Is it possible to upload a picture through a web browser from a mobile device?

Question

This question has been asked before, but not this year - there is no concrete consensus and I know this is a hot topic. In addition, technology changes rather quickly, and the other questions seem to relate to only using the <input type="file>. I am looking for a more verbose modern way to handle these requests. Although I have been developing in ASP.NET C# MVC3, I have been looking into weather ASP.NET MVC4 Mobile will support mobile file upload. From what I have read, it does not, or it has not been covered in the new release notes.

http://www.asp.net/vnext/overview/whitepapers/whats-new

http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/mvc-4/aspnet-mvc-4-mobile-features

From the research I have done jQuery-Mobile seems rather gimmicky.

http://www.parorrey.com/blog/jquery-mobile/file-input-field-uploading-using-jquery-mobile-framework-form-submission-with-ajax-disabled/

http://forum.jquery.com/topic/jquery-mobile-seems-to-clobber-ability-to-upload-files-via-forms

An example that was posted did not work on my iPhone, as the <input type="file" still existed and was therefore grayed out as inaccessible.

http://filamentgroup.com/examples/jquery-custom-file-input/

Another suggestion I have come across involves forcing the user to email the photo to a user-specific email which doesn't really appeal to me or the customers I deal with - this approach also seems like it could be vulnerable to security breaches.

IS there a way to do this that I have overlooked? How can I show a file dialog on a mobile device?

Answer 1

The Safari browser does not support file uploads. You can see this by visiting many of the mobile sites in the actual browser BUT the actual apps will allow this.

So if you are making a mobile web app that you wish to deploy as a native app, you can use phonegap as a layer to do this.

http://docs.phonegap.com/en/1.4.1/phonegap_file_file.md.html#FileTransfer

Also, it is supported in:

• Android
• BlackBerry WebWorks (OS 5.0 and higher)
• iOS
• Windows Phone 7 ( Mango )

Answer 2

I use jquery mobile in a production app and it works just fine. I don't do file upload with it; however, that isn't jquery mobile's job anyhow. JqueryUI has issues with its dialog and file upload as well. There are a number of scripts that help with that. I use ajaxfileupload: http://www.phpletter.com/Our-Projects/AjaxFileUpload/ there are better ones out there now though.

I digress. As far as mobile is concerned it is more useful to have camera features involved rather than pure fileupload. No one knows where they store things on their phones, which is part of the problem. For that case you may want to try phonegap. Try this: http://wiki.phonegap.com/w/page/18270855/Image%20Upload%20using%20JQuery%20and%20Python

Answer 3

Yes we can upload picture through mobile, Face book is a live example for this.

Answer 4

It works for me on Android.

You can see how facebook does it here: https://m.facebook.com/home.php?refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2F&refid=8&_rdr

<input type="file" name="file1" data-sigil="photo-input" />

Try going to www.tinypic.com and uploading a photo. I can test on iPhone tonight.