I found several solutions after browsing around google trying to find a multi-file uploader built around php. Most of these solutions for multi-file uploading fit into one of these three categories.

1. Use Flash to upload the images. (The browser only supports one image at a time) – SWFUpload
2. Use Javascript to add multiple file type fields, while hidding previous fields – the-stickman
3. Use Javascript and hidden iframes embedded on the same page to upload the images. – ajaxf1

I decided to take pieces of the mentioned methods and come up with a solution that worked for me.

Here is the idea behind what we are going to be doing.

1. Create a HTML form which has a file upload field
2. Set the target of this HTML form to an iFrame which is on the same page
3. Have Javascript submit the form everytime the “file” field changes
4. Javascript hides the form when submitted, and displays an “animation”
5. PHP takes the uploaded file, thumbnails it, and stores the image data
6. Javascript unhides the form, and re-hides the animation when upload is complete
7. Javascript and php show the thumbnail on the same page right after it was uploaded

This makes this little script appear like an ajax application. It is NOT actually AJAX, but uses css, iframes, php sessions, and javascript to make it appear so.

I’ll try to explain what is happening at each step, but keep in mind, I’m not an expert programmer like my fellow co-workers, and I borrowed most of the work from the mentioned sources above. If you just want to download all the files and take the easy way out, skip to the bottom of the post.

Steps 1 & 2 & 3 – Make Our Form

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<form name="pictureform" action="upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" target="upload_target" >
     <p id="f1_upload_process">Loading...<br /><img src="loader.gif" /><br /></p>
     <p id="f1_upload_form" align="center"><br />
         <label>Add Pictures:  
              <input name="myfile" type="file" size="30" onchange="startUpload();document.pictureform.submit();" />
         </label>					 
     </p>
     <iframe id="upload_target" name="upload_target" src="#" style="width:0;height:0;border:0px solid #fff;"></iframe>
</form>

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VMWare releasing a free version of their server virtualization product opened up some possibilities for us. Moki Systems had multiple servers performing a variety of tasks but there were things we didn’t have. We didn’t have a split between production and development servers and we didn’t have good utilization. Low CPU and memory utilization offers a comfort level but it adds costs, especially when you need more servers that cost money, use electricity, and generate heat.

Free VMWare server limits running virtual servers to 4. Our solution was to purchase new servers equipped with 1 SATA disk for the OS and 4 SCSI disks, 1 for each virtual machine (VM). While VMWare offers an option to write to the disk directly I opted not to do that because the virtual disk files VMWare uses make your VM’s highly portable and easy to duplicate. Disaster recovery practice becomes far easier when you can easily make a duplicate of your production server.

This architecture’s utility was brought to light when one of your servers died. We were able to pull the disks containing our production servers, copy the VM’s to another server, then get those servers running again quickly. There was no need for OS reinstall or recovery from backup and because of this portability downtime was minimized.

I have VMWare server installed on my Windows workstation with a Centos 5 VM running in the background. I use it for some MySQL and PHP stuff so it isn’t used a whole lot but I hardly know it’s there. The beauty of this that the Windows guys can have a Linux VM and the Linux guys can have a Windows VM. That can help quite a bit when testing browser compatibility on a website or getting access to a tool not available for your OS of choice.

VMWare server has helped us utilize our server resources better at a very minimal cost. Running 4 servers for the price of one saves us time and money. What else could you ask for?