IE9 file input triggering using Javascript
Solution 1
As said before, IE is very strict when submitting form containing file inputs. File inputs must be triggered with a real mouse click to allow the form submission. Additionnaly, there seems to be a bug with IE9 and file inputs.
The good news is that there is a way to bypass the security restriction from IE using a label :
- Create a regular label tag linked to your file input. The label will trigger the input file as it normally does.
- Disguise the label as a button using CSS.
- The file input must be displayed (for IE8), but can be hidden using "visibility: hidden". IE8 will accept this hack.
Solution 2
If I am not much mistaken you can't change this as this is (was originally) meant to protect the privacy of users avoiding anyway to upload files without explicit user permission/action.
Brodie
I'm a Web Dev for a company in the SF Bay area. Love what I do, and trying to be more involved in helping others grow in their skill sets as well.
Updated on June 09, 2022Comments
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Brodie almost 2 years
I had a post here:
However, I have run into a new incident regarding the form handling of file upload and was curious if anyone has run into this issue.
My original problem was that I could not get an onchange event to work and I thought perhaps it was an issue with my javascript, but I found that it has to do with the way that the form is being activated.
I have a file input
<input type="file" name="abc"/>
now I've done 2 things.
I've hidden the input and created a button (for better styling control) that activates the input.
<button id="mybutton">click to upload a pic</button> <input type="file" name="abc"/>
and then the JS for the interaction between the two:
$("#mybutton").click(function() { $("Input[type=file]").click() };
and of course a submit for the form (i use parent in this example, but you in my actual code I use the form id).
$("input[type=file]").change(function() { $(this).parent().submit(); });
When I click "mybutton" the expected result does occur my browse window opens and lets me choose a file from my computer. Also when I change the file in all browsers other than IE the onchange event is fired. Now if I unhide the form and manually click the "browse" button and choose a file the onchange event is fired. So basically the browser treats clicking the actual file button differently than doing a $("input[type=file]").click()
anyone know how to fix this?
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Brodie over 12 yearsah ic... well a solution that I've seen is to take the input field and style it to the size fo the faux button and hide it above the button (so a user thinks they're clicking a button but they're really clicking the form). It's just verrrrry ugly and a lot of unhappy CSS to deal with...
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Ali over 12 yearsI guess you can use flash as well! I think this is what most people like Gmail ... are using.
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Daniel over 10 yearsMan this works fine, it is what I was looking for! I´ve tryed a lot of other methods in IE 9 but only this worked!
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David Work about 10 years@A. Clement Thanks this really saved me!
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Admin about 10 yearsIMHO this should have been the answer!
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Warface almost 10 yearsThis is the answer to all file upload restrictions in IE !!!! You deserve more upvote
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Brodie about 9 yearssorry, haven't curated my old questions in awhile. changing this to the answer as it is more comprehensive :D