Assertfail

File upload

22 Feb 2012

The alternatives right now (2012-02-22):

<ol>

  • Standard html: File select together in a form that is submitted to a page. (firefox, chrome, IE)
  • Iframe hack: File select together with hidden iframe used to upload file. (firefox, chrome, IE)
  • Flash (all flash enabled browsers)
  • FileReader  (firefox, chrome)
    1. Drag and drop together with FileReader and ajax post. 
    2. File select together with FileReader and ajax post.

    </ol>

    When building ordinary web applications then the first alternative is definitely the best. It's simple and works well. If you are building a more javascript intense application you are in a different mess. If you are supporting IE 7-9 then alternative 2 and 3 is what you are looking for. To enable the best experience you could sniff if the browser handles FileReader (since IE10 might support it) and enable a better experience in that case.

    Note: I've only considered firefox, chrome and IE. 

    Tags

    Comments

    Comments or errors? Fork this post and do a pull request on github