File API and Drag and Drop
RadAsyncUpload has undergone significant changes since
it's initial release back in Q1 2010. With the advent of the
HTML 5 FileAPI
and the updates to the
XMLHttpRequest object,
it is now
easier than ever to utilize AJAX mechanisms when uploading files, a
practice that was hardly possible prior to that. As you may have
expected, RadAsyncUpload
is not lagging behind these concepts and since Q2 2011 it utilizes a
FileAPI module, which is now the default one under FireFox 4.0+, Safari
5+ and Google Chrome
and will be used by default in the upcoming IE10.
The File API module provides all functionalities
provided by the other modules (multiple selection, client-side size
validation, extension validation)
plus support for drag and drop! Yes, forth from Q3, RadAsyncUpload
supports uploading files as easy as dragging and dropping them over the
upload:
You can check out the drag and drop demo here
Persisting Uploaded Files
A common problem that our customers encounter is when there are
multiple controls on the page that can trigger a postback (say
RadComboBox)
and RadAsyncUpload placed before that controls. Then, any files
uploaded will be processed on the server as soon as one of
one of the combos do a postback. As one may expect, this is not
always the desired behavior. Here is one example: Imagine, that we are
filling a form. Only after
all the validation has passed the server should process the selected
files. Unfortunately, this was hardly possible with RadAsyncUpload,
because
the files were processed as soon as a postback occur.
Well, this is not a problem any more! Forth from Q2 2011,
RadAsyncUpload utilizes the PostbackTriggers
property, that accepts, as one may suggest, a list of IDs that upon
postback
should trigger the server-side files processing. A typical use case
scenario is to set the ID of your Submit button as a postback trigger
ID. More
details can be found in
this demo
Additional Fields
Adding the
RadUpload's additional fields
functionality to RadAsyncUpload is a long time requested feature.
Well, I am happy to anounce that the wait is over and from Q3 2011 it is
possible to use additional fields in pretty much the same manner as
with RadUpload. You can check out the
following demo for details.
RadAsyncUpload Layout
Having an option to chose whether the uploaded files appear below or
above the file input is another feature that is highly requested. Until
now,
all uploaded files were displayed above the file input and it was not
possible to change this behavior. The good news are that we have
listened
to your feedback and it is now possible (Q3 2011) to chose whether
the files should appear, below or above the input. You can use the
UploadedFilesRendering property to do that.
UploadedFilesRendering="BelowFileInput"
We hope that you would enjoy these new features. As always, we are open to any feedback and criticism. :)