Get Base64 encode file-data from Input Form

Question

I've got a basic HTML form from which I can grab a bit of information that I'm examining in Firebug.

My only issues is that I'm trying to base64 encode the file data before it's sent to the server where it's required to be in that form to be saved to the database.

<input type="file" id="fileupload" />

And in Javascript+jQuery:

var file = $('#fileupload').attr("files")[0];

I have some operations based on avaliable javascript: .getAsBinary(), .getAsText(), .getAsTextURL

However none of these return usable text that can be inserted as they contain unusable 'characters' - I don't want to have a 'postback' occur in my file uploaded, and I need to have multiple forms targeting specific objects so it's important I get the file and use Javascript this way.

How should I get the file in such a way that I can use one of the Javascript base64 encoders that are widely avaliable!?

Thanks

Update - Starting bounty here, need cross browser support!!!

Here is where I'm at:

<input type="file" id="fileuploadform" />

<script type="text/javascript">
var uploadformid = 'fileuploadform';
var uploadform = document.getElementById(uploadformid);


/* method to fetch and encode specific file here based on different browsers */

</script>

Couple of issues with cross browser support:

var file = $j(fileUpload.toString()).attr('files')[0];
fileBody = file.getAsDataURL(); // only would works in Firefox

Also, IE doesn't support:

var file = $j(fileUpload.toString()).attr('files')[0];

So I have to replace with:

var element = 'id';
var element = document.getElementById(id);

For IE Support.

This works in Firefox, Chrome and, Safari (but doesn't properly encode the file, or at least after it's been posted the file doesn't come out right)

var file = $j(fileUpload.toString()).attr('files')[0];
var encoded = Btoa(file);

Also,

file.readAsArrayBuffer() 

Seems to be only supported in HTML5?

Lots of people suggested: http://www.webtoolkit.info/javascript-base64.html

But this only returns en error on the UTF_8 method before it base64 encodes? (or an empty string)

var encoded = Base64.encode(file); 

Answer 1

It's entirely possible in browser-side javascript.

The easy way:

The readAsDataURL() method might already encode it as base64 for you. You'll probably need to strip out the beginning stuff (up to the first ,), but that's no biggie. This would take all the fun out though.

The hard way:

If you want to try it the hard way (or it doesn't work), look at readAsArrayBuffer(). This will give you a Uint8Array and you can use the method specified. This is probably only useful if you want to mess with the data itself, such as manipulating image data or doing other voodoo magic before you upload.

There are two methods:

• Convert to string and use the built-in btoa or similar
  • I haven't tested all cases, but works for me- just get the char-codes
• Convert directly from a Uint8Array to base64

I recently implemented tar in the browser. As part of that process, I made my own direct Uint8Array->base64 implementation. I don't think you'll need that, but it's here if you want to take a look; it's pretty neat.

What I do now:

The code for converting to string from a Uint8Array is pretty simple (where buf is a Uint8Array):

function uint8ToString(buf) {
    var i, length, out = '';
    for (i = 0, length = buf.length; i < length; i += 1) {
        out += String.fromCharCode(buf[i]);
    }
    return out;
}

From there, just do:

var base64 = btoa(uint8ToString(yourUint8Array));

Base64 will now be a base64-encoded string, and it should upload just peachy. Try this if you want to double check before pushing:

window.open("data:application/octet-stream;base64," + base64);

This will download it as a file.

Other info:

To get the data as a Uint8Array, look at the MDN docs:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en/DOM/FileReader