Activity log for bug #257485

Date Who What changed Old value New value Message
2008-08-13 03:36:27 Eviltechie bug added bug
2008-08-13 07:06:14 Björn Tillenius bug added subscriber Björn Tillenius
2008-08-13 07:06:14 Björn Tillenius malone: status New Incomplete
2008-08-13 16:07:16 Eviltechie bug added attachment 'Untitled.jpg' (Untitled.jpg)
2008-08-13 17:03:26 Björn Tillenius malone: status Incomplete Invalid
2008-08-13 17:03:26 Björn Tillenius malone: statusexplanation
2008-08-13 18:01:05 Matthew Paul Thomas malone: status Invalid New
2008-08-13 18:01:05 Matthew Paul Thomas malone: statusexplanation Firefox and Safari deliberately do not (and IE/Mac did not) let people type or edit the path of a file they're uploading. I don't know if Safari's reasons are public, though Mac OS has always avoided exposing full file paths to humans where practical. But in Firefox's case, at least, it was for security reasons. If the file upload control contains an editable field, there are effectively infinitely many ways in which the control can be made to look like an ordinary text field. And if people can be tricked into typing the path of a sensitive file in that field, they'll upload it without realizing. <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=258875> Now, you could still say it's a browser bug that browsers don't provide an explicit button for deselecting the file that you've selected, and I'd agree. But I don't know of *any* browser that does that, and even in browsers that let you edit the path field, I don't think that's an obvious method. So, I suggest that when JavaScript is available, Launchpad should add a "Clear" button next to any file upload control, which would deselect the file in the control. (Possibly the only way to do this would to be to delete the control from the DOM entirely, and insert a new one in the same place with the same id=, name=, and other attributes except for value=.) Then in five or ten years, if most people using Launchpad use browsers that supply an equivalent button themselves, Launchpad can stop supplying its custom buttons.
2008-08-13 19:21:46 Björn Tillenius description I can easily attach a file. But after I selected what file to attach, I can't remove it b/c it won't let me remove the link. If a form contains a file control, and select a file to upload, some browsers (like Firefox and Safari) don't let you deselect the file. Other browsers let you deselect the file by clearing the text field, but it's not an obvious way of doing it.
2008-08-13 19:21:46 Björn Tillenius title Can't not attach a file Can't deselect file controls
2008-08-13 19:22:07 Björn Tillenius malone: bugtargetdisplayname Launchpad Bugs Launchpad itself
2008-08-13 19:22:07 Björn Tillenius malone: bugtargetname malone launchpad
2008-08-13 19:22:07 Björn Tillenius malone: statusexplanation Firefox and Safari deliberately do not (and IE/Mac did not) let people type or edit the path of a file they're uploading. I don't know if Safari's reasons are public, though Mac OS has always avoided exposing full file paths to humans where practical. But in Firefox's case, at least, it was for security reasons. If the file upload control contains an editable field, there are effectively infinitely many ways in which the control can be made to look like an ordinary text field. And if people can be tricked into typing the path of a sensitive file in that field, they'll upload it without realizing. <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=258875> Now, you could still say it's a browser bug that browsers don't provide an explicit button for deselecting the file that you've selected, and I'd agree. But I don't know of *any* browser that does that, and even in browsers that let you edit the path field, I don't think that's an obvious method. So, I suggest that when JavaScript is available, Launchpad should add a "Clear" button next to any file upload control, which would deselect the file in the control. (Possibly the only way to do this would to be to delete the control from the DOM entirely, and insert a new one in the same place with the same id=, name=, and other attributes except for value=.) Then in five or ten years, if most people using Launchpad use browsers that supply an equivalent button themselves, Launchpad can stop supplying its custom buttons.
2008-08-13 19:22:07 Björn Tillenius malone: title Bug #257485 in Launchpad Bugs: "Can't deselect file controls" Bug #257485 in Launchpad itself: "Can't deselect file controls"
2008-08-13 19:23:22 Björn Tillenius description If a form contains a file control, and select a file to upload, some browsers (like Firefox and Safari) don't let you deselect the file. Other browsers let you deselect the file by clearing the text field, but it's not an obvious way of doing it. If a form contains a file control, and select a file to upload, some browsers (like Firefox and Safari) don't let you deselect the file. Other browsers let you deselect the file by clearing the text field, but it's not an obvious way of doing it. The bug attachment form is an example of a form with a file control, but this affects other forms as well.
2008-08-20 20:58:47 Francis J. Lacoste launchpad: status New Won't Fix
2008-08-20 20:58:47 Francis J. Lacoste launchpad: statusexplanation Well, the HTML standard has a very well supported 'reset' button for case like these, which can be also achieved by reloading the page. But I guess the rationale behind this bug is that the user doesn't want to lose the other information already entered in the page. I agree with Bjorn, this is really a browser issue.
2008-08-21 18:19:08 Francis J. Lacoste launchpad: status Won't Fix Triaged
2008-08-21 18:19:08 Francis J. Lacoste launchpad: importance Undecided Medium
2008-08-21 18:19:08 Francis J. Lacoste launchpad: statusexplanation Well, the HTML standard has a very well supported 'reset' button for case like these, which can be also achieved by reloading the page. But I guess the rationale behind this bug is that the user doesn't want to lose the other information already entered in the page. I agree with Bjorn, this is really a browser issue.
2011-09-30 09:16:29 Robert Collins launchpad: importance Medium High