Using HTML5 file uploads with AJAX and jQuery
Solution 1:
It's not too hard. Firstly, take a look at FileReader Interface.
So, when the form is submitted, catch the submission process and
var file = document.getElementById('fileBox').files[0]; //Files[0] = 1st file
var reader = new FileReader();
reader.readAsText(file, 'UTF-8');
reader.onload = shipOff;
//reader.onloadstart = ...
//reader.onprogress = ... <-- Allows you to update a progress bar.
//reader.onabort = ...
//reader.onerror = ...
//reader.onloadend = ...
function shipOff(event) {
var result = event.target.result;
var fileName = document.getElementById('fileBox').files[0].name; //Should be 'picture.jpg'
$.post('/myscript.php', { data: result, name: fileName }, continueSubmission);
}
Then, on the server side (i.e. myscript.php):
$data = $_POST['data'];
$fileName = $_POST['name'];
$serverFile = time().$fileName;
$fp = fopen('/uploads/'.$serverFile,'w'); //Prepends timestamp to prevent overwriting
fwrite($fp, $data);
fclose($fp);
$returnData = array( "serverFile" => $serverFile );
echo json_encode($returnData);
Or something like it. I may be mistaken (and if I am, please, correct me), but this should store the file as something like 1287916771myPicture.jpg
in /uploads/
on your server, and respond with a JSON variable (to a continueSubmission()
function) containing the fileName on the server.
Check out fwrite()
and jQuery.post()
.
On the above page it details how to use readAsBinaryString()
, readAsDataUrl()
, and readAsArrayBuffer()
for your other needs (e.g. images, videos, etc).
Solution 2:
With jQuery (and without FormData API) you can use something like this:
function readFile(file){
var loader = new FileReader();
var def = $.Deferred(), promise = def.promise();
//--- provide classic deferred interface
loader.onload = function (e) { def.resolve(e.target.result); };
loader.onprogress = loader.onloadstart = function (e) { def.notify(e); };
loader.onerror = loader.onabort = function (e) { def.reject(e); };
promise.abort = function () { return loader.abort.apply(loader, arguments); };
loader.readAsBinaryString(file);
return promise;
}
function upload(url, data){
var def = $.Deferred(), promise = def.promise();
var mul = buildMultipart(data);
var req = $.ajax({
url: url,
data: mul.data,
processData: false,
type: "post",
async: true,
contentType: "multipart/form-data; boundary="+mul.bound,
xhr: function() {
var xhr = jQuery.ajaxSettings.xhr();
if (xhr.upload) {
xhr.upload.addEventListener('progress', function(event) {
var percent = 0;
var position = event.loaded || event.position; /*event.position is deprecated*/
var total = event.total;
if (event.lengthComputable) {
percent = Math.ceil(position / total * 100);
def.notify(percent);
}
}, false);
}
return xhr;
}
});
req.done(function(){ def.resolve.apply(def, arguments); })
.fail(function(){ def.reject.apply(def, arguments); });
promise.abort = function(){ return req.abort.apply(req, arguments); }
return promise;
}
var buildMultipart = function(data){
var key, crunks = [], bound = false;
while (!bound) {
bound = $.md5 ? $.md5(new Date().valueOf()) : (new Date().valueOf());
for (key in data) if (~data[key].indexOf(bound)) { bound = false; continue; }
}
for (var key = 0, l = data.length; key < l; key++){
if (typeof(data[key].value) !== "string") {
crunks.push("--"+bound+"\r\n"+
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\""+data[key].name+"\"; filename=\""+data[key].value[1]+"\"\r\n"+
"Content-Type: application/octet-stream\r\n"+
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary\r\n\r\n"+
data[key].value[0]);
}else{
crunks.push("--"+bound+"\r\n"+
"Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\""+data[key].name+"\"\r\n\r\n"+
data[key].value);
}
}
return {
bound: bound,
data: crunks.join("\r\n")+"\r\n--"+bound+"--"
};
};
//----------
//---------- On submit form:
var form = $("form");
var $file = form.find("#file");
readFile($file[0].files[0]).done(function(fileData){
var formData = form.find(":input:not('#file')").serializeArray();
formData.file = [fileData, $file[0].files[0].name];
upload(form.attr("action"), formData).done(function(){ alert("successfully uploaded!"); });
});
With FormData API you just have to add all fields of your form to FormData object and send it via $.ajax({ url: url, data: formData, processData: false, contentType: false, type:"POST"})