Uploadify button: Style with CSS?

Question

Is it possible to replace the Uploadify button (which is a graphic containing up/over/down states) with a simple CSS-styled button?

Answer 1

I've been able to come up with a working solution to this. Here's the basic outline:

• Disable the Uploadify button image buttonImg: " "
• Make the flash object transparent wmode:"transparent"
• Using CSS, position a fake styled button or a tag behind the flash object
• After initializing Uploadify, set the width and height of the object to match the button behind it

The flash object will shield the button underneath it from mouseover etc. events; so to get hover effects, you'll need to take a couple of additional steps:

• Wrap both the button and the upload object in a div
• After initializing Uploadify, set the width and height of the wrapper div to match the button
• You can then use jQuery to handle the .hover() events on the wrapper div and apply styles to the button

Putting it all together:

HTML

<div class="UploadifyButtonWrapper">
    <a>Upload Files</a>
    <div class="UploadifyObjectWrapper">
       <input type="file" id="Uploadify" name="Uploadify" />
    </div>
</div>

CSS

div.UploadifyButtonWrapper{
    position:relative;
}

/* fake button */
div.UploadifyButtonWrapper a {
    position:absolute; /* relative to UploadifyButtonWrapper */
    top:0;
    left:0;
    z-index:0;
    display:block;
    float:left;
    border:1px solid gray;
    padding:10px;
    background:silver;
    color:black;
}

/* pass hover effects to button */
div.UploadifyButtonWrapper a.Hover {
    background:orange;
    color:white;
}

/* position flash button above css button */
div.UploadifyObjectWrapper {
    position:relative;
    z-index:10;
}

Javascript:

$("input.Uploadify", self).uploadify({
    ...
    buttonImg: " ",
    wmode: "transparent",
    ...
});
var $buttonWrapper = $(".UploadifyButtonWrapper", self);
var $objectWrapper = $(".UploadifyObjectWrapper", self);
var $object = $("object", self);
var $fakeButton = $("a", self);
var width = $fakeButton.outerWidth();
var height = $fakeButton.outerHeight();
$object.attr("width", width).attr("height", height);
$buttonWrapper.css("width", width + "px").css("height", height + "px")
$objectWrapper.hover(function() {
    $("a", this).addClass("Hover");
}, function() {
    $("a", this).removeClass("Hover");
});

Answer 2

I was able to get away with something massively more simple.

xhtml:

<div id="uploadify">                  
  Upload Pictures                     
  <div id="uploadify" type="button" />
</div>                                

css:

#uploadify object { 
  position:absolute;
  left:0; right:0;  
  width:100%        
}                   

javascript:

$("#uploadify>div").uploadify({                     
  'hideButton'   : true                                
  , 'wmode'      : 'transparent'                         
  , 'uploader'   : '/static/uploadify/uploadify.swf'
  , 'script'     : '/static/uploadify.php'          
  , 'folder'     : '/_uploads'                      
  , 'multi'      : true                             
})                                                  

// If you're using jQuery UI.
$("#uploadify").button(); 

Probably a little easier, now that we have hideButton: true, not sure if @Herb knew about it.

UPDATE I wrote this answer in July of 2010. It's now March of 2013. HTML5 supports multiple file-uploads. Don't use uploadify at all; I don't.

Answer 3

Why not just put a Wrapper around it like this:

<div class = "uploadWrapper"><input id="file_upload" name="file_upload" type="file" /></div>

Style it like this:

.uploadWrapper object {background-color: red;}
.uploadWrapper object:hover {background-color: blue;}

And use the following script:

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
  $('#file_upload').uploadify({
    'hideButton': true,
    'wmode'     : 'transparent',
    'uploader'  : '/uploadify/uploadify.swf',
    'script'    : '/uploadify/uploadify.php',
    'cancelImg' : '/uploadify/cancel.png',
    'folder'    : '/uploads',
    'auto'      : true
  });
});
</script>

Works for me ;) ... and of course you can just use background-images instead of the colors.

Answer 4

100% working example. Tested in Firefox, Chrome, Opera and IE6!

HTML:

<div id="uploadify-wrapper"><div id="uploadify"></div></div>
<span id="btn">Select files to upload</span>
<div id="uploadify-queue"></div>

CSS:

#uploadify-wrapper {position:absolute; overflow:hidden}

JavaScript:

$('#uploadify').uploadify({width:1000, height:1000, hideButton:true, wmode:'transparent', queueID:'uploadify-queue', ...);
$('#uploadify-wrapper').width($('#btn').outerWidth()).height($('#btn').outerHeight());

Answer 5

reading your answers helped me to solve this one this way

1. First wrap the <input> into a <div class=upload-wrap>
2. Apply styles to this new wrapper (even :hover)
3. Use the hiddeButton option

HTML:

<div class="upload-wrap">
<input id="file_upload" type="file" name="file_upload" />
</div>

CSS:

.upload-wrap{
    background:#ff0;
    width:133px;
    height:36px;
}
.upload-wrap:hover{
    background:#f00;
}

JS

$('#file_upload').uploadify({
    'uploader'      : 'uploadify/uploadify.swf',
    'script'        : 'uploadify/uploadify.php',
    'folder'        : 'files/images',
    'hideButton'    : true,
    'wmode'     : 'transparent',
    'buttonText'    : 'Upload something'
    'width'         : 133,
    'height'        : 36    
  });

This way you're able to style your button, an keep the buttonText option available. I also had to mess a little bit with the .fla file to get the color and font for my button

Answer 6

A really simple way is to open the file with Flash

You can then change the background colour of the symbol UploadBtn

Save and publish the swf.

Answer 7

Evan was very close, but I needed to make some adjustments for it to work correctly. Here is what I ended up using:

CSS:

#uploadify { 
background: #FF5500; 
border-radius: 5px; 
}

#uploadify:hover { 
background: #B33C00; 
}

#uploadify object { 
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
  width: 100%;
  height: 25px;
}

You probably want to fine tune the height here because it does matter. Also, I aligned it from the top and left rather than left and right from the other example. I left a little styling in there as an example of how you can style the button wrapper.

HTML:

<div id="uploadify" style="position: relative;">   
  Upload Screenshots
  <div id="uploadify_button" type="button"></div>
</div>

The relative position is important for the absolute positioned button inside.

JavaScript:

$("#uploadify_button").uploadify({                     
  'hideButton' : true,                                
  'wmode'      : 'transparent',
  'uploader'   : '/static/uploadify/uploadify.swf',
  'script'     : '/static/uploadify.php',
  'folder'     : '/_uploads',         
  'multi'      : true,
  'width'      : '140',
  'height'     : '25'
});

The width and height are very important as they determine the actual clickable region within the button div. I found that without these it's only clickable in a certain area.

Answer 8

Salam. for Uploadify Version 3.2.1: You can edit stylesheet file uploadify.css in this classes:

• .uploadify-button
• .uploadify:hover .uploadify-button

in my case, i comment all styles of them to remove background and border of button and default button was hide completely.