Photo Upload Endpoint

In this lesson, we'll create a REST API endpoint that allows users to upload photos to our restaurant review platform.

We'll build on our existing photo services and create a controller that handles the upload process through a simple HTTP request.

Creating the Controller

Controllers in Spring Boot handle incoming HTTP requests and direct them to the appropriate service layers.

Let's create a new package com.devtiro.restaurant.controllers and add our PhotoController class:

@RequiredArgsConstructor
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/photos")
public class PhotoController {

    private final PhotoService photoService;
    private final PhotoMapper photoMapper;

    @PostMapping
    public PhotoDto uploadPhoto(
            @RequestParam("file") MultipartFile file) {
        Photo savedPhoto = photoService.uploadPhoto(file);
        return photoMapper.toDto(savedPhoto);
    }
}

Let's break down the key components of our controller:

The @RestController annotation tells Spring this class handles REST requests
@RequestMapping("/api/photos") sets the base URL path for all endpoints in this controller
@RequiredArgsConstructor automatically creates a constructor for our final fields
The uploadPhoto method is mapped to POST requests using @PostMapping
@RequestParam("file") binds the uploaded file to the MultipartFile parameter

Understanding MultipartFile

Spring's MultipartFile interface represents an uploaded file in a multipart request.

It provides methods to:

Access the original filename
Get the file's content type
Read the file's contents
Get the file size

The interface works seamlessly with our existing PhotoService which we implemented in previous lessons.

Testing the Endpoint

Once you've implemented the controller, you can test it using any HTTP client that supports file uploads.

Here's what happens when you make a request:

The client sends a POST request to /api/photos with the file in the request body
Our controller receives the file and passes it to the PhotoService
The PhotoService generates a UUID and stores the file
The file is saved to disk using our StorageService
A PhotoDto containing the UUID and metadata is returned to the client

Summary

Created PhotoController to handle REST API requests
Implemented the /api/photos endpoint for photo uploads
Used Spring's MultipartFile for file handling
Connected the controller to our PhotoService
Returns a PhotoDto with the photo's UUID and metadata