With HTML5 you can make file uploads with Ajax and jQuery. Not only that, you can do file validations (name, size, and MIME type) or handle the progress event with the HTML5 progress tag (or a div). Recently I had to make a file uploader, but I didn't want to use Flash nor Iframes or plugins and after some research I came up with the solution.

The HTML:

<form enctype="multipart/form-data">

    <input name="file" type="file" />

    <input type="button" value="Upload" />

</form>

<progress></progress>

First, you can do some validation if you want. For example, in the onChange event of the file:

$(':file').on('change', function() {

    var file = this.files[0];

    if (file.size > 1024) {

        alert('max upload size is 1k')

    }



    // Also see .name, .type

});

Now the Ajax submit with the button's click:

$(':button').on('click', function() {

    $.ajax({

        // Your server script to process the upload

        url: 'upload.php',

        type: 'POST',



        // Form data

        data: new FormData($('form')[0]),



        // Tell jQuery not to process data or worry about content-type

        // You *must* include these options!

        cache: false,

        contentType: false,

        processData: false,



        // Custom XMLHttpRequest

        xhr: function() {

            var myXhr = $.ajaxSettings.xhr();

            if (myXhr.upload) {

                // For handling the progress of the upload

                myXhr.upload.addEventListener('progress', function(e) {

                    if (e.lengthComputable) {

                        $('progress').attr({

                            value: e.loaded,

                            max: e.total,

                        });

                    }

                } , false);

            }

            return myXhr;

        }

    });

});

As you can see, with HTML5 (and some research) file uploading not only becomes possible but super easy. Try it with Google Chrome as some of the HTML5 components of the examples aren't available in every browser.

There are various ready-made plugins on doing file upload for jQuery.

Doing this kind of uploading hacks is not an enjoyable experience, so people enjoy using ready-made solutions.

Here's few:

• JQuery File Uploader


• Multiple File Upload Plugin


• Mini Multiple File Upload


• jQuery File Upload

You can search for more projects on NPM (using "jquery-plugin" as the keyword) or on Github.

2017 Update: It still depends on the browsers your demographic uses.

An important thing to understand with the "new" HTML5 file API is that is wasn't supported until IE 10. If the specific market you're aiming at has a higher-than-average prepensity toward older versions of Windows, you might not have access to it.

Going into 2017, about 5% of browsers are one of IE 6, 7, 8 or 9. If you head into a big corporation (eg this is a B2B tool, or something you're delivering for training) that number can rocket. Just a few months ago —in 2016— I dealt with a company using IE8 on over 60% of their machines.

So before you do anything: check what browser your users use. If you don't, you'll learn a quick and painful lesson in why "works for me" isn't good enough in a deliverable to a client.

My answer from 2008 follows.

However, there are viable non-JS methods of file uploads. You can create an iframe on the page (that you hide with CSS) and then target your form to post to that iframe. The main page doesn't need to move.

It's a "real" post so it's not wholly interactive. If you need status you need something server-side to process that. This varies massively depending on your server. ASP.NET has nicer mechanisms. PHP plain fails, but you can use Perl or Apache modifications to get around it.

If you need multiple file-uploads, it's best to do each file one at a time (to overcome maximum file upload limits). Post the first form to the iframe, monitor its progress using the above and when it has finished, post the second form to the iframe, and so on.

Or use a Java/Flash solution. They're a lot more flexible in what they can do with their posts...

I recommend using the Fine Uploader plugin for this purpose. Your JavaScript code would be:

$(document).ready(function() {

  $("#uploadbutton").jsupload({

    action: "addFile.do",

    onComplete: function(response){

      alert( "server response: " + response);

    }

  });

});

Note: This answer is outdated, it is now possible to upload files using XHR.

You cannot upload files using XMLHttpRequest (Ajax). You can simulate the effect using an iframe or Flash. The excellent jQuery Form Plugin that posts your files through an iframe to get the effect.

This AJAX file upload jQuery plugin uploads the file somehwere, and passes the
response to a callback, nothing else.

• It does not depend on specific HTML, just give it a <input type="file">
  


• It does not require your server to respond in any particular way


• It does not matter how many files you use, or where they are on the page

-- Use as little as --

$('#one-specific-file').ajaxfileupload({

  'action': '/upload.php'

});

-- or as much as --

$('input[type="file"]').ajaxfileupload({

  'action': '/upload.php',

  'params': {

    'extra': 'info'

  },

  'onComplete': function(response) {

    console.log('custom handler for file:');

    alert(JSON.stringify(response));

  },

  'onStart': function() {

    if(weWantedTo) return false; // cancels upload

  },

  'onCancel': function() {

    console.log('no file selected');

  }

});

Wrapping up for future readers.

Asynchronous File Upload

With HTML5

You can upload files with jQuery using the $.ajax() method if FormData and the File API are supported (both HTML5 features).

You can also send files without FormData but either way the File API must be present to process files in such a way that they can be sent with XMLHttpRequest (Ajax).

$.ajax({

  url: 'file/destination.html', 

  type: 'POST',

  data: new FormData($('#formWithFiles')[0]), // The form with the file inputs.

  processData: false,

  contentType: false                    // Using FormData, no need to process data.

}).done(function(){

  console.log("Success: Files sent!");

}).fail(function(){

  console.log("An error occurred, the files couldn't be sent!");

});

For a quick, pure JavaScript (no jQuery) example see "Sending files using a FormData object".

Fallback

When HTML5 isn't supported (no File API) the only other pure JavaScript solution (no Flash or any other browser plugin) is the hidden iframe technique, which allows to emulate an asynchronous request without using the XMLHttpRequest object.

It consists of setting an iframe as the target of the form with the file inputs. When the user submits a request is made and the files are uploaded but the response is displayed inside the iframe instead of re-rendering the main page. Hiding the iframe makes the whole process transparent to the user and emulates an asynchronous request.

If done properly it should work virtually on any browser, but it has some caveats as how to obtain the response from the iframe.

In this case you may prefer to use a wrapper plugin like Bifröst which uses the iframe technique but also provides a jQuery Ajax transport allowing to send files with just the $.ajax() method like this:

$.ajax({

  url: 'file/destination.html', 

  type: 'POST',

  // Set the transport to use (iframe means to use Bifröst)

  // and the expected data type (json in this case).

  dataType: 'iframe json',                                

  fileInputs: $('input[type="file"]'),  // The file inputs containing the files to send.

  data: { msg: 'Some extra data you might need.'}

}).done(function(){

  console.log("Success: Files sent!");

}).fail(function(){

  console.log("An error occurred, the files couldn't be sent!");

});

Plugins

Bifröst is just a small wrapper that adds fallback support to jQuery's ajax method, but many of the aforementioned plugins like jQuery Form Plugin or jQuery File Upload include the whole stack from HTML5 to different fallbacks and some useful features to ease out the process. Depending on your needs and requirements you might want to consider a bare implementation or either of this plugins.

I have been using the below script to upload images which happens to work fine.

HTML

<input id="file" type="file" name="file"/>

<div id="response"></div>

JavaScript

jQuery('document').ready(function(){

    var input = document.getElementById("file");

    var formdata = false;

    if (window.FormData) {

        formdata = new FormData();

    }

    input.addEventListener("change", function (evt) {

        var i = 0, len = this.files.length, img, reader, file;



        for ( ; i < len; i++ ) {

            file = this.files[i];



            if (!!file.type.match(/image.*/)) {

                if ( window.FileReader ) {

                    reader = new FileReader();

                    reader.onloadend = function (e) {

                        //showUploadedItem(e.target.result, file.fileName);

                    };

                    reader.readAsDataURL(file);

                }



                if (formdata) {

                    formdata.append("image", file);

                    formdata.append("extra",'extra-data');

                }



                if (formdata) {

                    jQuery('div#response').html('<br /><img src="ajax-loader.gif"/>');



                    jQuery.ajax({

                        url: "upload.php",

                        type: "POST",

                        data: formdata,

                        processData: false,

                        contentType: false,

                        success: function (res) {

                         jQuery('div#response').html("Successfully uploaded");

                        }

                    });

                }

            }

            else

            {

                alert('Not a vaild image!');

            }

        }



    }, false);

});

Explanation

I use response div to show the uploading animation and response after upload is done.

Best part is you can send extra data such as ids & etc with the file when you use this script. I have mention it extra-data as in the script.

At the PHP level this will work as normal file upload. extra-data can be retrieved as $_POST data.

Here you are not using a plugin and stuff. You can change the code as you want. You are not blindly coding here. This is the core functionality of any jQuery file upload. Actually Javascript.

I've come across a few really powerful jQuery-based file upload libraries. Check these out:

1. 
   Plupload
   
   
   
   
   • docs: http://www.plupload.com/docs
     
   
   
   
   


2. 
   jQuery File Upload
   
   
   
   
   • docs: https://github.com/blueimp/jQuery-File-Upload
     
   
   
   
   


3. 
   FineUploader
   
   
   
   
   • docs: http://docs.fineuploader.com/
     
   
   
   
   

You can upload simply with jQuery .ajax().

HTML:

<form id="upload-form">

    <div>

        <label for="file">File:</label>

        <input type="file" id="file" name="file" />

        <progress class="progress" value="0" max="100"></progress>

    </div>

    <hr />

    <input type="submit" value="Submit" />

</form>

CSS

.progress { display: none; }

Javascript:

$(document).ready(function(ev) {

    $("#upload-form").on('submit', (function(ev) {

        ev.preventDefault();

        $.ajax({

            xhr: function() {

                var progress = $('.progress'),

                    xhr = $.ajaxSettings.xhr();



                progress.show();



                xhr.upload.onprogress = function(ev) {

                    if (ev.lengthComputable) {

                        var percentComplete = parseInt((ev.loaded / ev.total) * 100);

                        progress.val(percentComplete);

                        if (percentComplete === 100) {

                            progress.hide().val(0);

                        }

                    }

                };



                return xhr;

            },

            url: 'upload.php',

            type: 'POST',

            data: new FormData(this),

            contentType: false,

            cache: false,

            processData: false,

            success: function(data, status, xhr) {

                // ...

            },

            error: function(xhr, status, error) {

                // ...

            }

       });

    }));

});

You can do it in vanilla JavaScript pretty easily. Here's a snippet from my current project:

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

xhr.upload.onprogress = function(e) {

    var percent = (e.position/ e.totalSize);

    // Render a pretty progress bar

};

xhr.onreadystatechange = function(e) {

    if(this.readyState === 4) {

        // Handle file upload complete

    }

};

xhr.open('POST', '/upload', true);

xhr.setRequestHeader('X-FileName',file.name); // Pass the filename along

xhr.send(file);

The simplest and most robust way I have done this in the past, is to simply target a hidden iFrame tag with your form - then it will submit within the iframe without reloading the page.

That is if you don't want to use a plugin, JavaScript or any other forms of "magic" other than HTML. Of course you can combine this with JavaScript or what have you...

<form target="iframe" action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">

    <input name="file" type="file" />

    <input type="button" value="Upload" />

</form>



<iframe name="iframe" id="iframe" style="display:none" ></iframe>

You can also read the contents of the iframe onLoad for server errors or success responses and then output that to user.

Chrome, iFrames, and onLoad

-note- you only need to keep reading if you are interested in how to setup a UI blocker when doing uploading/downloading

Currently Chrome doesn't trigger the onLoad event for the iframe when it's used to transfer files. Firefox, IE, and Edge all fire the onload event for file transfers.

The only solution that I found works for Chrome was to use a cookie.

To do that basically when the upload/download is started:

• [Client Side] Start an interval to look for the existence of a cookie


• [Server Side] Do whatever you need to with the file data


• [Server Side] Set cookie for client side interval


• [Client Side] Interval sees the cookie and uses it like the onLoad event. For example you can start a UI blocker and then onLoad ( or when cookie is made ) you remove the UI blocker.

Using a cookie for this is ugly but it works.

I made a jQuery plugin to handle this issue for Chrome when downloading, you can find here

https://github.com/ArtisticPhoenix/jQuery-Plugins/blob/master/iDownloader.js

The same basic principal applies to uploading, as well.

To use the downloader ( include the JS, obviously )

 $('body').iDownloader({

     "onComplete" : function(){

          $('#uiBlocker').css('display', 'none'); //hide ui blocker on complete

     }

 });



 $('somebuttion').click( function(){

      $('#uiBlocker').css('display', 'block'); //block the UI

      $('body').iDownloader('download', 'htttp://example.com/location/of/download');

 });

And on the server side, just before transferring the file data, create the cookie

 setcookie('iDownloader', true, time() + 30, "/");

The plugin will see the cookie, and then trigger the onComplete callback.

A solution I found was to have the <form> target a hidden iFrame. The iFrame can then run JS to display to the user that it's complete (on page load).

I've written this up in a Rails environment. It's only about five lines of JavaScript, if you use the lightweight jQuery-form plugin.

The challenge is in getting AJAX upload working as the standard remote_form_for doesn't understand multi-part form submission. It's not going to send the file data Rails seeks back with the AJAX request.

That's where the jQuery-form plugin comes into play.

Here’s the Rails code for it:

<% remote_form_for(:image_form, 

                   :url => { :controller => "blogs", :action => :create_asset }, 

                   :html => { :method => :post, 

                              :id => 'uploadForm', :multipart => true }) 

                                                                        do |f| %>

 Upload a file: <%= f.file_field :uploaded_data %>

<% end %>

Here’s the associated JavaScript:

$('#uploadForm input').change(function(){

 $(this).parent().ajaxSubmit({

  beforeSubmit: function(a,f,o) {

   o.dataType = 'json';

  },

  complete: function(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus) {

   // XMLHttpRequest.responseText will contain the URL of the uploaded image.

   // Put it in an image element you create, or do with it what you will.

   // For example, if you have an image elemtn with id "my_image", then

   //  $('#my_image').attr('src', XMLHttpRequest.responseText);

   // Will set that image tag to display the uploaded image.

  },

 });

});

And here’s the Rails controller action, pretty vanilla:

 @image = Image.new(params[:image_form])

 @image.save

 render :text => @image.public_filename

I’ve been using this for the past few weeks with Bloggity, and it’s worked like a champ.

Simple Ajax Uploader is another option:

https://github.com/LPology/Simple-Ajax-Uploader

• Cross-browser -- works in IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera


• Supports multiple, concurrent uploads -- even in non-HTML5 browsers


• No flash or external CSS -- just one 5Kb Javascript file


• Optional, built-in support for fully cross-browser progress bars (using PHP's APC extension)


• Flexible and highly customizable -- use any element as upload button, style your own progress indicators


• No forms required, just provide an element that will serve as upload button


• MIT license -- free to use in commercial project

Example usage:

var uploader = new ss.SimpleUpload({

    button: $('#uploadBtn'), // upload button

    url: '/uploadhandler', // URL of server-side upload handler

    name: 'userfile', // parameter name of the uploaded file

    onSubmit: function() {

        this.setProgressBar( $('#progressBar') ); // designate elem as our progress bar

    },

    onComplete: function(file, response) {

        // do whatever after upload is finished

    }

});

jQuery Uploadify is another good plugin which I have used before to upload files. The JavaScript code is as simple as the following: code. However, the new version does not work in Internet Explorer.

$('#file_upload').uploadify({

    'swf': '/public/js/uploadify.swf',

    'uploader': '/Upload.ashx?formGuid=' + $('#formGuid').val(),

    'cancelImg': '/public/images/uploadify-cancel.png',

    'multi': true,

    'onQueueComplete': function (queueData) {

        // ...

    },

    'onUploadStart': function (file) {

        // ...

    }

});

I have done a lot of searching and I have come to another solution for uploading files without any plugin and only with ajax. The solution is as below:

$(document).ready(function () {

    $('#btn_Upload').live('click', AjaxFileUpload);

});



function AjaxFileUpload() {

    var fileInput = document.getElementById("#Uploader");

    var file = fileInput.files[0];

    var fd = new FormData();

    fd.append("files", file);

    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

    xhr.open("POST", 'Uploader.ashx');

    xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {

        if (xhr.readyState == 4) {

             alert('success');

        }

        else if (uploadResult == 'success')

            alert('error');

    };

    xhr.send(fd);

}

Here's just another solution of how to upload file (without any plugin)

Using simple Javascripts and AJAX (with progress-bar)

HTML part

<form id="upload_form" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post">

    <input type="file" name="file1" id="file1"><br>

    <input type="button" value="Upload File" onclick="uploadFile()">

    <progress id="progressBar" value="0" max="100" style="width:300px;"></progress>

    <h3 id="status"></h3>

    <p id="loaded_n_total"></p>

</form>

JS part

function _(el){

    return document.getElementById(el);

}

function uploadFile(){

    var file = _("file1").files[0];

    // alert(file.name+" | "+file.size+" | "+file.type);

    var formdata = new FormData();

    formdata.append("file1", file);

    var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();

    ajax.upload.addEventListener("progress", progressHandler, false);

    ajax.addEventListener("load", completeHandler, false);

    ajax.addEventListener("error", errorHandler, false);

    ajax.addEventListener("abort", abortHandler, false);

    ajax.open("POST", "file_upload_parser.php");

    ajax.send(formdata);

}

function progressHandler(event){

    _("loaded_n_total").innerHTML = "Uploaded "+event.loaded+" bytes of "+event.total;

    var percent = (event.loaded / event.total) * 100;

    _("progressBar").value = Math.round(percent);

    _("status").innerHTML = Math.round(percent)+"% uploaded... please wait";

}

function completeHandler(event){

    _("status").innerHTML = event.target.responseText;

    _("progressBar").value = 0;

}

function errorHandler(event){

    _("status").innerHTML = "Upload Failed";

}

function abortHandler(event){

    _("status").innerHTML = "Upload Aborted";

}

PHP part

<?php

$fileName = $_FILES["file1"]["name"]; // The file name

$fileTmpLoc = $_FILES["file1"]["tmp_name"]; // File in the PHP tmp folder

$fileType = $_FILES["file1"]["type"]; // The type of file it is

$fileSize = $_FILES["file1"]["size"]; // File size in bytes

$fileErrorMsg = $_FILES["file1"]["error"]; // 0 for false... and 1 for true

if (!$fileTmpLoc) { // if file not chosen

    echo "ERROR: Please browse for a file before clicking the upload button.";

    exit();

}

if(move_uploaded_file($fileTmpLoc, "test_uploads/$fileName")){ // assuming the directory name 'test_uploads'

    echo "$fileName upload is complete";

} else {

    echo "move_uploaded_file function failed";

}

?>

Here's the EXAMPLE application

var formData=new FormData();

formData.append("fieldname","value");

formData.append("image",$('[name="filename"]')[0].files[0]);



$.ajax({

    url:"page.php",

    data:formData,

    type: 'POST',

    dataType:"JSON",

    cache: false,

    contentType: false,

    processData: false,

    success:function(data){ }

});

You can use form data to post all your values including images.

To upload file asynchronously with Jquery use below steps:

step 1 In your project open Nuget manager and add package (jquery fileupload(only you need to write it in search box it will come up and install it.))
URL: https://github.com/blueimp/jQuery-File-Upload

step 2 Add below scripts in the HTML files, which are already added to the project by running above package:

jquery.ui.widget.js

jquery.iframe-transport.js

jquery.fileupload.js

step 3 Write file upload control as per below code:

<input id="upload" name="upload" type="file" />

step 4 write a js method as uploadFile as below:

 function uploadFile(element) {



            $(element).fileupload({



                dataType: 'json',

                url: '../DocumentUpload/upload',

                autoUpload: true,

                add: function (e, data) {           

                  // write code for implementing, while selecting a file. 

                  // data represents the file data. 

                  //below code triggers the action in mvc controller

                  data.formData =

                                    {

                                     files: data.files[0]

                                    };

                  data.submit();

                },

                done: function (e, data) {          

                   // after file uploaded

                },

                progress: function (e, data) {



                   // progress

                },

                fail: function (e, data) {



                   //fail operation

                },

                stop: function () {



                  code for cancel operation

                }

            });



        };

step 5 In ready function call element file upload to initiate the process as per below:

$(document).ready(function()

{

    uploadFile($('#upload'));



});

step 6 Write MVC controller and Action as per below:

public class DocumentUploadController : Controller

    {       



        [System.Web.Mvc.HttpPost]

        public JsonResult upload(ICollection<HttpPostedFileBase> files)

        {

            bool result = false;



            if (files != null || files.Count > 0)

            {

                try

                {

                    foreach (HttpPostedFileBase file in files)

                    {

                        if (file.ContentLength == 0)

                            throw new Exception("Zero length file!");                       

                        else 

                            //code for saving a file



                    }

                }

                catch (Exception)

                {

                    result = false;

                }

            }





            return new JsonResult()

                {

                    Data=result

                };





        }



    }

Convert file to base64 using |HTML5's readAsDataURL() or some base64 encoder.
Fiddle here

var reader = new FileReader();



        reader.onload = function(readerEvt) {

            var binaryString = readerEvt.target.result;

            document.getElementById("base64textarea").value = btoa(binaryString);

        };



        reader.readAsBinaryString(file);

Then to retrieve:

window.open("data:application/octet-stream;base64," + base64);

You can see a solved solution with a working demo here that allows you to preview and submit form files to the server. For your case, you need to use Ajax to facilitate the file upload to the server:

<from action="" id="formContent" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">

    <span>File</span>

    <input type="file" id="file" name="file" size="10"/>

    <input id="uploadbutton" type="button" value="Upload"/>

</form>

The data being submitted is a formdata. On your jQuery, use a form submit function instead of a button click to submit the form file as shown below.

$(document).ready(function () {

   $("#formContent").submit(function(e){



     e.preventDefault();

     var formdata = new FormData(this);



 $.ajax({

     url: "ajax_upload_image.php",

     type: "POST",

     data: formdata,

     mimeTypes:"multipart/form-data",

     contentType: false,

     cache: false,

     processData: false,

     success: function(){



     alert("successfully submitted");



     });

   });

});

View more details

Sample: If you use jQuery, you can do easy to an upload file. This is a small and strong jQuery plugin, http://jquery.malsup.com/form/.

Example

var $bar   = $('.ProgressBar');

$('.Form').ajaxForm({

  dataType: 'json',



  beforeSend: function(xhr) {

    var percentVal = '0%';

    $bar.width(percentVal);

  },



  uploadProgress: function(event, position, total, percentComplete) {

    var percentVal = percentComplete + '%';

    $bar.width(percentVal)

  },



  success: function(response) {

    // Response

  }

});

I hope it would be helpful

You can use

$(function() {

    $("#file_upload_1").uploadify({

        height        : 30,

        swf           : '/uploadify/uploadify.swf',

        uploader      : '/uploadify/uploadify.php',

        width         : 120

    });

});

Demo

A modern approach without Jquery is to use the FileList object you get back from <input type="file"> when user selects a file(s) and then use Fetch to post the FileList wrapped around a FormData object.

// The input DOM element

const inputElement = document.querySelector('input');



// Listen for a file submit from user

inputElement.addEventListener('change', () => {

    const data = new FormData();

    data.append('file', inputElement.files[0]);

    data.append('imageName', 'flower');



    // Post to server

    fetch('/uploadImage', {

        method: 'POST',

        body: data

    });

});

Look for Handling the upload process for a file, asynchronously in here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Using_files_from_web_applications

Sample from the link

<?php

if (isset($_FILES['myFile'])) {

    // Example:

    move_uploaded_file($_FILES['myFile']['tmp_name'], "uploads/" . $_FILES['myFile']['name']);

    exit;

}

?><!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <title>dnd binary upload</title>

    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

    <script type="text/javascript">

        function sendFile(file) {

            var uri = "/index.php";

            var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

            var fd = new FormData();



            xhr.open("POST", uri, true);

            xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {

                if (xhr.readyState == 4 && xhr.status == 200) {

                    // Handle response.

                    alert(xhr.responseText); // handle response.

                }

            };

            fd.append('myFile', file);

            // Initiate a multipart/form-data upload

            xhr.send(fd);

        }



        window.onload = function() {

            var dropzone = document.getElementById("dropzone");

            dropzone.ondragover = dropzone.ondragenter = function(event) {

                event.stopPropagation();

                event.preventDefault();

            }



            dropzone.ondrop = function(event) {

                event.stopPropagation();

                event.preventDefault();



                var filesArray = event.dataTransfer.files;

                for (var i=0; i<filesArray.length; i++) {

                    sendFile(filesArray[i]);

                }

            }

        }

    </script>

</head>

<body>

    <div>

        <div id="dropzone" style="margin:30px; width:500px; height:300px; border:1px dotted grey;">Drag & drop your file here...</div>

    </div>

</body>

</html>

You can pass additional parameters along with file name on making asynchronous upload using XMLHttpRequest (without flash and iframe dependency). Append the additional parameter value with FormData and send the upload request.

var formData = new FormData();

formData.append('parameter1', 'value1');

formData.append('parameter2', 'value2'); 

formData.append('file', $('input[type=file]')[0].files[0]);



$.ajax({

    url: 'post back url',

    data: formData,

// other attributes of AJAX

});

Also, Syncfusion JavaScript UI file upload provides solution for this scenario simply using event argument. you can find documentation here and further details about this control here enter link description here

This is my solution.

<form enctype="multipart/form-data">    



    <div class="form-group">

        <label class="control-label col-md-2" for="apta_Description">Description</label>

        <div class="col-md-10">

            <input class="form-control text-box single-line" id="apta_Description" name="apta_Description" type="text" value="">

        </div>

    </div>



    <input name="file" type="file" />

    <input type="button" value="Upload" />

</form>

and the js

<script>



    $(':button').click(function () {

        var formData = new FormData($('form')[0]);

        $.ajax({

            url: '@Url.Action("Save", "Home")',  

            type: 'POST',                

            success: completeHandler,

            data: formData,

            cache: false,

            contentType: false,

            processData: false

        });

    });    



    function completeHandler() {

        alert(":)");

    }    

</script>

Controller

[HttpPost]

public ActionResult Save(string apta_Description, HttpPostedFileBase file)

{

    return Json(":)");

}

Using HTML5 and JavaScript, uploading async is quite easy, I create the uploading logic along with your html, this is not fully working as it needs the api, but demonstrate how it works, if you have the endpoint called /upload from root of your website, this code should work for you:

const asyncFileUpload = () => {

  const fileInput = document.getElementById("file");

  const file = fileInput.files[0];

  const uri = "/upload";

  const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

  xhr.upload.onprogress = e => {

    const percentage = e.loaded / e.total;

    console.log(percentage);

  };

  xhr.onreadystatechange = e => {

    if (xhr.readyState === 4 && xhr.status === 200) {

      console.log("file uploaded");

    }

  };

  xhr.open("POST", uri, true);

  xhr.setRequestHeader("X-FileName", file.name);

  xhr.send(file);

}

<form>

  <span>File</span>

  <input type="file" id="file" name="file" size="10" />

  <input onclick="asyncFileUpload()" id="upload" type="button" value="Upload" />

</form>

Also some further information about XMLHttpReques:

The XMLHttpRequest Object

All modern browsers support the XMLHttpRequest object.
The XMLHttpRequest object can be used to exchange data with a web
server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update
parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.

Create an XMLHttpRequest Object

All modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox,
IE7+, Edge, Safari, Opera) have a built-in XMLHttpRequest object.

Syntax for creating an XMLHttpRequest object:

variable = new XMLHttpRequest();

Access Across Domains

For security reasons, modern browsers do not
allow access across domains.

This means that both the web page and the XML file it tries to load,
must be located on the same server.

The examples on W3Schools all open XML files located on the W3Schools
domain.

If you want to use the example above on one of your own web pages, the
XML files you load must be located on your own server.

For more details, you can continue reading here...

You can use newer Fetch API by JavaScript. Like this:

function uploadButtonCLicked(){

    var input = document.querySelector('input[type="file"]')



    fetch('/url', {

      method: 'POST',

      body: input.files[0]

    }).then(res => res.json())   // you can do something with response

      .catch(error => console.error('Error:', error))

      .then(response => console.log('Success:', response));

}                               

Advantage: Fetch API is natively supported by all modern browsers, so you don't have to import anything. Also, note that fetch() returns a Promise which is then handled by using .then(..code to handle response..) asynchronously.