How to resolve the C:\fakepath?

Question

This is my upload button.

Answer 1

I am happy that browsers care to save us from intrusive scripts and the like. I am not happy with IE putting something into the browser that makes a simple style-fix look like a hack-attack!

I've used a < span > to represent the file-input so that I could apply appropriate styling to the < div > instead of the < input > (once again, because of IE). Now due to this IE want's to show the User a path with a value that's just guaranteed to put them on guard and in the very least apprehensive (if not totally scare them off?!)... MORE IE-CRAP!

Anyhow, thanks to to those who posted the explanation here: IE Browser Security: Appending "fakepath" to file path in input[type="file"], I've put together a minor fixer-upper...

The code below does two things - it fixes a lte IE8 bug where the onChange event doesn't fire until the upload field's onBlur and it updates an element with a cleaned filepath that won't scare the User.

// self-calling lambda to for jQuery shorthand "$" namespace
(function($){
    // document onReady wrapper
    $().ready(function(){
        // check for the nefarious IE
        if($.browser.msie) {
            // capture the file input fields
            var fileInput = $('input[type="file"]');
            // add presentational  tags "underneath" all file input fields for styling
            fileInput.after(
                $(document.createElement('span')).addClass('file-underlay')
            );
            // bind onClick to get the file-path and update the style 

            fileInput.click(function(){
                // need to capture $(this) because setTimeout() is on the
                // Window keyword 'this' changes context in it
                var fileContext = $(this);
                // capture the timer as well as set setTimeout()
                // we use setTimeout() because IE pauses timers when a file dialog opens
                // in this manner we give ourselves a "pseudo-onChange" handler
                var ieBugTimeout = setTimeout(function(){
                    // set vars
                    var filePath     = fileContext.val(),
                        fileUnderlay = fileContext.siblings('.file-underlay');
                    // check for IE's lovely security speil
                    if(filePath.match(/fakepath/)) {
                        // update the file-path text using case-insensitive regex
                        filePath = filePath.replace(/C:\\fakepath\\/i, '');
                    }
                    // update the text in the file-underlay 
                    fileUnderlay.text(filePath);
                    // clear the timer var
                    clearTimeout(ieBugTimeout);
                }, 10);
            });
        }
    });
})(jQuery);