Common problems with large file uploads
blog.filepicker.io
Common problems with large file uploads
1–10 of 36 posts
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#2I'd really like to be able to use Dropbox as a magic upload handler for any file I upload on my local HD, not just those in my Dropbox folder. They handle the logic of getting all my files into the cloud. Why can't I point a website to my Dropbox and say here, this is handling the file upload?
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#3For the HTTP/2.0 discussion there was here earlier:
A way to continue an interrupted file upload.
Because POST variable are sent in order, if you put the file first and the other variables after, the server never sees them if the file was interrupted. So when I code a form I always put the hidden ones first so at least I can give a useful error message (since I know what the user was trying to do).
It would be better to decouple them and upload the files and the rest of the variables separately.
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#4I'd really like to be able to use Dropbox as a magic upload handler for any file I upload on my local HD, not just those in my Dropbox folder. They handle the logic of getting all my files into the cloud. Why can't I point a website to my Dropbox and say here, this is handling the file upload?
Dropbox has an API that will (theoretically) let you do this, but there hasn't been a ton of people jumping up and implementing it yet. It'll be cool when it shows up.
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#5[deleted]
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#6I'd really like to be able to use Dropbox as a magic upload handler for any file I upload on my local HD, not just those in my Dropbox folder. They handle the logic of getting all my files into the cloud. Why can't I point a website to my Dropbox and say here, this is handling the file upload?
Dropbox has an API that will (theoretically) let you do this, but there hasn't been a ton of people jumping up and implementing it yet. It'll be cool when it shows up.
I've used the dropbox API before to automatically upload photos in a dropbox folder to Flickr. It occurs on an interval (cron job every 2 mins). I'm sure you could do the same thing using FTP or a custom API that exists on your destination server.
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#7I'd really like to be able to use Dropbox as a magic upload handler for any file I upload on my local HD, not just those in my Dropbox folder. They handle the logic of getting all my files into the cloud. Why can't I point a website to my Dropbox and say here, this is handling the file upload?
You're basically describing https://www.filepicker.io, the company that wrote this blog post.
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dropbox has an API that will (theoretically) let you do this, but there hasn't been a ton of people jumping up and implementing it yet. It'll be cool when it shows up.
I've used the dropbox API before to automatically upload photos in a dropbox folder to Flickr. It occurs on an interval (cron job every 2 mins). I'm sure you could do the same thing using FTP or a custom API that exists on your destination server.
They released a delta API recently. It's a bit of a pain to perform this task as you can't differentiate between a new file and a renamed file or a file that's been moved from one location to another.
In all cases you get a delete (if the file isn't new) and then a new file event.
I implemented it, and it kinda sucks for this sort of thing. The purpose seems to maintain local state to mirror the state on Dropbox. Not terribly interested in that...I just want to subscribe to specific events (webhooks, anyone?).
This was their solution to the frequently requested webhooks. It falls short. Way short.
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#9I've experienced this issue before when establishing a publisher backend for a D2D pc game business. It seems to be basically impossible without a Java applet of some kind, and even then it's wonky at best and just 'fails' at worst. The real fix for the issue seemed to be simply providing an FTP connection and letting people connect through the native client of their choosing.
That really seems to be the key for this problem, develop a simple native app capable of FTP uploads, that make it easy for users to deliver files to your app within the context of their use. Most browsers are capable of opening native applications via unique protocol, you could easily enrich the process by having the native app be a part of(or try to blend seamlessly with) major browsers.
Re: Common problems with large file uploads
#10I've been dealing with browser-based large file uploads, which means dealing with lots of browser-specific issues.
Fortunately, things are getting better, especially for the webkit-based browsers. Firefox still has some issues, and I check https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=678648 pretty regularly. Just today this bug, which was filed in 2003, changed from Status = NEW to Status = ASSIGNED.
Today is a good day.