How to set a value to a file input in HTML?

Question

Note:

The answers & comments below reflect the state of legacy browsers in 2009. Now you can actually set the value of the file input element dynamically/programatically using JavaScript and a dataTransfer or FileList object in 2017.

See the answer in this question for details as well as a demo:
How to set file input value programatically (i.e.: when drag-dropping files)?

How can I set the value of this?

<input type="file" />

Answer 1

Define in html:

<input type="hidden" name="image" id="image"/>

In JS:

ajax.jsonRpc("/consulta/dni", 'call', {'document_number': document_number})
    .then(function (data) {
        if (data.error){
            ...;
        }
        else {
            $('#image').val(data.image);
        }
    })

After:

<input type="hidden" name="image" id="image" value="/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAgAAAQABAAD/2wBDAAgGBgcGBQgHBwcJCQgKDBQNDAsLDBkSEw8U..."/>
<button type="submit">Submit</button>

Answer 2

Not an answer to your question (which others have answered), but if you want to have some edit functionality of an uploaded file field, what you probably want to do is:

• show the current value of this field by just printing the filename or URL, a clickable link to download it, or if it's an image: just show it, possibly as thumbnail
• the <input> tag to upload a new file
• a checkbox that, when checked, deletes the currently uploaded file. note that there's no way to upload an 'empty' file, so you need something like this to clear out the field's value

Answer 3

You can't.

The only way to set the value of a file input is by the user to select a file.

This is done for security reasons. Otherwise you would be able to create a Javascript that automatically uploads a specific file from the clients computer.

Answer 4

Actually we can do it. we can set the file value default by using webbrowser control in c# using FormToMultipartPostData Library.We have to download and include this Library in our project. Webbrowser enables the user to navigate Web pages inside form. Once the web page loaded , the script inside the webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted will be executed. So,

private void webBrowser1_DocumentCompleted(object sender, WebBrowserDocumentCompletedEventArgs e)
    {
       FormToMultipartPostData postData = 
            new FormToMultipartPostData(webBrowser1, form);
        postData.SetFile("fileField", @"C:\windows\win.ini");
        postData.Submit();
    }

Refer the below link for downloading and complete reference.

https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/28917/Setting-a-file-to-upload-inside-the-WebBrowser-com

Answer 5

You cannot due to security reasons.

Imagine:

<form name="foo" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <input type="file" value="c:/passwords.txt">
</form>
<script>document.foo.submit();</script>

You don't want the websites you visit to be able to do this, do you? =)

Answer 6

You can't. And it's a security measure. Imagine if someone writes a JS that sets file input value into some sensitive data file?