Using HTML5 file uploads with AJAX and jQuery

It’s not too hard. Firstly, take a look at FileReader Interface.

So, when the form is submitted, catch the submission process and

var file = document.getElementById('fileBox').files[0]; //Files[0] = 1st file
var reader = new FileReader();
reader.readAsText(file, 'UTF-8');
reader.onload = shipOff;
//reader.onloadstart = ...
//reader.onprogress = ... <-- Allows you to update a progress bar.
//reader.onabort = ...
//reader.onerror = ...
//reader.onloadend = ...


function shipOff(event) {
    var result = event.target.result;
    var fileName = document.getElementById('fileBox').files[0].name; //Should be 'picture.jpg'
    $.post('/myscript.php', { data: result, name: fileName }, continueSubmission);
}

Then, on the server side (i.e. myscript.php):

$data = $_POST['data'];
$fileName = $_POST['name'];
$serverFile = time().$fileName;
$fp = fopen('/uploads/'.$serverFile,'w'); //Prepends timestamp to prevent overwriting
fwrite($fp, $data);
fclose($fp);
$returnData = array( "serverFile" => $serverFile );
echo json_encode($returnData);

Or something like it. I may be mistaken (and if I am, please, correct me), but this should store the file as something like 1287916771myPicture.jpg in /uploads/ on your server, and respond with a JSON variable (to a continueSubmission() function) containing the fileName on the server.

Check out fwrite() and jQuery.post().

On the above page it details how to use readAsBinaryString(), readAsDataUrl(), and readAsArrayBuffer() for your other needs (e.g. images, videos, etc).