How to get the body of Chatter Files in Apex?

Question

When I'm trying to do e.g. in either code or the Developer Console

SELECT Id, Type, Body, Title, ContentData From FeedItem where Type = 'ContentPost' LIMIT 1

I get

No such column 'ContentData' on entity 'FeedItem'. If you are attempting to use a custom field, be sure to append the '__c' after the custom field name. Please reference your WSDL or the describe call for the appropriate names.

And indeed when I click 'Open Resource' and then FeedItem I somehow don't see the ContentData field being listed... Anybody an idea why not or what I do wrong?

Answer 1

As per the doc

This field only Available in API version 35.0 and earlier only.

Available in API version 35.0 and earlier only. This field is required if Type is ContentPost. Encoded file data in any format, and can’t be 0 bytes. Setting this field automatically sets Type to ContentPost.

Since you are using Developer console.. I think this query performed in latest API(i.e. 36v )

The proper way to do this in v36 is to first create a FeedItem, but without any ContentData, i.e. an empty FeedItem. Then create a ContentVersion with VersionData (which under water creates a ContentDocument). Then create a FeedAttachment that relates the created ContentDocument to the FeedItem. It's a bit of a hassle, but it works.