Content Types

Riak KV is a fundamentally content-agnostic database. You can use it to store anything you want, from JSON to XML to HTML to binaries to images and beyond. It’s important to note that all objects stored in Riak need a specified content type. If you don’t specify a content type, the reaction will vary based on your client library:

// In the Java client, the response when storing an object without
// specifying a content type will depend on what is being stored. If you
// store a Java Map, for example, the client will automatically specify
// that the object is "application/json"; if you store a String, the
// client will specify "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"; POJOs are
// stored as JSON by default, and so on.

# In the Ruby client, you must always specify a content type. If you
# you don't, you'll see the following error:
ArgumentError: content_type is not defined!

# PHP will default to cURLs default content-type for POST & PUT requests:
#   application/x-www-form-urlencoded

# If you use the StoreObject::buildJsonObject() method when building your command, 
# it will store the item with application/json as the content-type

# In the Python client, the default content type is "application/json".
# Because of this, you should always make sure to specify the content
# type when storing other types of data.

// Using the Riak .NET Client, the response when storing an object without
// specifying a content type will depend on what is being stored.
// If you store a Dictionary, for example, the client will
// automatically specify that the object is "application/json";
// POCOs are stored as JSON by default, and so on.

// In the Node.js client, the default content type is "application/json".
// Because of this, you should always make sure to specify the content
// type when storing other types of data.

%% In the Erlang client, the response when storing an object without
%% specify8ing a content type will depend on what is being stored. If
%% you store a simple binary, for example, the client will automatically
%% specify that the object is "application/octet-stream"; if you store a
%% string, the client will specify "application/x-erlang-binary"; and so
%% on.

// In the Go client, you must always specify a content type.

Because content type negotiation varies so widely from client to client, we recommend consulting the documentation for your preferred client for more information.

Specifying Content Type

For all writes to Riak, you will need to specify a content type, for example text/plain or application/json.

Location wildeGeniusQuote = new Location(new Namespace("quotes", "oscar_wilde"), "genius");
BinaryValue text = BinaryValue.create("I have nothing to declare but my genius");
RiakObject obj = new RiakObject()
        .setContentType("text/plain")
        .setValue(text);
StoreValue store = new StoreValue.Builder(myKey, obj)
        .build();
client.execute(store);

bucket = client.bucket_type('quotes').bucket('oscar_wilde')
obj = Riak::RObject.new(bucket, 'genius')
obj.content_type = 'text/plain'
obj.raw_data = 'I have nothing to declare but my genius'
obj.store

$response = (new \Basho\Riak\Command\Builder\StoreObject($riak))
  ->buildLocation('genius', 'oscar_wilde', 'quotes')
  ->buildObject('I have nothing to declare but my genius!', 'text/plain')
  ->build()
  ->execute();

bucket = client.bucket_type('quotes').bucket('oscar_wilde')
obj = RiakObject(client, bucket, 'genius')
obj.content_type = 'text/plain'
obj.data = 'I have nothing to declare but my genius'
obj.store()

var id = new RiakObjectId("quotes", "oscar_wilde", "genius");
var obj = new RiakObject(id, "I have nothing to declare but my genius",
    RiakConstants.ContentTypes.TextPlain);
var rslt = client.Put(obj);

var riakObj = new Riak.Commands.KV.RiakObject();
riakObj.setContentType('text/plain');
riakObj.setValue('I have nothing to declare but my genius');
client.storeValue({
    bucketType: 'quotes', bucket: 'oscar_wilde', key: 'genius',
    value: riakObj
}, function (err, rslt) {
    if (err) {
        throw new Error(err);
    }
});

Object = riakc_obj:new({<<"quotes">>, <<"oscar_wilde">>},
                       <<"genius">>,
                       <<"I have nothing to declare but my genius">>,
                       <<"text/plain">>).
riakc_pb_socket:put(Pid, Object).

obj := &riak.Object{
    ContentType:     "text/plain",
    Charset:         "utf-8",
    ContentEncoding: "utf-8",
    Value:           []byte("I have nothing to declare but my genius"),
}

cmd, err := riak.NewStoreValueCommandBuilder().
    WithBucketType("quotes").
    WithBucket("oscar_wilde").
    WithKey("genius").
    WithContent(obj).
    Build()

if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    return
}

if err := cluster.Execute(cmd); err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err.Error())
    return
}

svc := cmd.(*riak.StoreValueCommand)
rsp := svc.Response

curl -XPUT \
  -H "Content-Type: text/plain" \
  -d "I have nothing to declare but my genius" \
  http://localhost:8098/types/quotes/buckets/oscar_wilde/keys/genius

# Please note that POST is also a valid method for writes, for the sake
# of compatibility