FileTransfer

The FileTransfer object allows you to upload or download files to and from a server.

Properties

  • onprogress: Called with a ProgressEvent whenever a new chunk of data is transferred. (Function)

Methods

  • upload: sends a file to a server.

  • download: downloads a file from server.

  • abort: Aborts an in-progress transfer.

Details

The FileTransfer object provides a way to upload files to a remote server using an HTTP multi-part POST request. Both HTTP and HTTPS protocols are supported. Optional parameters can be specified by passing a [FileUploadOptions](../fileuploadoptions/fileuploadoptions.html) object to the upload() method. On successful upload, a [FileUploadResult](../fileuploadresult/fileuploadresult.html) object is passed to the success callback. If an error occurs, a [FileTransferError](../filetransfererror/filetransfererror.html) object is passed to the error callback. It is also possible (only on iOS and Android) to download a file from a remote server and save it on the device.

Supported Platforms

  • Android
  • BlackBerry WebWorks (OS 5.0 and higher)
  • iOS
  • Windows Phone 7 and 8
  • Windows 8

upload

Parameters:

  • filePath: Full path of the file on the device.

  • server: URL of the server to receive the file, as encoded by encodeURI().

  • successCallback: A callback that is passed a [Metadata](../metadata/metadata.html) object. (Function)

  • errorCallback: A callback that executes if an error occurs retrieving the [Metadata](../metadata/metadata.html). Invoked with a [FileTransferError](../filetransfererror/filetransfererror.html) object. (Function)

  • options: Optional parameters such as file name and mimetype.

  • trustAllHosts: Optional parameter, defaults to false. If set to true, it accepts all security certificates. This is useful since Android rejects self-signed security certificates. Not recommended for production use. Supported on Android and iOS. (boolean)

Quick Example

// !! Assumes variable fileURI contains a valid URI to a text file on the device

var win = function (r) {
    console.log("Code = " + r.responseCode);
    console.log("Response = " + r.response);
    console.log("Sent = " + r.bytesSent);
}

var fail = function (error) {
    alert("An error has occurred: Code = " + error.code);
    console.log("upload error source " + error.source);
    console.log("upload error target " + error.target);
}

var options = new FileUploadOptions();
options.fileKey = "file";
options.fileName = fileURI.substr(fileURI.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
options.mimeType = "text/plain";

var params = {};
params.value1 = "test";
params.value2 = "param";

options.params = params;

var ft = new FileTransfer();
ft.upload(fileURI, encodeURI("http://some.server.com/upload.php"), win, fail, options);

Full Example

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
    <title>File Transfer Example</title>

    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="cordova.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">

        // Wait for device API libraries to load
        //
        document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);

        // device APIs are available
        //
        function onDeviceReady() {
            // Retrieve image file location from specified source
            navigator.camera.getPicture(
                uploadPhoto,
                function(message) { alert('get picture failed'); },
                {
                    quality         : 50,
                    destinationType : navigator.camera.DestinationType.FILE_URI,
                    sourceType      : navigator.camera.PictureSourceType.PHOTOLIBRARY
                }
            );
        }

        function uploadPhoto(imageURI) {
            var options = new FileUploadOptions();
            options.fileKey="file";
            options.fileName=imageURI.substr(imageURI.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
            options.mimeType="image/jpeg";

            var params = {};
            params.value1 = "test";
            params.value2 = "param";

            options.params = params;

            var ft = new FileTransfer();
            ft.upload(imageURI, encodeURI("http://some.server.com/upload.php"), win, fail, options);
        }

        function win(r) {
            console.log("Code = " + r.responseCode);
            console.log("Response = " + r.response);
            console.log("Sent = " + r.bytesSent);
        }

        function fail(error) {
            alert("An error has occurred: Code = " + error.code);
            console.log("upload error source " + error.source);
            console.log("upload error target " + error.target);
        }

        </script>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Example</h1>
    <p>Upload File</p>
</body>
</html>

Setting Upload Headers

Supported on Android and iOS

function win(r) {
    console.log("Code = " + r.responseCode);
    console.log("Response = " + r.response);
    console.log("Sent = " + r.bytesSent);
}

function fail(error) {
    alert("An error has occurred: Code = " + error.code);
    console.log("upload error source " + error.source);
    console.log("upload error target " + error.target);
}

var uri = encodeURI("http://some.server.com/upload.php");

var options = new FileUploadOptions();
options.fileKey="file";
options.fileName=fileURI.substr(fileURI.lastIndexOf('/')+1);
options.mimeType="text/plain";

var headers={'headerParam':'headerValue'};

options.headers = headers;

var ft = new FileTransfer();
ft.upload(fileURI, uri, win, fail, options);

Android Quirks

Set the chunkedMode option to false to prevent problems uploading to a Nginx server.

download

Parameters:

  • source: URL of the server to download the file, as encoded by encodeURI().

  • target: Full path of the file on the device.

  • successCallback: A callback that is passed a [FileEntry](../fileentry/fileentry.html) object. (Function)

  • errorCallback: A callback that executes if an error occurs when retrieving the [Metadata](../metadata/metadata.html). Invoked with a [FileTransferError](../filetransfererror/filetransfererror.html) object. (Function)

  • trustAllHosts: Optional parameter, defaults to false. If set to true then it will accept all security certificates. This is useful as Android rejects self signed security certificates. Not recommended for production use. Supported on Android and iOS. (boolean)

  • options: Optional parameters, currently only supports headers (such as Authorization (Basic Authentication), etc).

Quick Example

// !! Assumes filePath is a valid path on the device

var fileTransfer = new FileTransfer();
var uri = encodeURI("http://some.server.com/download.php");

fileTransfer.download(
    uri,
    filePath,
    function(entry) {
        console.log("download complete: " + entry.fullPath);
    },
    function(error) {
        console.log("download error source " + error.source);
        console.log("download error target " + error.target);
        console.log("upload error code" + error.code);
    },
    false,
    {
        headers: {
            "Authorization": "Basic dGVzdHVzZXJuYW1lOnRlc3RwYXNzd29yZA=="
        }
    }
);

abort

Aborts an in-progress transfer. The onerror callback is passed a FileTransferError object which has an error code of FileTransferError.ABORT_ERR.

Supported Platforms

  • Android
  • iOS

Quick Example

// !! Assumes variable fileURI contains a valid URI to a text file on the device

var win = function(r) {
    console.log("Should not be called.");
}

var fail = function(error) {
    // error.code == FileTransferError.ABORT_ERR
    alert("An error has occurred: Code = " + error.code);
    console.log("upload error source " + error.source);
    console.log("upload error target " + error.target);
}

var options = new FileUploadOptions();
options.fileKey="file";
options.fileName="myphoto.jpg";
options.mimeType="image/jpeg";

var ft = new FileTransfer();
ft.upload(fileURI, encodeURI("http://some.server.com/upload.php"), win, fail, options);
ft.abort();

onprogress

Called with a ProgressEvent whenever a new chunk of data is transferred.

Supported Platforms

  • Android
  • iOS

Example

fileTransfer.onprogress = function(progressEvent) {
    if (progressEvent.lengthComputable) {
      loadingStatus.setPercentage(progressEvent.loaded / progressEvent.total);
    } else {
      loadingStatus.increment();
    }
};
fileTransfer.download(...); // or fileTransfer.upload(...);

Quirks

  • On both Android an iOS, lengthComputable is false for downloads that use gzip encoding.