File attachment validation

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shearak - 05 Sep 2007 16:36 GMT

So I have a form that allows users to attach documents by browsing for the
files. How would I check if a files exists where the user doesn't use browse to
attach a file but rather types in a file and path name (and the file isn't
found)?

<form action="Contact_Submission_Action.cfm" method="post"
enctype="multipart/form-data" name="contact_submission" id="contact_submission"
onSubmit="MM_validateForm('Email','','RisEmail');return
document.MM_returnValue">
<table width="815" border="0" align="center" class="submission_form">
<tr>
<td colspan="10"> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Your e-mail
address:<br><span class="note">(required) </span></td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="text" name="Email" size="50"
value=""></td>
</tr>
    <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Date to publish this
item: <span class="note">(required) </span></td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="text" name="date" value="
mm/dd/yy"></td>
</tr>
    <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Headline:</td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="text" name="Headline" size="66"
value=""></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Attachment #1:</td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="file" name="attachment_1"
size="50" value=""></td>
</tr>
    <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Attachment #2:</td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="file" name="attachment_2"
size="50" value=""></td>
</tr>
            <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Attachment #3:</td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="file" name="attachment_3"
size="50" value=""></td>
</tr>
    <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Description of
related item (text for the link):</td>
<td colspan="8"><textarea name="WhatAdditional" cols="50"
rows="2" id="WhatAdditional"></textarea></td>
</tr>
    <tr>
<td colspan="2" class="fieldheaderleft">Comments or
additional instructions for this item:</td>
<td colspan="8"><textarea name="Comments" cols="50" rows="6"
wrap="VIRTUAL" id="Headline"></textarea></td>
</tr>
        <tr>
<td colspan="2"> </td>
<td colspan="8"><input type="submit" name="Send_ Email"
value="Submit News Item"><input name="Clear form" type="reset" value="Clear
Form"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>

Thanks in advance,

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Grizzly9279 - 05 Sep 2007 18:13 GMT

I think the best you can do is attempt to upload the file (using <cffile
action="upload">). If the file did not exist on the client machine, <cffile>
should throw an error which says something like:

"The form field "xxxxxxx" did not contain a file."

You can wrap some try/catch logic around the <cffile action="upload"> tag so
you can detect this condition and treat it as you best see fit.

Reply to this Message

shearak - 05 Sep 2007 19:02 GMT

Here is my action page using <cffile action="upload">. The upload works fine if
the user browes and attaches the files. But if the user types in a file and
path name (and the file isn't found) I get an error. Can someone show me how I
can validate if the file/s do not exist.

<cfset dir = ExpandPath("#request.app.Attach#/")>
<cfif FORM.attachment_1 neq "">

<cffile action="upload"
filefield="attachment_1"
destination="#dir#/"
nameconflict="Makeunique">

<cfset attachment_local_file_1 = "#dir#/#file.serverfile#">
</cfif>
<cfif FORM.attachment_2 neq "">

<cffile action="upload"
filefield="attachment_2"
destination="#dir#/"
nameconflict="Makeunique">

<cfset attachment_local_file_2 = "#dir#/#file.serverfile#">
</cfif>
<cfif FORM.attachment_3 neq "">

<cffile action="upload"
filefield="attachment_3"
destination="#dir#/"
nameconflict="Makeunique">

<cfset attachment_local_file_3 = "#dir#/#file.serverfile#">
</cfif>

Thank you for your submission! Your news item has been sent to . A member of
the group will contact you with any questions or to review your item.

<cfmail from="#form.email#" to="" subject="BS&R News Item Submission Form">
E-Mail: #Email#
News Section: #News#
Date to publish this item: #date#
Headline: #headline#
News item text: #NewsItem#

Attachment 1: #A1#
Description 1: #Description1#
Attachment 2: #A2#
Description 2: #Description2#
Attachment 3: #A3#
Description 3: #Description3#

Link to related information (if any): #RelateLink#
What is this link? #WhatLink#
Additional link to related information (if any): #AdditionalLink#
What is this additional link? #WhatAdditional#

Comments or additional instructions for this item:
-------------------------------------------------------
#Comments#

-------------------------------------------------------

<cfsilent>
<cfif FORM.attachment_1 neq "">
<cfmailparam file="#attachment_local_file_1#">
</cfif>
<cfif FORM.attachment_2 neq "">
<cfmailparam file="#attachment_local_file_2#">
</cfif>
<cfif FORM.attachment_3 neq "">
<cfmailparam file="#attachment_local_file_3#">
</cfif>
</cfsilent>
</cfmail>

Thanks again!

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shearak - 06 Sep 2007 20:47 GMT

Dump! Any suggestions please.

Reply to this Message

Ian Skinner - 05 Sep 2007 18:46 GMT

Have you tested if this even gets past the browser? Since it has to get
the file and put it in the header of the request to the server, I would
presume that if the browser can not find the file it is going to fail at
that point. But I have never tested this so I do not know what the
common behavior of browsers would be for uploading a non-existing file.

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Webmaster Forum / ColdFusion / Advanced Techniques / September 2007

File attachment validation