Multiple file uploader with previews

Question

I'm trying to find something that will let users upload multiple files to a website. The requirements are that it let them easily select multiple files (preferably with something like check boxes) and that it displays a preview of the images they select.

I'd prefer to only use Javascript or Flash if possible, but Java is also an option (this needs to work on platforms where Silverlight isn't available).

So far all I've been able to find are things that use the native file selector (which doesn't show previews on Windows, and makes it unclear that you can select multiple by holding ctrl).

I'm not sure if the preview requirement is even possible, but it's the most important.

Answer 1

I am assuming 2 things here:

1) Some kind of client/enduser will be doing the file upload

2) You get some kind of say on what the client installs on their computer to help make this happen.

If this is the case, my first suggestion would be:

Give them FTP or SFTP client software to upload files. The php page you make can have a link to Filezilla, along with instructions on how to use it. ftp and sftp are THE protocols to use for transferring files. HTTP is just not designed(well) for it, nor are browsers.

Once the user has the (S)FTP client software installed, you can give them URL's to upload files to that are specific to their user account, and you can have a backend script process and load/move files that they upload. It's pretty easy to create a local temporary directory using a server side script, have the client upload files via ftp, then go back to the web browser and click a button that says "Done uploading, please process my stuff".

The browser can even give back confirmations on everything that gets uploaded/processed.