Flash 10 and WordPress File Upload Problems
October 16th, 2008 by Kelson. Posted in Computers/Internet, Troubleshooting and tagged for flash, wordpressWell, Flash 10 is out with new features, security updates, and a fix for a Firefox video problem that I never noticed because it only affected Windows, and only sometimes.
It seems a little less stable than version 9 on Linux, at least 64-bit (it’s kind of complicated, because they only have a 32-bit program, so you either need to run a 32-bit version of your web browser, or use a wrapper that will let the 64-bit browser talk to the 32-bit plugin. nspluginwrapper does this for Firefox and other Gecko browsers, while Opera has a wrapper built in). But the annoying part: WordPress’ image upload no longer works.
Current versions of WordPress use SWFUpload to provide an enhanced file uploader. If you don’t have Flash installed, it will just use the standard upload dialog built into your web browser, but then you’re stuck uploading one image at a time — a real pain if you’re making a photo gallery post. Unfortunately for upload libraries, Adobe removed the ability for the Flash API to open a file dialog for security reasons.
So now, you can click on the button, but the dialog never opens. WordPress is tracking the issue in ticket 6979, which mentions that SWFUpload is discussing workarounds, and the YUI Uploader has already released a new version that works with Flash 10.
An update of some sort is likely to happen soon. In the mean time, WordPress users have two choices: hold off on updating Flash, or stick with the browser uploader for now.
Update October 31: SWFUpload has a new version in beta which works with Flash 10, and WordPress is working on integrating the update. It’s targeted for WordPress 2.7, which comes out in a little under two weeks, though the 2.7 writeup lists it as a feature that “didn’t make it” and might be in 2.8. (This seems like something that would affect enough people that I’d hope they would include it, even if it means pushing back the release a few days for more testing.)
There’s also been talk about implementing a file uploader using Gears, which I’d find really appealing if I weren’t 64-bit Linux both at home and at work.
Update November 1: I’ve tested WordPress 2.7 Beta 1 (not on this blog) and can confirm that the fix is included, as I was able to upload two images in one transaction.
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8 Responses to “Flash 10 and WordPress File Upload Problems”
By PCLicious Video Tutorials on Oct 18, 2008
Things like this happen often, I believe it will be settled shortly, now if this was a Microsoft product…
By spBlogger on Nov 1, 2008
I just faced this problem. And it really make my life not so easy.
By dan on Dec 2, 2008
good news.. thanks for the post. I haven’t written anything new on my blog in awhile and this has been driving me nuts.. couldn’t figure out why i couldnt upload.
2.7 was scheduled for nov 2008 and ive already tested the beta3 and it works.. hope they release it soon
By Michael Bailey on Dec 11, 2008
Just completed the WP 2.7 upgrade and the Flash 10 fix is not included - I guess they pulled it back out before releasing.
By Kelson on Dec 11, 2008
That’s weird. It works fine for me. WordPress 2.7 final, Flash 10, Firefox 3. I just tried uploading 4 images simultaneously and it went without a hitch.
By Kerry on Dec 12, 2008
Nope, upgraded mine too and its still not working.
By Kelson on Dec 12, 2008
Well, the specific issue here has definitely been fixed in 2.7, so unless something went wrong with your upgrades (didn’t clean out the old wp-includes & wp-admin folders, or something like that), there’s probably something else going on. It could be OS-specific, or browser-specific, or plugin-related.
Whatever the case, you should probably head over to the WordPress Support Forums and see if you can get some help there.