React Native file uploads via FormData

[bnussman]

Describe the feature

Hello!

I'm migrating an app from tRPC to oRPC and I'm really enjoying oRPC.

Using Expo, I'm trying to get file uploads (on iOS) to work with my oRPC server.

Currently I'm patching StandardRPCJsonSerializer to make my oRPC client treat my custom ReactNativeFile class as a Blob so that oRPC uses FormData to send the file to my server. This works great and allows me to avoid any base64 encoding/decoding which I really like.

I looked at customJsonSerializers but I don't think it covers what I'm trying to accomplish here.

With my patch in mind, I'm wondering if there is a "first party" way to implement it or if first party support could be added.

Additional information

Would you be willing to help implement this feature?

Maybe? If not, I'll be sure to sponsor via Github to compensate 💵

[unnoq]

In oRPC v2, I plan to make the serializer much easier to override, so you'll be able to create a dedicated one for Expo in this case.

With my patch in mind, I'm wondering if there is a "first party" way to implement it or if first party support could be added.

For now, I think the best approach is to implement or extend File / Blob in your app and use those types to represent files. I'm not very familiar with Expo or native environments, so I can't give detailed guidance there - but as mentioned above, v2 will make it much easier to override or extend the serializer to support cases like this.

[unnoq]

What bout lazy file/blob if you prefer lazy approach: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@mjackson/lazy-file

[bnussman]

Thanks for the quick response.

I think the best approach is to implement or extend File / Blob in your app

This is what I've been attempting. Unfortunately File / Blob don't really work or exist in React Native. When I try to implement, extend, or construct them, nothing happens (JS execution just stops)

What bout lazy file/blob if you prefer lazy approach

This looks neat. I will spend some more time looking at it. Also worried about React Native compatibility here.

In oRPC v2, I plan to make the serializer much easier to override, so you'll be able to create a dedicated one for Expo in this case.

Looking forward to this! I think this is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll stay tuned.