• Eric
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  • From: Carlsbad, CA
  • Registered: 2008-12-19
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Topic: Large file upload via online form?

Man, do the questions ever stop? Do you ever get to the point where a client doesn't ask something that you don't know how to do? Anyway ..

I'm currently putting a clients site together in my mind. She needs her clients to be able to upload files to her (around 50mb) via her online form. In the past (before her site was deleted by her host - not on my watch!), the user would upload the file via her form, and she would recieve an email telling her something has been uploaded to her FTP client. Then she would transfer it from her FTP program to her computer.

So... While giving her the same functionality, is there a better way to do this? Googling, I see that there are quite a lot of file sharring options. What do you think would be the best for this situation) thanks!

  • From: Florida
  • Registered: 2008-12-19
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

One thing you must overcome is the upload_max_filesize in the php.ini file. Most are set to 8M.  If you host allows you to edit the php.ini, then great. If you can't edit it then you may be able to set it using .htaccess.

You will probably need to set the max execution time and set the file type as well.

Secondly, you will probably want to find a file uploader script that is user friendly. A simple HTML form may work but the user will never know if the file is uploading.

<FORM method="POST" action="[your file PHP for upload.php]" ENCTYPE="multipart/form-data">
<INPUT type=hidden name=MAX_FILE_SIZE VALUE=2048>
<INPUT type=file name="name_of_file">
<INPUT type=submit value="send">
</FORM>


You can create a php upload form which I think would serve better instead of the basic form above.

You can read this to see if this will help you.

http://php.about.com/od/advancedphp/ss/ … upload.htm

  • Gender: Male
  • From: Chico/Sacramento, CA
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

No matter what tool she uses to receive the large files, the steps are probably going to be the same:
-- visitors accesses some sort of form to upload the files to
-- when files are uploaded, client receives an email
-- client accesses FTP or some sort of storage area to download the file

I'd probably suggest using your own form, rather than a 3rd party service, because that will be easier on your client's visitors. If they have to use a 3rd party service to send the files, they'll probably need to create an account with that 3rd party (possibly leading to confusion) -- a step that you can bypass if you just create the form yourself.

One change that I would make though, if this wasn't already done... the email that the client receives letting her know something new has been uploaded should include a direct link to the file. That would mean that with one click, the client would be able to download that file, rather than having to open up a FTP program and navigate to wherever that file is stored.

  • Gender: Male
  • From: Chico/Sacramento, CA
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

I also ran across this recently, which may help the form be more user-friendly... It adds a progress bar and additional options (like multi-file upload). The progress bar may be important so that the visitor doesn't navigate away from the page and accidentally cancel the upload.

http://www.uploadify.com/demo/

  • Eric
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  • From: Carlsbad, CA
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

Thanks a lot guys for your direction! smile

Uploadify is nice, but do the buttons in the demo seem a little buggy to you? I had to click each twice to initialize the browse feature. Along the same lines I also found...

http://valums.com/ajax-upload/
http://www.swfupload.org/
http://www.solmetra.com/en/disp.php/en_ … ader_intro

Or, if I wanted to use a third party service, this was a easy way to go. No registration either! http://senduit.com/ or http://sharesend.com/ Probably just going to use a form method. But I was thinking you could display the third party app in a popup window, or an iframe, and instruct the user to just paste the links into the textarea. Could work?

Last edited by Eric (2009-09-20 07:10:41)

  • Eric
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  • From: Carlsbad, CA
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

Question... would you charge extra to setup this service? I have it setup where the client pays a base fee based on the amount of pages I'm building. Forms, most html/css/php/js stuff, etc included. But this seems to blur the line a little. I was thinking about charging an extra $75 or $100 for the setup fee. Does that sound fair to you?

  • Gender: Male
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

Eric wrote:

Uploadify is nice, but do the buttons in the demo seem a little buggy to you? I had to click each twice to initialize the browse feature.

Which browser are you using? Seemed to work fine for me on Firefox 3.5, Mac, but I haven't tested it on other browsers. I've been considering using this particular jquery plugin myself, so if it has issues, it would be good to know.

  • Eric
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  • From: Carlsbad, CA
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Re: Large file upload via online form?

falkencreative wrote:
Eric wrote:

Uploadify is nice, but do the buttons in the demo seem a little buggy to you? I had to click each twice to initialize the browse feature.

Which browser are you using? Seemed to work fine for me on Firefox 3.5, Mac, but I haven't tested it on other browsers. I've been considering using this particular jquery plugin myself, so if it has issues, it would be good to know.

Firefox/3.5.3 I couldnt find a ryhm or reason to the buttons. Just cleared cache and tested it again, same result. "if" my cursor turned into a pointer when I hovered over the button, then one click would do it. But normaly it wouldnt - it stays the arrow untill I click it once, then it turns into pointer, then I click again to initialize browse. Maybe a css/html thing though. Probably wouldnt know untill you got in there. Or maybe it's just my FX - remember, my FX doesnt do animated gifs either....