadedFile.getAbsolutePath());                  
                script.write("Uploading file was successful");
            } catch (Exception e) {             
                logger.error("Server failed to upload this file : " + fileName);
                script.write("Uploading file was failed");
            }
        } else {
            logger.error("The requested file is empty");
            script.write("Uploading file was empty");
        }
    }

Below is my form

<form id="upload" method="POST" action="/uploadFile.json" enctype="multipart/form-data">
        File to upload: <input type="file" name="file" onchange="MyScript.uploadFile(this);"><br />
        <input type="submit" value="Upload"> Press here to upload the file!
    </form>

STRANGE THING

is that uploading files through form submit has no problem. It works like a charm !! I have nothing to complain for form submit !!

BUT THIS AJAX BELOW DOESN'T WORK

            $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "/uploadFile",
                data: {name: "file", file: inputElement.files[0]},
                contentType: 'multipart/form-data;boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary0XBBar2mAFEE8zbv',
                processData: false,
                cache: false,
                /*beforeSend: function(xhr, settings) {
                    xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data;boundary=gc0p4Jq0M2Yt08jU534c0p");
                    settings.data = {name: "file", file: inputElement.files[0]};                    
                },*/
                success: function (result) {                        
                    if ( result.reseponseInfo == "SUCCESS" ) {

                    } else {

                    }
                },
                error: function (result) {
                    console.log(result.responseText);
                }
            });

When I'm trying to upload file with above ajax call, server throws me this error.

2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet - DispatcherServlet with name 'appServlet' processing POST request for [/uploadFile]
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerMapping - Looking up handler method for path /uploadFile
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerMapping - Returning handler method [public void com.company.web.controller.FileController.uploadFile(org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartFile,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) throws java.io.IOException]
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory - Returning cached instance of singleton bean 'fileController'
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver - Resolving exception from handler [public void com.company.web.controller.FileController.uploadFile(org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartFile,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) throws java.io.IOException]: org.springframework.web.bind.MissingServletRequestParameterException: Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.ResponseStatusExceptionResolver - Resolving exception from handler [public void com.company.web.controller.FileController.uploadFile(org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartFile,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) throws java.io.IOException]: org.springframework.web.bind.MissingServletRequestParameterException: Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.support.DefaultHandlerExceptionResolver - Resolving exception from handler [public void com.company.web.controller.FileController.uploadFile(org.springframework.web.multipart.MultipartFile,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) throws java.io.IOException]: org.springframework.web.bind.MissingServletRequestParameterException: Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet - Null ModelAndView returned to DispatcherServlet with name 'appServlet': assuming HandlerAdapter completed request handling
2015-04-07 18:37:30 DEBUG: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet - Successfully completed request

And browser says something like...

<body><h1>HTTP Status 400 - Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present</h1><div class="line"></div><p><b>type</b> Status report</p><p><b>message</b> <u>Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present</u></p><p><b>description</b> <u>The request sent by the client was syntactically incorrect.</u></p><hr class="line"><h3>Apache Tomcat/8.0.20</h3></body></html>

The point is Required MultipartFile parameter 'file' is not present and 400 Bad Request.

I've googled with this keyword and searched as much as I could, like I always do before posting a question on stackoverflow

I really don't get it why only ajax doesn't work here!! when submit upload works just fine.

Answer 1

Give a try like this:

var fd = new FormData();
fd.append( "file", $("input[name=file]").files[0]);

 $.ajax({
                type: "POST",
                url: "/uploadFile",
                data: fd,
                contentType: false,
                processData: false,
                cache: false,
                /*beforeSend: function(xhr, settings) {
                    xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data;boundary=gc0p4Jq0M2Yt08jU534c0p");
                    settings.data = {name: "file", file: inputElement.files[0]};                    
                },*/
                success: function (result) {                        
                    if ( result.reseponseInfo == "SUCCESS" ) {

                    } else {

                    }
                },
                error: function (result) {
                    console.log(result.responseText);
                }
            });