Aurigma has more than 7 years experience on the market of Web upload solutions. You can find our products on many web sites all over the Internet. Today I would like to introduce our new product based on Flash technology.
Currently there are 4 widespread technologies allowing uploading files from client machines to web sites: ActiveX, Java, Flash, and Silverlight. Each of these technologies has its own pros and cons:
- ActiveX allows using native C/C++ code to get best performance and access to low-level OS functionality. However, ActiveX controls are supported in IE only. Of course, it still holds more than 50% of the browsers market but it is obviously not sufficient for publically available web site. Also there are security aspects with ActiveX components – some companies do not allow ActiveX controls in browsers on client machines by network security policies.
- Java - powerful, mature and widespread cross-platform technology. Google says that more that 80% of Internet-enabled computers have Java installed. Java Uploader - it is a solution working on Windows, Mac, and sometimes - on *nix, supported by the major browsers: Opera (win/mac), Firefox (win/mac/linux), Chrome (win), IE (win). Which contras does it have? It is slower than ActiveX. Most browsers restrict memory available for applets to 60-90Mb, so it is rather tricky to process large amounts of data. There are several Java implementations provided by different vendors, each potentially may have its own features and restrictions.
- Flash - absolute winner in popularity, at least on Windows/Mac. It is installed on more than 90% of Internet-enabled computers (thanks to YouTube) and very-very popular. Flash has reputation of "safe" client-side technology. But, "safe" always means "restricted" - and you can notice that Image Uploader Flash has fewer features in comparison to its "big brothers" – Java and ActiveX.
- Silverlight – in terms of upload functionality this Microsoft technology is very similar to Adobe Flash.
Historically Aurigma utilizes two of these technologies in its flagship product Image Uploader Dual: ActiveX and Java. This trick allows covering major currently used browsers. Sometime ago we started to think about third component for a perfect upload solution - Flash Image Uploader. The main strength of which is that it works almost on every client computer. It may be used as fallback solution in cases when Image Uploader Dual cannot be started on client machine. Flash still will be much better solution, than silly "browse" button. This product will meet requirement of our clients who do not need "heavy" functionality, like processing large images client-side or sophisticated user interface. Or it may be an additional option for sites, which want to provide their visitors with really rich choice.
During years of work on the market of upload solutions we accumulated experience in the field of file and image transfer. While working on new our product we used it to create flexible and simple solution. You should not implement any HTML-controls to make Image Uploader Flash work on your site. You should not write additional JavaScript code to embed Adobe Flash Player and so on. We have already done it for you. New generation of client scripts, ASP.NET and PHP controls allow you to save your time. The product will come with samples and we encourage you to use them as starting point for your code. Our goal is to provide you with solution that just works. And we hope that you will like it.
Here is how Image Uploader Flash looks:
If you would like to see Image Uploader Flash in action, it is available on our site: http://demo.aurigma.com/imageuploaderflash.