{"id":1128,"date":"2008-07-09T03:45:24","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T08:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/docs\/?page_id=1128"},"modified":"2024-11-22T15:10:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T21:10:34","slug":"upload-files-to-server-via-web-2-0-maintenance-applications","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.mrc-productivity.com\/docs\/knowledge-base\/upload-files-to-server-via-web-2-0-maintenance-applications","title":{"rendered":"Upload Files to Server"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here<\/a> to access legacy documentation for this feature.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One feature of Maintainers is to allow the uploading of files from your client machine to the server. This feature is unique in the fact that it will also add a record to the database, as well as upload the specific file to the server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting Started<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To begin, create a maintenance application as you normally would. In “Field Settings”, change the dropdown box from “Basic field attributes” to “Form input attributes.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find the field that will serve as the File Name<\/strong> for the uploaded file. In the “User Def” column, select the “U”. This will tell m-Power to create an upload button next to this field and when the record is written to the table, write the File Name to this field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1 – Setting a field as an upload field in Field Settings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

App Properties<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before running the application, let’s look at the application properties for this program. After you scroll to the bottom, you will see these three options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 2 – Various application properties associated with the file upload functionality.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

File Upload Directory<\/strong> — The location on the m-Power server where this file will be uploaded. If the folder does not exist, it will be created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you must pick a valid drive, this property supports two substitutions for dynamic uploading. First, you can use ${mpower}<\/code> to automatically select the m-Power folder, which is useful for deployment between development and production. Second, you can use ${FIELD}<\/code> where FIELD is the name of a field, which can be used to upload a file to a directory dependent upon some form value your end user selects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

File Upload Max Size<\/strong> — The maximum size, in megabytes, that a file can be in order to be uploaded. If a file is too large, the user will see an error at runtime that they must pick a smaller file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

File Upload Auto Rename<\/strong> — Allows you to control the behavior when a file of the same name already exists in the upload directory. You can either choose to have m-Power auto-rename the file (so file.txt would become file(1).txt) or you can automatically overwrite the existing file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make any necessary changes and click “OK”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Runtime Usage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I run my application, I see something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 3 – A single row maintainer with an upload field called “Attachment”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Notice the “Browse” button in the Attachment input. Clicking on “Browse” brings up a view of my local machine. After I select a file, the location will be inserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upload feature is designed only to add files. This feature is not meant to remove files or modify files in any way, other than already discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Error Checking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Below is a list of the common error checking that m-Power will do to ensure that the proper information is being uploaded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the file name is too long, this error is displayed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 4 – If a user tries to upload a filename too long, the above error is displayed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If a file exceeds the maximum size, this error is displayed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 5 – If a user tries to upload a file size too large, the above error is displayed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Editor’s Note:<\/strong> The Maximum Size was changed in this example for practicality purposes. The default size is 100 MB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of characters in the file name can not exceed the length of the File Name field. For instance, if I want to upload the file “Damaged_goods.jpg” to a 15 alpha field, it would be rejected, as “Damaged_goods.jpg” is 17 characters long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Downloading files from the server<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By default, the upload feature will not automatically include the ability to view or download any uploaded files. However, a developer may use m-Painter’s smartlink functionality to add a hyperlink to their uploaded file, thus allowing the user to view the uploaded view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For how to do this, please see here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secure File Upload\/Download<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The above setup is the default method of uploading a file through an m-Power maintainer. Using the above method, the uploaded file is potentially available to anyone who knows the full URL of the file’s location. If there is a need to keep files secure behind m-Power\/Tomcat security, please follow the below instructions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Configuration<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The required setup is similar for the maintainer to upload a file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n