Twitter Bootstrap Form File Element Upload Button

Question

Why isn't there a fancy file element upload button for twitter bootstrap? It would be sweet if the blue primary button was implemented for the upload button. Is it even possible to finesse the upload button using CSS? (seems like a native browser element that can't be manipulated)

Answer 1

This works perfectly for me

<span>
    <input  type="file" 
            style="visibility:hidden; width: 1px;" 
            id='${multipartFilePath}' name='${multipartFilePath}'  
            onchange="$(this).parent().find('span').html($(this).val().replace('C:\\fakepath\\', ''))"  /> <!-- Chrome security returns 'C:\fakepath\'  -->
    <input class="btn btn-primary" type="button" value="Upload File.." onclick="$(this).parent().find('input[type=file]').click();"/> <!-- on button click fire the file click event -->
    &nbsp;
    <span  class="badge badge-important" ></span>
</span>

Answer 2

I have the same problem, and i try it like this.

<div>
<button type='button' class='btn btn-info btn-file'>Browse</button>
<input type='file' name='image'/>
</div>

The CSS

<style>
.btn-file {
    position:absolute;
}
</style>

The JS

<script>
$(document).ready(function(){
    $('.btn-file').click(function(){
        $('input[name="image"]').click();
    });
});
</script>

Note : The button .btn-file must in the same tag as the input file

Hope you found the best solution...

Answer 3

In respect of claviska answer - if you want to show uploaded file name in a basic file upload you can do it in inputs' onchange event. Just use this code:

 <label class="btn btn-default">
                    Browse...
                    <span id="uploaded-file-name" style="font-style: italic"></span>
                    <input id="file-upload" type="file" name="file"
                           onchange="$('#uploaded-file-name').text($('#file-upload')[0].value);" hidden>
 </label>

This jquery JS code is responsible will retrieving uploaded file name:

$('#file-upload')[0].value

Or with vanilla JS:

document.getElementById("file-upload").value

Answer 4

No fancy shiz required:

HTML:

<form method="post" action="/api/admin/image" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="hidden" name="url" value="<%= boxes[i].url %>" />
    <input class="image-file-chosen" type="text" />
    <br />
    <input class="btn image-file-button" value="Choose Image" />
    <input class="image-file hide" type="file" name="image"/> <!-- Hidden -->
    <br />
    <br />
    <input class="btn" type="submit" name="image" value="Upload" />
    <br />
</form>

JS:

$('.image-file-button').each(function() {
      $(this).off('click').on('click', function() {
           $(this).siblings('.image-file').trigger('click');
      });
});
$('.image-file').each(function() {
      $(this).change(function () {
           $(this).siblings('.image-file-chosen').val(this.files[0].name);
      });
});

CAUTION: The three form elements in question MUST be siblings of each other (.image-file-chosen, .image-file-button, .image-file)

Answer 5

Here's a solution for Bootstrap 3 and 4.

To make a functional file input control that looks like a button, you only need HTML:

HTML

<label class="btn btn-default">
    Browse <input type="file" hidden>
</label>

This works in all modern browsers, including IE9+. If you need support for old IE as well, please use the legacy approach shown below.

This techniques relies on the HTML5 hidden attribute. Bootstrap 4 uses the following CSS to shim this feature in unsupportive browsers. You may need to add if you're using Bootstrap 3.

[hidden] {
  display: none !important;
}

---

Legacy approach for old IE

If you need support for IE8 and below, use the following HTML/CSS:

HTML

<span class="btn btn-default btn-file">
    Browse <input type="file">
</span>

CSS

.btn-file {
    position: relative;
    overflow: hidden;
}
.btn-file input[type=file] {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    right: 0;
    min-width: 100%;
    min-height: 100%;
    font-size: 100px;
    text-align: right;
    filter: alpha(opacity=0);
    opacity: 0;
    outline: none;
    background: white;
    cursor: inherit;
    display: block;
}

Note that old IE doesn't trigger the file input when you click on a <label>, so the The CSS "bloat" does a couple things to work around that:

• Makes the file input span the full width/height of the surrounding <span>
• Makes the file input invisible

---

Feedback & Additional Reading

I've posted more details about this method, as well as examples for how to show the user which/how many files are selected:

http://www.abeautifulsite.net/whipping-file-inputs-into-shape-with-bootstrap-3/

Answer 6

With some inspiration from other posts above, here is a full solution that combines what looks like a form-control field with an input-group-addon for a clean file input widget that includes a link to the current file.

.input-file { position: relative; margin: 60px 60px 0 } /* Remove margin, it is just for stackoverflow viewing */
.input-file .input-group-addon { border: 0px; padding: 0px; }
.input-file .input-group-addon .btn { border-radius: 0 4px 4px 0 }
.input-file .input-group-addon input { cursor: pointer; position:absolute; width: 72px; z-index:2;top:0;right:0;filter: alpha(opacity=0);-ms-filter:"progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity=0)";opacity:0; background-color:transparent; color:transparent; }

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.1/css/bootstrap.min.css">
<div class="input-group input-file">
  <div class="form-control">
    <a href="/path/to/your/current_file_name.pdf" target="_blank">current_file_name.pdf</a>
  </div>
  <span class="input-group-addon">
    <a class='btn btn-primary' href='javascript:;'>
      Browse
      <input type="file" name="field_name" onchange="$(this).parent().parent().parent().find('.form-control').html($(this).val());">
    </a>
  </span>
</div>