edimusrex has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I've seen this question asked a few times and yet I haven't found a solution so I am going to ask again (specific to my question).

I have a simple web form in which I want the user to select a folder to upload (I only care about the contents of the folder). So my attempt to make this work is as followed: 

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;
use Data::Dumper;

my $q = CGI->new();
print $q->header;

my $upload_folder = '/var/www/html/uploads';

my $name = $q->param('name');
my $email = $q->param('email');

my $comments = $q->param('comments');
my @files = $q->param('multi_files');

foreach my $upload(@files){
    print "Upload this please -- $upload<br>";
    my $upload_file  = $q->upload($upload);
    if ($upload_file){
        open (OUTFILE,">$upload_folder/$upload") or die $!;;
        binmode OUTFILE;
        while (<$upload_file>) {
            print OUTFILE;
        }
    }
    else {
        print "<b>Guess it's broken</b><br/>";
    }
}

print "<p><b>Name</b> -- $name<br><b>Email</b> -- $email<br><b>Comment
+s</b> -- $comments<br>";

print $q->end_html;

[download]
When I run the script all the parameters are correct, the files print out as expected but when I execute the upload query it returns blank. This is my first attempt at using CGI as I tend to use other languages to process forms.

Here is the code from the form just in case : 

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Stupid Test Site</title>
        <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.3/jqu
+ery.min.js" ></script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>This is a test</h1>
        
        <form action="/cgi-enabled/test.pl" method="POST">
            Your Name: <input type="text" name="name"><br>
            Email Address: <input type="text" name="email"><br>
            Select PO folder: <input name="multi_files" type="file" we
+bkitdirectory multiple /><br/>
            Comments:<br>
            <textarea name="comments" rows="5" cols="60"></textarea><b
+r>
            <input type="submit" value="Send">
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

[download]
Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

I've also posted this question on stackoverflow.com, sorry for the cross post --

----- Update -----


My error was in fact due to the missing enctype="multipart/form-data" in the form. I made some changes and tweaked some things based on all of you input. Here is my final working code : 
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;
use Data::Dumper;
use CGI::Carp qw( fatalsToBrowser );
use HTML::Entities qw/encode_entities/;
use File::Copy qw' copy ';
use File::Basename;

my $q = new CGI;
print $q->header;

my $upload_folder = '/var/www/html/uploads';

my $name = $q->param('name');
my $email = $q->param('email');

my $comments = $q->param('comments');
my @files = $q->param('multi_files');
my @io_handles=$q->upload('multi_files');

my %file_hash;

foreach my $item(@files){
    next unless $item =~ /.+\/(M.+\.pdf)/;
    foreach my $sub_item(@io_handles){
        if($item eq $sub_item){
            $file_hash{$item} = $sub_item;
        }
    }
}

chdir $upload_folder or die "Cannot chdir to upload destination direct
+ory: $!\n";

print '<ul>';
foreach my $key(keys %file_hash){
    my $base = basename($file_hash{$key});#    
    my $tmpfilename = $q->tmpFileName($file_hash{$key});
    my $destFile = File::Spec->catfile($upload_folder,$base);
    copy( $tmpfilename, $destFile ) or die "Copy to ($destFile) failed
+: $!\n";
    print '<li>Sucessfully uploaded --- <b>', CGI->escapeHTML(basename
+($key)), '</b></li>';
}
print '</ul>';

print "<p><b>Name</b> -- $name<br><b>Email</b> -- $email<br><b>Comment
+s</b> -- $comments<br>";

print $q->end_html;

[download]
So far so good. Thanks again for all the help. Will be posting my solution on Stackoverflow as well to close that out.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: CGI, uploading multiple files
by huck (Prior) on Mar 14, 2017 at 05:07 UTC

    Well i found out what was in the parts, PERLIO filehandles

    and i found the MAGIC SPELL http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3196783/perl-file-upload-cant-init-filehandle File upload forms need to specify enctype="multipart/form-data". ----- Sinan Ünür

    Ubuntu tested code (well at least with $tostdout=1).

    AND Notice how the filename starts with a folder! 

    #!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use CGI;
use Data::Dumper;
  use HTML::Entities            qw/encode_entities/;

my $q = CGI->new();
print $q->header;

unless ($q->param('multi_files')) { 
print '
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Stupid Test Site</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>This is a test</h1>
        
        <form action="multiupload.pl"  enctype="multipart/form-data". 
+method="POST">
            Your Name: <input type="text" name="name"><br>
            Email Address: <input type="text" name="email"><br>
            Select PO folder: <input name="multi_files" type="file" we
+bkitdirectory multiple /><br/>
            Comments:<br>
            <textarea name="comments" rows="5" cols="60"></textarea><b
+r>
            <input type="submit" value="Send">
        </form>
    </body>
</html>
'; 
exit; 
} 

my $upload_folder = '/var/www/html/uploads';

my $name = $q->param('name');
my $email = $q->param('email');

my $comments = $q->param('comments');

my @files = $q->param('multi_files');

my $tostdout=1; 

###### see 
###### http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3196783/perl-file-upload-can
+t-init-filehandle
###### File upload forms need to specify enctype="multipart/form-data"
+.  ----- Sinan Ünür 
my @io_handles=$q->upload('multi_files');

print '<pre>'; 
print Dumper(\@files); 
print Dumper(\@io_handles); 
print '</pre>'; 
print '<br>step0';

for my $upload (@files){
    print "<br>Upload this please -- $upload<br>";
    if ($upload){
        eval { 
           if ($tostdout) { 
             print '<pre>' ; 
             while ( my $buffer  = <$upload>) {
               print STDOUT  encode_entities($buffer);
             } # while 
             print '</pre>' ; 
           } # tostdout 
           else { 
             open (OUTFILE,">$upload_folder/$upload") or die $!;;
             binmode OUTFILE;
             while ( my $buffer  = <$upload>) {
               print OUTFILE $buffer;
             } # while 
             close OUTFILE; 
           } # notstdout 
          };  # eval 
     print 'error:'.$@.'<br>' if $@; 
    } # upload 
    else {
        print "<br><b>Guess it's broken</b><br/>";
    } # else 
} # $upload 

print "<p><b>Name</b> -- $name<br><b>Email</b> -- $email<br><b>Comment
+s</b> -- $comments<br>";

print $q->end_html;

    [download]
    Result 
    $VAR1 = [
          bless( \*{'Fh::fh00001multiuploads/a.txt'}, 'Fh' ),
          bless( \*{'Fh::fh00002multiuploads/Copy of a.txt'}, 'Fh' ),
          bless( \*{'Fh::fh00003multiuploads/Copy (2) of a.txt'}, 'Fh'
+ )
        ];
$VAR1 = [
          bless( \*{'Fh::fh00001multiuploads/a.txt'}, 'Fh' ),
          bless( \*{'Fh::fh00002multiuploads/Copy of a.txt'}, 'Fh' ),
          bless( \*{'Fh::fh00003multiuploads/Copy (2) of a.txt'}, 'Fh'
+ )
        ];


step0
Upload this please -- multiuploads/a.txt

this is a.txt


Upload this please -- multiuploads/Copy of a.txt

this is a.txt


Upload this please -- multiuploads/Copy (2) of a.txt

this is a.txt

Name -- a
Email -- b
Comments -- ok

    [download]

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re: CGI, uploading multiple files
by trippledubs (Deacon) on Mar 13, 2017 at 19:55 UTC
[reply]
      I am open to any solution at the moment. This will act as a wrapper around a much more complex perl script which will be used internally by a few employees. I'll take a look at mojo.
[reply]

        Try it without the if block

        # if ($upload_file){
        open (OUTFILE,">$upload_folder/$upload") or die $!;;
        binmode OUTFILE;
        while (<$upload_file>) {
            print OUTFILE;
        }
#    }
#    else {
#        print "<b>Guess it's broken</b><br/>";
#    }

        [download]

        Also, it might help to add this line while developing but take it out when finshed.

        use CGI::Carp 'fatalsToBrowser'; # use only for test/debug
        poj
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: CGI, uploading multiple files
by huck (Prior) on Mar 13, 2017 at 21:55 UTC

    Have you checked the error.log of your server to see if there are any error conditions raised while it ran?

    The only way i can see it not returning the print "<p><b>Name</b> -- $name<br><b>Email</b> -- $email<br><b>Comments</b> -- $comments<br>"; contents is if the cgi process terminated wit an error before reaching that point, like dieing because it cannot open the file.

    To catch what would otherwise be a terminal error you can wrap the code in an eval block like so 

         eval { 
          open (OUTFILE,">$upload_folder/$upload") or die $!;;
          binmode OUTFILE;
          while (<$upload_file>) {
              print OUTFILE;
          }
         close OUTFILE; 
         }; 
     print 'error:'.$@.'<br>' if $@;

    [download]
    the point made by pojabout use CGI::Carp 'fatalsToBrowser'; may serve to do the same thing. Or it may identify another error

    ps, what do you think should be in $upload_file? what parm has the same name as of one of the files to be uploaded, not the value, its name.

    consider 

    my @files = $q->param('multi_files');
my @io_handles=$q->upload('multi_files');

foreach my $upload(@files){
    print "Upload this please -- $upload<br>";
    my $upload_file  = shift @io_handles; 
    if ($upload_file){
        eval { 
          open (OUTFILE,">$upload_folder/$upload") or die $!;;
          binmode OUTFILE;
          while ( my $bytesread = $upload_file->read($buffer,1024) ) {
            print OUTFILE $buffer;
          }
          close OUTFILE; 
       }; 
     print 'error:'.$@.'<br>' if $@; 
    }
    else {
        print "<b>Guess it's broken</b><br/>";
    }
}

    [download]
    see http://search.cpan.org/~leejo/CGI-4.35/lib/CGI.pod#Processing_a_file_upload_field

    you may also be interested in 

    my $type       = $q->uploadInfo( $upload_file )->{'Content-Type'};

    [download]
    To determine if you need binmode and should use read, or if you dont want binmode and can use <$upload_file>

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re: CGI, uploading multiple files
by stevieb (Canon) on Mar 13, 2017 at 19:55 UTC

    It is considered polite to notify all sites involved when you cross-post, so that duplicate efforts aren't needlessly performed for those who don't frequent all the sites you've posted to.

[reply]
Re: CGI, uploading multiple files
by Anonymous Monk on Mar 13, 2017 at 23:23 UTC
[reply]

      Thanks for all the feed back and suggestions. I am going to try a few these suggestions and will respond with an update

[reply]

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