Attachments

The attachments resource, unlike others, represents both entity data and binary content.

In this topic:

Overview

Note the following:

• Attachments currently are supported only in the workspace context (as the entity metadata reflects).

• The attachments API provides generic access for all attachments in the workspace. As a result, for each entity that has the attachments feature, the attachment entity has a reference field to the entity.

• The reference field names adhere to the following convention:

  owner_<entity name>

  Example: owner_test

  The attachment entity must have a reference to only one owner entity.

• Supported file types

  ALM Octane supports the following file types by default:

  jpg	bmp	png
  word	doc	docx
  msg	pdf	xml
  xls	xlsx	ppt
  pptx	zip	txt
  wmv	mp4	m4p
  mkv	vob	log
  wrf	fbr	jpeg

  Customize the supported file types by modifying the ATTACHMENTS_FILE_EXTENSION_WHITE_LIST configuration parameter. For details, see Configuration parameters.

  The REST API checks that the file extension matches the binary content format. If the extension and the content format do not match, the attachment is not uploaded.

• When supplying the attachment name in the request, extra spaces at the beginning or at the end of the file name are trimmed, and do not cause any errors.

• Make sure the name does not start with a period ( . ) and does not contain any of the following characters:

  / \ : * ? " < > |

Attachment collection

In some of the HTTP methods, resource collection behaves as any other collection entity, representing only the attachment entity data without the binary content. In other HTTP methods, there is reference to binary content.

URI

Attachments are relevant only in the workspace context:

.../api/shared_spaces/<space_id>/workspaces/<workspace_id>/attachments

Supported HTTP request methods

The attachment collection supports the following HTTP methods:

Method	Description
GET	Retrieve data about the attachment, or the actual attachment.
POST	Create new attachments in a collection.
PUT	Update information about the attachment (not the binary data).
DELETE	Delete existing attachments.

Actions on attachment collections

• GET: Read an attachment

• DELETE: Delete a collection of attachments

• POST: Create an attachment

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Attachment instance

The attachment instance contains both the attachment’s entity data and the binary content.

Supported HTTP request methods

The attachment instance supports the following HTTP methods:

Method	Description
GET	Retrieve data about the attachment, or the actual attachment.
POST	Create new attachments in a collection.
PUT	Update information about the attachment (not the binary data). Only the attachment’s entity data can be updated.
DELETE	Delete existing attachments.

Actions on attachment instances

• GET: Read an attachment

• DELETE: Delete a collection of attachments

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Embedded images

Images that you embed in memo fields via REST API are handled the same way as images pasted in the UI: The images are converted to image files. The files are saved in the file repository and referenced from the selected memo field.

The same rules that govern uploading attachments via the UI apply to images posted via REST API.

For example, the command is validated against relevant configuration parameters, such as MAX_ATTACHMENT_COUNT_PER_ENTITY. For details, see Configuration parameters.

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See also:

• The ALM Octane model
• REST API
• How to work with the REST API
• POST: Create an attachment
• Add an attachment to a manual test script