digitarald - Web Craftsman Harald Kirschner - Internet Consultant & Contractor

FancyUpload 3.0 Unleashed

Despite the delay, the completely rewritten version of FancyUpload, version 3.0, got pushed to github today. This new version is more stable, has better documentation and more showcases than ever. I even added two download packages with runnable installations, like many developers requested. This article introduces the new features and showcases, impatient readers can jump directly to the comprehensive project page or fork on github.

Update (5th May ‘09): 3.0 rc1 got released to fix smaller bugs and I added new showcase “Attach A File”.

See it in Action

The Queued Photo Upload demo is based on a converted FancyUpload2 class, with which developers should be able to update their current installation easily. The Single File Button demo presents a clean and effective integration of the new Swiff.Uploader class, the powerhouse behind the FancyUpload interface.

Over the next week, a new showcase will be published every two days. They’ll not just add new styles to the FancyUpload interface but have their own unique interface, based on Swiff.Uploader. Follow me, @digitarald, on twitter or subscribe my feed to stay tuned.

New Features

There are a lot of new features and fixed bugs in this new release, so let me distill the most important ones for you:

• The API with, separated uploader and file classes, allows an easy implementation in all kind of interfaces
• Events are dispatched for every step of the uploading process, to keep the interface as responsive as possible
• Progress tracks the loaded size, upload-rate, estimated time and other values for every file and for the batch as a whole
• File uploads can be stopped, restarted or removed anytime
• New Iframe-based class for multiple, asynchronous uploads without dependency on Flash
• Compatible with Flash 9 and 10 with the browse button as a transparent overlay or as an interactive image sprite
• Ability to change the upload URL and add POST/GET data on runtime, customized for every file or the whole process
• Easy to localize to your favourite language with MooTools.lang, share your translations with others.

You Want More?

Updates will now come more regular, thanks to the solid code base. If you need any support, join the support forums. To report issues and bugs, use Github’s issue tracker (after discussing them in the forum). When I had enough feedback from developers, I’ll post an additional installation guide and more runnable packages.

Several developers already had access to the beta tests and implemented the new source. One showcase installation would be the “MooTools based FileManager” from Christoph Pojer, an open source script to (pre)view, upload and modify files and folders via the browser. I’m very curious, so if you integrated it or if you know a site, post them to the showcases in the forum.

Kudos to Jochen from d/vision - diseño y comunicación for designing the elegant logo for FancyUpload. Kudos also to all my visitors and beta testers and thanks for all your feedback on FancyUpload.

I hope you enjoy the power, customizability and stability of the new version like I do.