input type=file

Anon

Hi folks,

I got a little problem here with the fact that input type="file" has got no value field.
Here's what I got working:

1) create a project
I have users fill out a form and store the
values of the fields in a table (MySQL).

2) edit a project
Users go to this page and get the same form
as on the 'create project' page, just now
all the fields are already filled out with
the correct values (which I extract from
the DB according to the id).
Except one field: input type=file of course wont accept a value.

The question is: how do I fill out this field with the correct value from the DB?

I hope my question makes any sense and maybe someone can help me solve this problem.

Thanks for your time,
Never

Anon

well, the file input is for uploading files fromt he client to the server; you don't want to do upload it again each time you edit, do you!

what i'd suggest is this have a pair of radio buttons; "new file" and "existing file". associated with these you have a textbox for existing file (which has the existing filename (if any) filled into it), and the input type=file next to new

--
rad

Anon

I had the same problem - I have an application which writes and updates pages from the browser. When I wanted to update an article but not change the image I couldn't pass on the old image file name so the image name was erased from the database.

I got round it by setting up two SQL UPDATE queries: one to run if the input type=file field was not empty (new image uploaded to database) OR if the file field was empty I ran a diferent SQL UPDATE which wrote the previous filename to mySQL which had been passed on using a hidden field.

Hope this makes sense and helps. If you need more details drop me a line.

Anon

I have found the best way around this problem is to use a normal input=text field and then put a button next to it. If you go to Microsoft(or elseware if at all possible) you can find javascript to open a dialog with a input=file in it that when closes passes the value back to the main window. With this I also took the opportunity of stripping out the path thus leaving only the filename.xxx.