Uploading files to a Dataverse table using the "Add picture" control in a Canvas App

Overview: I need to be able to upload pictures or an file for that matter and persist the file in a Dataverse entity.  This took me a little longer than it should have.

Notes: I added a "Add picture" control to the screen, I also added a label and a icon ro Clear the uploaded image.

I also added a save button, here I persist to a Dataverse table named "Evidence", The Evidence table has a column called "File" of type "File". The part that took me awhile in the Patch statement was getting the file into the correct format (as it is a record not a picture).  This works for any file upload but has the drawback of needing to change the lookup to "All file types".  

Uploading multiple files in a document library

Problem: In a SharePoint 2010 document library, the "Upload Multiple Document" option behaves differently in Internet Explorer (IE) in the User Interface (UI) on end user machines.  Either the "Drag and Drop" or the "multi tick tree view upload view" is shown in IE for multiple file uploads. 

Initial Hypothesis: 
1.> I originally thought Silverlight was responsible for the different displays, I remove Silverlight from the client machines and I still see the working drag and drop control.  Therefore the difference has nothing to do with Silverlight.  Additionally, this is not an IE version issue.

2.> Removing Silverlight and restarting the browser/machine has no effect, I still can use the drag and drop control. The ActiveX control that performs the upload must be responsible for the UI.  More info. 

3.> Only IE has the option to "Upload Multiple Document".   The "Upload Multiple Document" is not available in FireFox or Chrome.

4.> The Office ActiveX plug in is STSUPLD.DLL.  I found the file on my client machine located at  e:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STSUPLD.DLL.  My version is obviously part of the Office 14/Office 2010 release. 

5.> Removing the  e:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STSUPLD.DLL file and restarting IE results in the "Upload Multiple Document" option being disabled (greyed out).

6.> Replacing the STSUPLD.DLL with the Office 2007 STSUPLD in the Office14 or Office12 directory does not fix the issue it merely still greys out the "Upload Multiple Document" option.

Resolution:  The behaviour is part of the version of Office installed on the client machine.  The multi upload option is only available in IE if the client has the ActiveX control installed with Office.  I believe it comes down to the last office product installed so if you have Office 2010, you get the drag and drop UI however if you install SharePoint Designer 2007, you will see the tree view as you will be using the STSUPLD.dll from Office 2007.  Functionality is really out of your control as it comes down to the client machine setup.  You can do javascript to check the plug-in version and change default display if you need to.

Check your version by finding the STSUPLD.DLL (I think you can do it in IE also), the details of the 3 versions are shown below:

 

Office Version	Dll Version	Dll Size
Office 2003	11.0.5523.0	?
Office 2007	12.0.4518.1014	22kb
Office 2010	14.0.4761.1000	78kb

Tip: The ability to use Windows Explorer to upload files to a SharePoint document libray relies on the Os being 32bit.  So on the x64 bit Windows Server, you can't upload files using Windows Explorer.


This control is currently disabled - Document library

Problem: Upload Multiple Documents is disabled with the message "This control is currently disabled.".  If the new documents and various other documents on the ribbon are disable and showing the same message.

Initial Hypothesis:  The Authentication provides have not been configured to Enable Client Integration.

Resolution: CA > Manage Web Applications > Select the WA > Authentication Providers > Select the zone > Enable Client Integration = Yes.