input (type="file") | NN 3 IE 4 DOM 1
The fileUpload object is a form control generated with an input element whose type attribute is set to "file". The "fileUpload" term does not appear in scripts, but it is the way Netscape casually referred to this object when it was first scriptable.
To submit a file, the form element should have its method attribute set to POST and its enctype attribute set to multipart/form-data. But you also need some server programming to process the incoming data correctly.
HTML Equivalent
    <input type="file">
Object Model Reference
    [window.]document.formName.elementName
    [window.]document.forms[i].elements[i]
    [window.]document.getElementById("elementID")
Object-Specific Properties
accept | defaultValue | form | name | size | type | value
Object-Specific Methods
handleEvent[ ] | select( )
Object-Specific Event Handler Properties
Handler | NN | IE | DOM
onblur | 3 | 4 | 2
onchange | 3 | 4 | 2
onclick | 6 | 4 | 2
onfocus | 3 | 4 | 2
onkeydown | 6 | 4 | n/a
onkeypress | 6 | 4 | n/a
onkeyup | 6 | 4 | n/a
onmousedown | 6 | 4 | 2
onmousemove | 6 | 4 | 2
onmouseout | 6 | 4 | 2
onmouseover | 6 | 4 | 2
onmouseup | 6 | 4 | 2
onselect | 3 | 4 | 2

accept | NN 6 IE 4 DOM 1
| Read/Write
Provides an optional advisory property consisting of a string of one or more comma-delimited MIME types of files that are being uploaded. Values have no impact on this element in current browsers.
Example
    document.entryForm.myFileUpload.accept = "image/gif";
Value
String.
Default
None.

defaultValue | NN 4 IE 4 DOM n/a
| Read/Write
Returns the string assigned to the value attribute of the element in the source code (except in IE for Windows, which returns an empty string). A user must manually select a file for uploading, so pre-setting or attempting to alter this value is a waste of time.
Example
    var initVal = document.entryForm.myFileUpload.defaultValue;
Value
String.
Default
None.

form | NN 3 IE 4 DOM 1
| Read-only
Returns a reference to the form element that contains the current element (if any). When processing an event from this element, the event handler function automatically has access to the input element (as the event object's target or srcElement property). By reading the form property, the script can easily access other controls within the same form.
Example
    var theForm = evt.srcElement.form;
Value
form element object reference.
Default
None.

name | NN 2 IE 3 DOM 1
| Read/Write
This is the identifier associated with the form control. The value of this property is submitted as one-half of the name/value pair when the form is submitted to the server. Names are hidden from user view, since control labels are assigned via other means, depending on the control type. Form control names may also be used by script references to the objects. Despite the modern standards' preference for the id attribute, many browsers still require that a form control be assigned a name attribute to allow the control's value to be submitted.
Example
    document.orderForm.myFileChoice.name = "Win32File";
Value
Case-sensitive string identifier that follows the rules of identifier naming: it may contain no whitespace, cannot begin with a numeral, and should avoid punctuation except for the underscore character.
Default
None.

size | NN 6 IE 4 DOM 1
| Read/Write
Roughly speaking, indicates the width in characters that the input text box portion of the file input element should be sized to accommodate. In practice, the browser does not always accurately predict the proper width when the font used is a proportional one. See details in the size attribute discussion for the input element in Chapter 8. This property is not available for IE 4 on the Macintosh.
Example
    document.forms[0].myFileUpload.size = 60;
Value
Integer.
Default
20

type | NN 3 IE 4 DOM 1
| Read-only
Returns the type of form control element. The value is returned in all lowercase letters. It may be necessary to cycle through all form elements in search of specific types to do some processing on (e.g., emptying all form controls of type "text" while leaving other controls untouched).
Example
    if (document.forms[0].elements[3].type == "file") {
        // process file input type here
    }
Value
Any of the following constants (as a string): button | checkbox | file | hidden | image | password | radio | reset | select-multiple | select-one | submit | text | textarea.
Default
file

value | NN 2 IE 3 DOM 1
| Read-only
Indicates the current value associated with the form control that is submitted with the name/value pair for the element. For a fileUpload object, this value is the URL-encoded full pathname to the local file. This is true even for the Macintosh browser versions, which tend to display only the file's name in the form element display. While the property accepts new value assignments in some browsers, only values assigned as a result of a user's explicit file menu choice get submitted.
Value
String.
Default
None.

handleEvent[ ] | NN |4| IE n/a DOM n/a
handleEvent(event) |
Instructs the object to accept and process the event whose specifications are passed as the parameter to the method. The object must have an event handler for the event type to process the event. Navigator 4 only.
Parameters
A Navigator 4 event object.
Returned Value
None.

select( ) | NN 3 IE 4 DOM n/a
Selects all the text displayed in the form element.
Parameters
None.
Returned Value
None.