Flash Uploader for Images - How do we get it back?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Art Andrews
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2005
    • 143
    • 4.0.x

    Flash Uploader for Images - How do we get it back?

    I am finding this archaic uploading that we have been forced to go back to completely unacceptable for my users. Uploading one photo at a time in the most cumbersome manner possible... We need another solution, Here is my issue... I don't know enough about flash uploaders to know what needs to be done to get us back to where we were. Obviously, IB has no interest in helping and Yahoo is out as well. So, what can we do? There appear to be countless flash based unloaders out there but I don't know how we would go about implementing it into vb. url]http://www.uploadify.com/demos/[/url] http://don.citarella.net/flash-file-uploader/ http://www.easyalgo.com/eaflashupload.aspx http://www.tinywebgallery.com/en/tfu/web_overview.php http://www.element-it.com/multiple-f...-uploader.aspx Any thoughts on this or any ideas for a solution?
  • donald1234
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2011
    • 1953
    • 4.1.x

    #2
    You have to pay for a decent flash uploader though, the point is vbulletin is "paid for" software and should have this as default.

    Comment

    • Art Andrews
      Senior Member
      • Jan 2005
      • 143
      • 4.0.x

      #3
      Donald, I certainly understand your frustration, and agree that we shouldn't have to pay for this... however, while we could argue endlessly about what SHOULD be done, I accept that neither IB or Yahoo are going to do anything and it is going to be left to us to provide a solution to our communities. If I have to pay, I will pay. I don't mean to sound callous or like I have money to throw away, but for me, I care more about getting this functionality back to my communities than debating who is at fault.

      Comment

      • Wayne Luke
        vBulletin Technical Support Lead
        • Aug 2000
        • 73976

        #4
        Need to find a Flash programmer to fix the exploit in uploader.swf. We do not have any Flash Programmers on staff and never have. That is why we relied on Yahoo to update. They updated a number of exploits in that file over the years and aren't doing it anymore.
        Translations provided by Google.

        Wayne Luke
        The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
        vBulletin 5 API

        Comment

        • Mark.B
          vBulletin Support
          • Feb 2004
          • 24286
          • 6.0.X

          #5
          Bringing this back would involve a substantial rewrite of some parts of the software. At this time, there are no plans to do this, sorry.
          MARK.B
          vBulletin Support
          ------------
          My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
          My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

          Comment

          • Art Andrews
            Senior Member
            • Jan 2005
            • 143
            • 4.0.x

            #6
            Wayne/Mark, I know this is a bit of a slippery-slope here for you guys and again, I am much more interested in finding a solution here than complain about who is at fault. Based on what both of you have said, let me see if I understand where we stand: If we try to use another type of Uploader or build something custom, we would have to recode "substantial" parts of vb. so, the only hope of tackling this is to take the the existing/compromised YUI and have a flash code close the exploit and then enable the YUI as it is already supported in the current vb coding, yes? Part of what I am still not understanding is how this isn't having a major impact on more people and there isn't a greater outcry/effort to create a solution, even if that solution has to come from private efforts.

            Comment

            • Mark.B
              vBulletin Support
              • Feb 2004
              • 24286
              • 6.0.X

              #7
              Originally posted by Art Andrews
              the only hope of tackling this is to take the the existing/compromised YUI and have a flash code close the exploit and then enable the YUI as it is already supported in the current vb coding, yes?
              That is the most realistic option; however you would be taking responsibility for using obsolete code that MAY have other exploits in it that you don't know about.

              Originally posted by Art Andrews
              Part of what I am still not understanding is how this isn't having a major impact on more people and there isn't a greater outcry/effort to create a solution, even if that solution has to come from private efforts.
              It's because the ONLY feature that is lost is the ability to highlight multiple attachments and upload them in one go. The overwhelming majority of forum users upload single attachments, or just a couple, and their experience will be pretty much unaffected, just a marginally different interface that most people will probably not even notice. Even then, multiple UPLOADS are still possible, it's just multiple SELECTION that is lost.

              The ability to multiple highlight attachments was not even part of the actual design, it worked through a quirk of Flash. I agree it was handy, occasionally, but the software was not specifically designed to do that.
              MARK.B
              vBulletin Support
              ------------
              My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
              My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

              Comment

              • Art Andrews
                Senior Member
                • Jan 2005
                • 143
                • 4.0.x

                #8
                Originally posted by Mark.B
                It's because the ONLY feature that is lost is the ability to highlight multiple attachments and upload them in one go. The overwhelming majority of forum users upload single attachments, or just a couple, and their experience will be pretty much unaffected, just a marginally different interface that most people will probably not even notice. Even then, multiple UPLOADS are still possible, it's just multiple SELECTION that is lost. The ability to multiple highlight attachments was not even part of the actual design, it worked through a quirk of Flash. I agree it was handy, occasionally, but the software was not specifically designed to do that.
                I guess we are an anomaly then, because this is a HUGE deal for us as our members upload a lot of images and the Ajax Uploader really is clunky and painful in comparison. From our perspective this is a considerable step backwards, even though it is "only" one feature. I'll keep you posted if I can make any progress on this. Unfortunately, I am not a coder and I only have a rudemetary understanding of the core issue, so, without some kind of assistance, I don't know what are the chances of being able to resolve this.

                Comment

                • Wayne Luke
                  vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                  • Aug 2000
                  • 73976

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Art Andrews
                  Wayne/Mark, I know this is a bit of a slippery-slope here for you guys and again, I am much more interested in finding a solution here than complain about who is at fault. Based on what both of you have said, let me see if I understand where we stand: If we try to use another type of Uploader or build something custom, we would have to recode "substantial" parts of vb. so, the only hope of tackling this is to take the the existing/compromised YUI and have a flash code close the exploit and then enable the YUI as it is already supported in the current vb coding, yes? Part of what I am still not understanding is how this isn't having a major impact on more people and there isn't a greater outcry/effort to create a solution, even if that solution has to come from private efforts.
                  Uploading multiple files at a time in a single file open dialog box is not a significant nor game breaking feature of the software to most of our customers. Many customers have had the Flash uploader turned off for years. The issue is a ROI one from the people at the top. Investing hundreds of hours rewriting the code for a small number of customers isn't something we're going to get approval on.

                  You can still do multiple file uploads but it requires multiple file open dialogs.

                  Translations provided by Google.

                  Wayne Luke
                  The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                  vBulletin 5 API

                  Comment

                  • Mark.B
                    vBulletin Support
                    • Feb 2004
                    • 24286
                    • 6.0.X

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Art Andrews
                    I guess we are an anomaly then, because this is a HUGE deal for us as our members upload a lot of images and the Ajax Uploader really is clunky and painful in comparison. From our perspective this is a considerable step backwards, even though it is "only" one feature. I'll keep you posted if I can make any progress on this. Unfortunately, I am not a coder and I only have a rudemetary understanding of the core issue, so, without some kind of assistance, I don't know what are the chances of being able to resolve this.
                    Speaking as a customer - I would hope a third party might come up with a "fix" to patch it, but I don't know if that will happen as there isn't significant demand.
                    Also speaking as a customer, given the development time needed, I would far rather that time be spent on something that adds more value to vBulletin, whatever version that might be.
                    MARK.B
                    vBulletin Support
                    ------------
                    My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
                    My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

                    Comment

                    • Jennifer2010
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2011
                      • 118

                      #11
                      I agree with Art, this is pretty unacceptable. When Invision Power Board releases 4.0 they are going to mop the floor with VB. It's astonishing to me that VB just casually disregards an issue like this. "That is why we relied on Yahoo to update. They updated a number of exploits in that file over the years and aren't doing it anymore." - From their own update on the issue, YUI 2 is an end of life project -- so why not remove it and implement YUI 3?

                      Comment

                      • Zachery
                        Former vBulletin Support
                        • Jul 2002
                        • 59097

                        #12
                        YUI3 is a completely separate library, its about the same as Upgrading to Windows 8, from OSX. They're both javascript libraries, but they are not drop in replacements for each other. If we had to and were going to replace YUI with something, it'd be jQuery, but if you think that our comments on the time to implement and test ckeditor are large, rewriting the ENTIRE software to use a COMPELTELY different javascript library, out of the question.

                        Even still, YUI3, does not have the flash uploader.

                        Comment

                        • FranzBanz
                          New Member
                          • Oct 2013
                          • 5
                          • 4.2.X

                          #13
                          A quick workaround I've implemented for our forums is to increase the number of `Attachment Upload Inputs` (Options -> Message Attachment Options) to the number of files you want to allow uploading concurrently, and then adding a `multiple` attribute for the file input elements:
                          In the `assetmanager` template, find
                          HTML Code:
                          <input id="firstuploadinput" type="file" class="bginput uploadinput" name="attachment[]" size="30" tabindex="1" />
                          and replace it by
                          HTML Code:
                          <input id="firstuploadinput" type="file" class="bginput uploadinput" name="attachment[]" size="30" tabindex="1" multiple />
                          In the `editor_upload_overlay` template, find
                          HTML Code:
                           <input id="fileupload1" class="textbox" type="file" size="30" name="attachment[]" tabindex="1" />
                          and replace it by
                          HTML Code:
                           <input id="fileupload1" class="textbox" type="file" size="30" name="attachment[]" tabindex="1" multiple />
                          This will allow users with modern (HTML5 compliant) browsers to select multiple files for uploading by using the usual file picker dialog of their operating system (holding the ctrl/shift keys to select multiple files). No code changes or plugins are required for this to work, since vBulletin is ready to process multiple uploads at once. If an user selects more files than the limit you specified in the option named above, extra uploads will fail.

                          Remember that this is not well tested yet, so it should be considered experimental.
                          Last edited by FranzBanz; Fri 10 Jan '14, 1:22pm.

                          Comment

                          • Zachery
                            Former vBulletin Support
                            • Jul 2002
                            • 59097

                            #14
                            FranzBanz, thank you for the input. I'll try some testing as soon as I can, and if it works as well as can be expected. I'll make an improvement request for vB4 for it.

                            Comment

                            • Art Andrews
                              Senior Member
                              • Jan 2005
                              • 143
                              • 4.0.x

                              #15
                              Franz, thank you and Zachery,thank you for looking into this. I really appreciate you guys seeing what can be done to improve this situation. Again, clearly my communities are in the minority here, but this is a big deal for us so any help is greatly appreciated.

                              Comment

                              widgetinstance 262 (Related Topics) skipped due to lack of content & hide_module_if_empty option.
                              Working...