Raible's Wiki: CreateAnAJAXBasedFileuploadProgressbarDialog

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!!!This HOWTO is work in progress. I Hope to finish this soon.

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!!!How to Create an AJAX based fileupload progressbar dialog

This HOWTO shows how i combined [AJAX Struts File Upload Progress Meter|http://kencochrane.blogspot.com/2006/03/ajax-struts-file-upload-progress-meter.html] with a custom tweaked version of [Lightbox Gone Wild!|http://particletree.com/features/lightbox-gone-wild/] to create a user friendly upload progress bar dialog with the webpage below faded out. This means that users are unable to click on any links on the website and lets the visual indication of how much is left of the file transfer.

!!!How to Create an AJAX based file upload progress-bar

This tutorial shows how [AJAX Struts File Upload Progress Meter|http://kencochrane.blogspot.com/2006/03/ajax-struts-file-upload-progress-meter.html] has been combined with a custom tweaked version of [Lightbox Gone Wild!|http://particletree.com/features/lightbox-gone-wild/] to create a user friendly upload progress bar dialog with the web page below faded out. This means that users are unable to click on any links on the website and shows a the visual indication of how much is left of the file transfer. Its easy to customize the content of the dialog (see __{{lbContent}}__ in the section __Comments and tips__ section).

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For newcomers to appfuse see [AppFuseQuickStart] as well as the videos at the top of the page [AppFuse]

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!Notes for usage on previous Appfuse Versions

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This tutorial can also work on previous versions of Appfuse but you need to include the dependend AJAX framewords (they are by default included in Appfuse 1.9.3). You can grap prototype and scriptaculous from Appfuse 1.9.3 and place the scrips in the same folders as where they are placed in Appfuse 1.9.3. You also need to reference the Ajax frameworks in the decorator default.jsp. Below is an excerpt of the begining of {{default.jsp}} from the Appfuse 1.9.3 project used as basis for this tutorial. You specifically needs the lines that references "prototype.js" and "scriptaculous.js" in that order since "scriptaculous.js" depends on "prototype.js". __It's important to note__ that scriptaculous.js may load additionally js scrips. And this solution in thus tutorial also needs the effects.js to be available. But in order to be safe you should include them all. They are:

*builder.js

*effects.js

*dragdrop.js

*controls.js

*slider.js

__Excerpt of the beginning of default.jsp__

{{{

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<%@ include file="/common/taglibs.jsp"%>

<head>

<%@ include file="/common/meta.jsp" %>

<decorator:head/>

</head>

...

}}}

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In a browser open the url {{http://< your host>:8080/progressbar/dwr/}} (8080 is the default tomcat port, you may have changed this to 80 or somthing else)

In a browser open the url {{http://< your host>:8080/progressbar/dwr/}} (8080 is the default tomcat port, you may have changed this to 80 or something else)

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Now point your browser to {{http://< your host >:8080/editUploadFile.html}} login and test that it works. (you may have to reload the browser to enshure it loads the css and js files (Ctrl + r in firefox and ie) ). You should now see this image:

Now point your browser to {{http://< your host >:8080/editUploadFile.html}} login and test that it works. (you may have to reload the browser to ensure it loads the css and js files (Ctrl + r in FireFox and IE) ). Remember to pick a file of a certain size if you are uploading to localhost. You should now see this image:

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!!!Comments

*Change log4j to see whats going on

*FileUploadAction.java

*lightboxDwrUpload.js

*fileUploadForm.jsp and lbContent

[http://raibledesigns.com/wiki/attach/CreateAnAJAXBasedFileuploadProgressbarDialog/dwrLightboxFileupload.jpg]

!!!Comments and tips

__Central files in this solution__

#__{{FileUploadAction.java}}__ - the struts Action responsible for reciving the uploaded files and save them to disk

#__{{lightboxDwrUpload.js}}__ - The modified [Lightbox Gone Wild!|http://particletree.com/features/lightbox-gone-wild/] script used to fade the contend outside the upload dialog. This script looks copies the __{{.innerHtml()}}__ from the div tag with id __{{lbContent}}__ to the dialog. See next bullet.

#__{{fileUploadForm.jsp}}__ and __{{lbContent}}__ - the JSP page containing the struts form. It contains a __{{lbContent}}__ div tag which represent the html code inserted in the upload dialog. It also contains an embedded javascript with the function __{{function upload(form)}}__ This script only trigger the upload mechanism if one or more files has been selected.

#__{{dwrUpload.js}}__ - This script is the Ajax functions that updates the content of the upload dialog. You can tweak the dialog refresh rate here.

#__{{ExtendedMultiPartRequestHandler.java}}__ - a slightly changed Struts controller (change marked by "Changed this section of code, that is it."). There is one important line here __{{{UploadListener listener = new UploadListener(request, 1);}}}__ The '1' here means delay to 1 millisecond. By increasing this value uploads will take longer time but will also be less CPU intensive.

#__{{engine.jsp}}__ - is actually engine.js extracted from dwr1.x and tweaked to ensure dwr also works with cookies disabled. For details see "Support for DWR without cookies" [http://getahead.ltd.uk/dwr/fixes]. This issue is solved in version 2 of dwr.

#__{{lightboxDwrUpload.css}}__ - Here the opacity can be specified.

#__{{dwrUpload.css}}__ - Here the progress bar can be styled.

__Change log4j to see whats going on__

In the file __{{log4j.properties}}__ change the line {{{log4j.rootCategory=DEBUG, mail}}} to {{{log4j.rootCategory=DEBUG, R}}} to get the log log messages written into a log file.

__Additional thoughts__

I hope that this tutorial can serve as basis for integration into later Appfuse versions. It may also serve as a basis for similar tutorials for the other web frameworks that Appfuse provides. Actually it could be implemented in a servlet (See the original [AJAX Upload progress monitor for Commons-FileUpload Example|http://www.telio.be/blog/2006/01/06/ajax-upload-progress-monitor-for-commons-fileupload-example/]) instead of using the struts action and that servlet could be included in all the Appfuse versions to provide this functionality across the frameworks.

__Productivity__

This page was created using one of Matt's productivity tips "[I've found that cracking open a beer at 11 when I start helps me focus and quit worrying about all the other computer-related tasks I need to do.|http://raibledesigns.com/page/rd?entry=tips_for_productivity_and_happiness]" - but I must say I needed to extended tip with a Whiskey.\\[http://raibledesigns.com/wiki/attach/CreateAnAJAXBasedFileuploadProgressbarDialog/productivity.jpg]

__Related articles__

[AppFuseAjaxWithDWR]

__Final note__

This tutorial is created by merging existing code into a new Appfuse project so I expect that the stuff work. In case of problems you can write to me at helge.tesgaard(a)gmail.com. Also write if you find typos or anything that can be explained better.

Enjoy file transfers!

Regards

Helge

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