Upload file to server asynchronously via form and XMLHttpRequest

Question

I need to upload a file by only using vanilla.js, no frameworks are allowed.

Form:

<form id="fileUploadForm" action="fileUpload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="file" name="fileToUpload" id="fileToUpload">
</form>

I placed the button outside of the form, because it is at another position in the HTML.

<button id="btnUpload">Upload</button>

This is the upload Script. I am using FormData to get the form data, as described in this answer.

<script>

document.getElementById("btnUpload").addEventListener("click", function() {
    fileUpload("fileUploadForm");
});

function fileUpload(pFormId) 
{
    debugger;
    var form = document.getElementById(pFormId);
    var formData = new FormData( form );  //returns no data!

    var request = getHttpRequest();
    request.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (request.readyState === 4 && request.status === 200) {
              console.log("Response Received");
              document.getElementById("debug").innerHTML = request.responseText;

        }
    };
    request.open("POST", "fileUpload.php", true);
//    request.setRequestHeader("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
    request.setRequestHeader("Content-type","multipart/form-data");
    formData.append("action","test");  //Add additional POST param
    request.send(formData);
}

function getHttpRequest() 
{
    let xmlhttp;
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari
        xmlhttp=new XMLHttpRequest();
    } else {// code for IE6, IE5
        xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
    }

    return xmlhttp;
}
</script>

I am using the PHP upload script from here.

<?php

$target_dir = "uploads/";
$target_file = $target_dir . basename($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]);
$uploadOk = 1;
$imageFileType = strtolower(pathinfo($target_file,PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
// Check if image file is a actual image or fake image
if(isset($_POST["submit"])) {
    $check = getimagesize($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"]);
    if($check !== false) {
     echo "File is an image - " . $check["mime"] . ".";
        $uploadOk = 1;
    } else {
        echo "File is not an image.";
        $uploadOk = 0;
    }
}
// Check if file already exists
if (file_exists($target_file)) {
    echo "Sorry, file already exists.";
    $uploadOk = 0;
}
// Check file size
if ($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["size"] > 500000) {
    echo "Sorry, your file is too large.";
    $uploadOk = 0;
}
// Allow certain file formats
if($imageFileType != "jpg" && $imageFileType != "png" && $imageFileType != "jpeg"
&& $imageFileType != "gif" ) {
    echo "Sorry, only JPG, JPEG, PNG & GIF files are allowed.";
    $uploadOk = 0;
}
// Check if $uploadOk is set to 0 by an error
if ($uploadOk == 0) {
    echo "Sorry, your file was not uploaded.";
// if everything is ok, try to upload file
} else {
    if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES["fileToUpload"]["tmp_name"], $target_file)) {
        echo "The file ". basename( $_FILES["fileToUpload"]["name"]). " has been uploaded.";
    } else {
        echo "Sorry, there was an error uploading your file.";
    }
}

I attached the debugger to my javascript and found out that formData is empty and does not contain the file.

This is what I get from PHP:

Sorry, file already exists.

Sorry, only JPG, JPEG, PNG & GIF files are allowed.Sorry, your file was not uploaded.

Even though the file does NOT already exists AND the file format is jpg.

Update:

This is what I get in the developers console network tab:

Request Payload:
------WebKitFormBoundaryKjnjAyPoCQ7MU1x6
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fileToUpload"; filename="Koala.jpg"
Content-Type: image/jpeg


------WebKitFormBoundaryKjnjAyPoCQ7MU1x6--

I appreciate any help!

Check what your browser sends. F12 > network > click the request and check what the parameter names are. — N.B., Apr 25 '18 at 11:06
You should not set `Content-type` header when uploading via `FormData` — Martin Adámek, Apr 25 '18 at 11:09
@MartinAdámek, Ahh ok, now I get `Sorry, your file is too large.Sorry, your file was not uploaded.` after commenting `request.setRequestHeader("Content-type","multipart/form-data");` out! Thanks! The file is only 750KB big though :/? — Black, Apr 25 '18 at 11:11
And what is the size of that file? You probably reached the limit of `500000` bytes — Martin Adámek, Apr 25 '18 at 11:12
It is not very big to be honest, `Content-Length: 775897` (775KB). Is there a way to allow larger file uploads? — Black, Apr 25 '18 at 11:14
775897 > 500000 indeed. That is your script that sets the `500000`, so just increase that number. — Martin Adámek, Apr 25 '18 at 11:15

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 25 '18 at 11:12

Just drop the content-type header, that will be set automatically by browser when using FormData. That way content-type will also contain form boundary used to separate form data (the thing like ------WebKitFormBoundaryKjnjAyPoCQ7MU1x6-- that separated the payload data).

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 25 '18 at 11:15

I'd modify the code slightly.

document.getElementById("btnUpload").addEventListener("click", function() {
    fileUpload("fileUploadForm");
});

You're binding the event on click. I'd modify this and attach a submit event to the form.

The closure will get the event target as callback:

document.getElementById("fileUploadForm").addEventListener("submit", function(e) { // <- pay attention to parameter

    e.preventDefault(); // Prevent the default action so we stay on the same page.
    fileUpload(e); // pass the event to your function
});

Now, on to your fileUpload function.

function fileUpload(e) 
{
    debugger;
    var formData = new FormData( e.target );  // pass the event target to FormData which serializes the data    

    var request = getHttpRequest();
        request.onreadystatechange = function() {
            if (request.readyState === 4 && request.status === 200) {
              console.log("Response Received");
              document.getElementById("debug").innerHTML = request.responseText;
        }
    };

    request.open("POST", "fileUpload.php", true);
    request.setRequestHeader("Content-type","multipart/form-data");
    request.send(formData);
}

Disclaimer: I did not test this at all, so don't copy paste and expect it to work!

This will not work unless you remove the `content-type` header. The problem is not in passing form reference to `FormData` constructor, that part is fine (see MDN, they use the same code in examples). — Martin Adámek, Apr 25 '18 at 11:24

Upload file to server asynchronously via form and XMLHttpRequest

2 Answers2

Linked