This is extemporary, but I had the same problem which I solved this way. In my case I was uploading the files via XMLHttp request, so I was able to post the FileList cloned data through formdata appending. Functionality is that you can drag and drop or select multiple files as many times as you want (selecting files again won't reset the cloned FileList), remove any file you want from the (cloned) file list, and submit via xmlhttprequest whatever was left there. This is what I did. It is my first post here so code is a little messy. Sorry. Ah, and I had to use jQuery instead of $ as it was in Joomla script.
// some global variables
var clon = {}; // will be my FileList clone
var removedkeys = 0; // removed keys counter for later processing the request
var NextId = 0; // counter to add entries to the clone and not replace existing ones
jQuery(document).ready(function(){
jQuery("#form input").change(function () {
// making the clone
var curFiles = this.files;
// temporary object clone before copying info to the clone
var temparr = jQuery.extend(true, {}, curFiles);
// delete unnecessary FileList keys that were cloned
delete temparr["length"];
delete temparr["item"];
if (Object.keys(clon).length === 0){
jQuery.extend(true, clon, temparr);
}else{
var keysArr = Object.keys(clon);
NextId = Math.max.apply(null, keysArr)+1; // FileList keys are numbers
if (NextId < curFiles.length){ // a bug I found and had to solve for not replacing my temparr keys...
NextId = curFiles.length;
}
for (var key in temparr) { // I have to rename new entries for not overwriting existing keys in clon
if (temparr.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
temparr[NextId] = temparr[key];
delete temparr[key];
// meter aca los cambios de id en los html tags con el nuevo NextId
NextId++;
}
}
jQuery.extend(true, clon, temparr); // copy new entries to clon
}
// modifying the html file list display
if (NextId === 0){
jQuery("#filelist").html("");
for(var i=0; i<curFiles.length; i++) {
var f = curFiles[i];
jQuery("#filelist").append("<p id=\"file"+i+"\" style=\'margin-bottom: 3px!important;\'>" + f.name + "<a style=\"float:right;cursor:pointer;\" onclick=\"BorrarFile("+i+")\">x</a></p>"); // the function BorrarFile will handle file deletion from the clone by file id
}
}else{
for(var i=0; i<curFiles.length; i++) {
var f = curFiles[i];
jQuery("#filelist").append("<p id=\"file"+(i+NextId-curFiles.length)+"\" style=\'margin-bottom: 3px!important;\'>" + f.name + "<a style=\"float:right;cursor:pointer;\" onclick=\"BorrarFile("+(i+NextId-curFiles.length)+")\">x</a></p>"); // yeap, i+NextId-curFiles.length actually gets it right
}
}
// update the total files count wherever you want
jQuery("#form p").text(Object.keys(clon).length + " file(s) selected");
});
});
function BorrarFile(id){ // handling file deletion from clone
jQuery("#file"+id).remove(); // remove the html filelist element
delete clon[id]; // delete the entry
removedkeys++; // add to removed keys counter
if (Object.keys(clon).length === 0){
jQuery("#form p").text(Object.keys(clon).length + " file(s) selected");
jQuery("#fileToUpload").val(""); // I had to reset the form file input for my form check function before submission. Else it would send even though my clone was empty
}else{
jQuery("#form p").text(Object.keys(clon).length + " file(s) selected");
}
}
// now my form check function
function check(){
if( document.getElementById("fileToUpload").files.length == 0 ){
alert("No file selected");
return false;
}else{
var _validFileExtensions = [".pdf", ".PDF"]; // I wanted pdf files
// retrieve input files
var arrInputs = clon;
// validating files
for (var i = 0; i < Object.keys(arrInputs).length+removedkeys; i++) {
if (typeof arrInputs[i]!="undefined"){
var oInput = arrInputs[i];
if (oInput.type == "application/pdf") {
var sFileName = oInput.name;
if (sFileName.length > 0) {
var blnValid = false;
for (var j = 0; j < _validFileExtensions.length; j++) {
var sCurExtension = _validFileExtensions[j];
if (sFileName.substr(sFileName.length - sCurExtension.length, sCurExtension.length).toLowerCase() == sCurExtension.toLowerCase()) {
blnValid = true;
break;
}
}
if (!blnValid) {
alert("Sorry, " + sFileName + " is invalid, allowed extensions are: " + _validFileExtensions.join(", "));
return false;
}
}
}else{
alert("Sorry, " + arrInputs[0].name + " is invalid, allowed extensions are: " + _validFileExtensions.join(" or "));
return false;
}
}
}
// proceed with the data appending and submission
// here some hidden input values i had previously set. Now retrieving them for submission. My form wasn't actually even a form...
var fecha = jQuery("#fecha").val();
var vendor = jQuery("#vendor").val();
var sku = jQuery("#sku").val();
// create the formdata object
var formData = new FormData();
formData.append("fecha", fecha);
formData.append("vendor", encodeURI(vendor));
formData.append("sku", sku);
// now appending the clone file data (finally!)
var fila = clon; // i just did this because I had already written the following using the "fila" object, so I copy my clone again
// the interesting part. As entries in my clone object aren't consecutive numbers I cannot iterate normally, so I came up with the following idea
for (i = 0; i < Object.keys(fila).length+removedkeys; i++) {
if(typeof fila[i]!="undefined"){
formData.append("fileToUpload[]", fila[i]); // VERY IMPORTANT the formdata key for the files HAS to be an array. It will be later retrieved as $_FILES['fileToUpload']['temp_name'][i]
}
}
jQuery("#submitbtn").fadeOut("slow"); // remove the upload btn so it can't be used again
jQuery("#drag").html(""); // clearing the output message element
// start the request
var xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.addEventListener("progress", function(e) {
var done = e.position || e.loaded, total = e.totalSize || e.total;
}, false);
if ( xhttp.upload ) {
xhttp.upload.onprogress = function(e) {
var done = e.position || e.loaded, total = e.totalSize || e.total;
var percent = done / total;
jQuery("#drag").html(Math.round(percent * 100) + "%");
};
}
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 200) {
var respuesta = this.responseText;
jQuery("#drag").html(respuesta);
}
};
xhttp.open("POST", "your_upload_handler.php", true);
xhttp.send(formData);
return true;
}
};
Now the html and styles for this. I'm quite a newbie but all this actually worked for me and took me a while to figure it out.
<div id="form" class="formpos">
<!-- Select the pdf to upload:-->
<input type="file" name="fileToUpload[]" id="fileToUpload" accept="application/pdf" multiple>
<div><p id="drag">Drop your files here or click to select them</p>
</div>
<button id="submitbtn" onclick="return check()" >Upload</button>
// these inputs are passed with different names on the formdata. Be aware of that
// I was echoing this, so that's why I use the single quote for php variables
<input type="hidden" id="fecha" name="fecha_copy" value="'.$fecha.'" />
<input type="hidden" id="vendor" name="vendorname" value="'.$vendor.'" />
<input type="hidden" id="sku" name="sku" value="'.$sku.'"" />
</div>
<h1 style="width: 500px!important;margin:20px auto 0px!important;font-size:24px!important;">File list:</h1>
<div id="filelist" style="width: 500px!important;margin:10px auto 0px!important;">Nothing selected yet</div>
The styles for that. I had to mark some of them !important to override Joomla behavior.
.formpos{
width: 500px;
height: 200px;
border: 4px dashed #999;
margin: 30px auto 100px;
}
.formpos p{
text-align: center!important;
padding: 80px 30px 0px;
color: #000;
}
.formpos div{
width: 100%!important;
height: 100%!important;
text-align: center!important;
margin-bottom: 30px!important;
}
.formpos input{
position: absolute!important;
margin: 0!important;
padding: 0!important;
width: 500px!important;
height: 200px!important;
outline: none!important;
opacity: 0!important;
}
.formpos button{
margin: 0;
color: #fff;
background: #16a085;
border: none;
width: 508px;
height: 35px;
margin-left: -4px;
border-radius: 4px;
transition: all .2s ease;
outline: none;
}
.formpos button:hover{
background: #149174;
color: #0C5645;
}
.formpos button:active{
border:0;
}
I hope this helps.