Setting Form EncType Dynamically To Multipart/Form-Data In IE (Internet Explorer)

Posted June 27, 2008 at 10:07 AM

Tags: Javascript / DHTML

A while back, I posted an AJAX-Style file upload demo. While using that technique in a current project, I discovered a bit of a bug. In FireFox, you can dynamically set the EncType of a form element to be "multipart/form-data" for file uploads; however, this does not work in Internet Explorer (IE). Apparently in IE, you have to set the "encoding" of the form rather than the "enctype". The good news is, you can set both values without concern and this will take care of the problem:

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  • // Using jQuery, set both the enctype and the encoding
  • // attributes to be multipart/form-data.
  • $( "form#upload-form" )
  • .attr( "enctype", "multipart/form-data" )
  • .attr( "encoding", "multipart/form-data" )
  • ;

Minor note, but wanted to write this down to help me remember.

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Reader Comments

Gareth Arch
Jun 27, 2008 at 12:43 PM // reply »
102 Comments
396 Points

Does firefox also work with "encoding" rather than just "enctype"? Would save you an extra line :).


Ben Nadel
Jun 27, 2008 at 12:47 PM // reply »
6,516 Comments
25,763 Points

@Gareth,

I actually didn't even check that.

The angel in me would prefer to stay with "enctype" as that is what the name of the attribute actually is and therefore what the real "intent" of the attr() function is meant to be.... but if all browsers worked with "encoding", the devil in my might not care ;)


Sudar
Feb 11, 2009 at 8:59 AM // reply »
1 Comments
10 Points

Thanks Ben for documenting this behavior of IE. I was breaking my head for quite sometime to find out why my AJAX file upload is not working in IE.

Regards
Sudar


Ben Nadel
Feb 11, 2009 at 10:08 AM // reply »
6,516 Comments
25,763 Points

@Sudar,

Glad to help! Yeah, it was really frustrating coming up against this for the first time.


Gonxas
Mar 13, 2009 at 9:23 AM // reply »
1 Comments
9 Points

in opera and firefox also work whit "encoding". Thanks for the tip!


Salseros
Mar 13, 2009 at 9:28 AM // reply »
1 Comments
9 Points

thanks for the tip. this has saved me hours of recoding!


K V V Swami Naidu
Mar 19, 2009 at 1:30 AM // reply »
1 Comments
12 Points

Thank you very much.


Anon
May 12, 2009 at 11:36 PM // reply »
5 Comments
12 Points

Ahh, I really wish this was higher up in Google when search terms are something like "ie dynamically create upload form" or "ie upload form bug", woulda saved me a lot of time. Thanks for documenting this.


Ben Nadel
May 13, 2009 at 7:29 AM // reply »
6,516 Comments
25,763 Points

@Anon,

Well, I'm glad you made it here eventually, even if a little delayed :)


Mon Villalon
May 15, 2009 at 4:44 PM // reply »
1 Comments
9 Points

Thanks, helped one I had the inspiration to google it!


yoyok
Aug 14, 2009 at 12:21 PM // reply »
1 Comments
12 Points

Thanks, now working...


Ben Nadel
Aug 17, 2009 at 2:10 PM // reply »
6,516 Comments
25,763 Points

@Mon, @yoyok,

Awesome fellas. Glad to help.


Binial
Aug 23, 2009 at 11:12 PM // reply »
1 Comments
12 Points

Thanks for the useful post, save me lots of time.


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