Add FileList constructor
Nobody has claimed this yet.
Assessment
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100
- Issue type
- Feature
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Activity status
- Stale
- Tech stack
- html, javascript
Research direction
Start by reviewing the FileList constructor request and the file-input, File-object, drag-and-drop, and XHR behavior described in the issue. Define the intended assignment semantics and completion criteria before locating the relevant specification text or tests; the issue provides no repository files or test entry points.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Split out from https://www.w3.org/Bugs/Public/show_bug.cgi?id=17125 :
The
<input type="file" name="something" />
element has always been readonly (you can't change value) for security purposes.
That makes sense as a string could always be manipulated by JS.
The File object on the other hand should be "safe", as in
- Only the browser can create one on user request (ie. by file input or drag and drop)
- JS cannot change it in any way
So it should not be a security issue to allow assignment to a file input.
For example:
<input type="file" name="something[]" onchange="splitFiles();" id="in1" multiple="multiple" />
function splitFiles() {
var in = document.getElementById('in1');
//create single inputs
for(var i=0;i<in.files.length;i++) {
var newEl = document.createElement('input');
newEl.name = "something[]";
newEl.id = '...';
newEl.type = "file";
newEl.value = in.files[i]; // <-- assignment of file object
document.appendChild(newEl); //add for upload
//create some UI to remove this input
//...
}
//remove the multi-input
in.parent.removeChild(in);
}
This code would split a multi-file-input back to multiple single-file inputs (that way applications with a legacy backend that only supports the classical way could also support multi-file-inputs).
Another use would be with File objects obtained by drag and drop.
Right now those require XHR to upload. Allowing to make them a selection of a file input could simplify some situations as well as provide richer UI (when showing a traditional file input together with a drop area those would stay in sync).
- Dominant language
- HTML
- Stars
- 118
- Forks
- 52
- Avg merge
- 9d 16h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 1
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
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