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Build Identifier: v14_Maintenance It is quite complicated (i.e. takes a lot of mouse clicks) to upload several files. For each additional file the user has to press the + button, followed by the browse button and select the file in the filechooser. To save at least one click per file it would be possible to remove the + button, and add a new empty row (if not already existing) automatically each time a file was selected. Also see discussion here: http://eclipsesource.com/blogs/2011/06/23/uploading-files-with-rap-14/ I think it becomes clear that multiple files can be uploaded when the 2nd UploadPanel appears. Reproducible: Always
(In reply to comment #0) > Build Identifier: v14_Maintenance > > It is quite complicated (i.e. takes a lot of mouse clicks) to upload several > files. For each additional file the user has to press the + button, followed by > the browse button and select the file in the filechooser. To save at least one > click per file it would be possible to remove the + button, and add a new empty > row (if not already existing) automatically each time a file was selected. > > Also see discussion here: > http://eclipsesource.com/blogs/2011/06/23/uploading-files-with-rap-14/ > > I think it becomes clear that multiple files can be uploaded when the 2nd > UploadPanel appears. > > Reproducible: Always Hi Werner, Thanks for opening this bug and for your comments. In our initial design discussions we had considered having upload panels added automatically as you mentioned, but we settled on the '+' button with the rationale that it was based on the example of how Google Docs handled uploads (which has since changed) and the fact that in some use-cases, a user may want to pre-specify the number of uploads by adding them all and then filling them in. The current validation scheme also prevents the dialog from being dispensed if all upload panels are not filled in. However, as Ralf had mentioned in the blog post, that doesn't mean that the dialog is the best it can be. However, we have to be careful because there are several considerations that have to be taken into account with respect to usability: 1. Auto-upload vs. Non-Auto-upload 2. Multiple file management/Delete/Cancel 3. Validation /Enablement 4. Efficiency So considering that line of thought again, if a new upload panel was added automatically we would have to re-evaluate how the "X" (delete) button would operate. So assuming that there is never more than 1 empty upload panel (since a new one would be automatically added only when a file is specified in the current empty one), if an upload panel is empty, it will not have an active delete button. There would also be no validation on empty upload panels and the dialog would be dispensable at any time. The efficiency for the use-case goes up due to fewer clicks, but we lose the other use case completely. From a validation standpoint, there will always be an empty upload panel when the dialog is dispensed, which perhaps might be distracting to others. I am not convinced either way yet, but the strongest argument for this approach is the increased efficiency (fewer clicks).
Austin, thanks for the detailed response. > but we settled on the '+' button with the rationale that it was > based on the example of how Google Docs handled uploads (which has since > changed) What about the current implementation of Goole Docs? The most comfortable solution for a user would probably be to allow multi-selection in the native file-chooser, like Google Docs does it now (with the option to remove files via the remove icon afterwards). Of course this only works if the files are located in the same directory, so we still need additional upload panels. But in that case the '+' button would be ok for me. This way I could select 10 files at once from the same directory, and add another one from another directory using the '+'. If the files are scattered in different locations, a user will more likely accept additional mouse clicks. It' s just annoying to see all files you want to upload in the file-chooser, but you have to repeat the upload procedure for each file. > and the fact that in some use-cases, a user may want to pre-specify > the number of uploads by adding them all and then filling them in. Why would a user need to do that? Can you explain what the exact use case is for that? Wouldn' t it be ok to simply ignore empty panels?
Hi Werner, Thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, we are in a difficult place with multiple file selection. We need to have a cross-browser solution. Google and Firefox implement their own HTML 5 multi-file selector. Unfortunately, using plugins is not amenable because RAP is 100% free of plugins. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_select for a more details description of the problem. I am definitely open to discussing again the possibility of an upload panel being added automatically.
New, redesigned FileDialog UI is already in fileupload repo (bundles with "addons" in their name). We will update our build/repos to the new implementation in the next few days. The new implementation can handle uploading of multiple files at once (needs RAP 2.2M2/nightly). All filtering API have been removed as it's not possible to force a filter on the client/browser.
