drag and drop

Hi,

I didnt know where to ask this question, i guess this is the best place to do it.

How do i drag a file from my windows explorer (or desktop) to my upload webpage on the net, so when i drag the file and place it in the upload text box the link to the file will appear in the text box? (At the moment it just open the files you drag and drop into the text box)

I hope that made some sense. I clearify it if anyone asks me.

I dont know how i would go about it? Is it PHP? Java? ActiveX? If anyone could point me in the right direction it would be great.

Thanks.

if it can be done cross-browser, it's javascript. if it can't, there might be something activex that can do it (I generally refuse to learn about such). one could certainly write a java program/applet to upload files dragged on to it, but this might be more trouble than it's worth if you don't already know java. PHP (along with perl, JSP, ColdFusion, ASP) never has anything to do with cute stuff happening on the client side (like the behavior of the browser when you drag a file on to it) because it runs on the server and is over and done with by the time someone can drag something on to a web page.

-Joshua <><

i tried that too some time ago. anyone got any further than me?

the <input type="file"> tag cannot be scripted for security reasons. i think there is no way to use drag and drop for uploading...

activeX is probably possible but you need to get it signed by micros*** or thawte or any other "trusted" root certificate owner for a lot of money. or users will get security alerts... same for java applets.

signed javascripts can probably do it. basically, it looks like however you do it would require signing. the only alternative I can think is to actually have the user download a java program (this requires them having sun's java runtime on their computer) and having a setup program that makes convenient shortcuts and stuff for them. in short, it's ugly no matter what way you go.

-wg <><