file upload without submit widget?

nikkheel said:

a!buttonWidgetsubmit()

To clarify slightly, a!buttonWidgetSubmit(), specifically, is deprecated and shouldn't be used anymore -- instead you should use a!buttonWidget() with the submit parameter set to TRUE.  But both of these would (for now) be basically the only way to get an uploaded document moved into the "real" upload target within the Appian filesystem, as Stewart has already explained

It's a pity that we have the capability of removing a document with a!deleteDocument and there is nothing equivalent to upload a document without submitting the form.

I have an scenario where the user is having a nice big form. We are presenting the related documents with a documentBrowserFieldColumns and a pickerFieldDocuments, so the user can select documents, preview them and remove them when needed.

There are two very uncomfortable and providing a poor Ux:

- documentBrowserFieldColumns provides an extra space at its right for folder browsing, while we do not want it to deal with folders, so we have to use a more custom component, which means extra work. A parameter for disabling folder browsing will be nice.

- I can't upload while in the same page new documents

We can change documentBrowserFieldColumns for another representation and have a better Ux, but not being able to upload content in the target folder is quite annoying.

What are you guys doing in those cases?

I believe you can handle this use case with just a few extra development steps, and almost completely invisibly to the end user. 

Basically you can require that the user click a confirmation button/link every time they wish to commit any newly uploaded file(s); this button or link can submit the form, handle the upload, and seamlessly loop back to the same form.  You can pass in and out details of what they're currently seeing on the form, such that you should be able to recreate *most* possible form states (except UI-driven things like collapsed sections, unfortunately).

Thanks Mike for your quick response. 

So it looks like there is no direct way to avoid the submit...

Maybe it's kind of overshooting, but what about calling via an integration to a PM published with a WebAPI which will upload the document to the right folder?

That should avoid having to refresh the page...

any simpler way?

jordib said:

but what about calling via an integration to a PM published with a WebAPI which will upload the document to the right folder?

If you're still planning to use the SAIL file upload component, I think even this workaround probably won't work - the main catch is, the uploaded file lives in a sequestered secret location within the Appian filesystem where it's not accessible to anyone or to any function, *until* a submit button is pressed, in which event the file is transferred to its target folder and becomes accessible.

jordib said:

but what about calling via an integration to a PM published with a WebAPI which will upload the document to the right folder?

If you're still planning to use the SAIL file upload component, I think even this workaround probably won't work - the main catch is, the uploaded file lives in a sequestered secret location within the Appian filesystem where it's not accessible to anyone or to any function, *until* a submit button is pressed, in which event the file is transferred to its target folder and becomes accessible.