Maybe you have already noticed that starting from Mac OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), Apple had changed the popup displayed when you try to open a web page with a Java applet. Now it looks like this:

A signed applet comes with a signature which should be verified by a browser, which checks if the code signing certificate is valid and issued by a trusted source. As soon as the signature is verified, an applet is launched in the browser. Technically, signed applets can get more control over a client computer, like access to the file system, registry and so on. The Java standard admits that a web browser should show a popup window in order to get approval from a user. On PCs this popup window is modest and just informs a user that an applet that is signed with a verified certificate is about to launch.

Apple decided to go a different way. Apple displays the popup windows which you see in this post. It says that “the digital signature could not be verified” even if it is signed with the correct certificate. Of course, end-users, who are not computer-savvy, are confused with this dialog and click the “Deny” button, which prevents the launching of the applet. They then cannot use important services (e.g. banking software) that they go to websites for, or try to contact a company’s technical support.Companies cannot do anything because the problem with the applet’s confusing message is out of their control. All they can do is to instruct users to click the “Allow” button. It sounds very simple but the problem is pretty serious because there are so many confused users who, ironically, are preventing themselves from getting services. If you Google this problem, you will find that a lot of companies all over the world are running afoul of this issue.

Apple support keeps saying that the verification logic has been changed in Mac OS X 10.8. "Unidentified developer" means a source other than the Mac App Store or a Developer ID-identified developer. Taking into account that Java applets cannot participate in the Mac OS Developer program, there is no way to address this issue on Apple platforms. This is really sad news...

Aurigma has signed all Image Uploader, Upload Suite, and File Downloader releases with updated Java/ActiveX code signing certificates.  Developers should make sure to update the binaries on all websites that use Aurigma to ensure that the Java/ActiveX applets do not generate security dialogues for expired certificates.

The old code signing certificates are set to expire on the 26^th of July, 2012. So, developers need to be sure to update Aurigma Java/ActiveX certificates to the new version before that date to ensure and maintain a seamless end user uploading experience.  End users don’t like to see expired certificates, and Aurigma feels strongly that it is our mandate to ensure that all our customers are supported with the latest updates; therefore we have updated the code signing certificates on all releases back to version 5.  We’ve got your back.  All of the updated versions are available for free from Aurigma at:

http://www.aurigma.com/Products/ImageUploader/FreeTrial/OldVersions.aspx - Image Uploader and Upload Suite

http://www.aurigma.com/Products/FileDownloader/LegacyDownloads.aspx - File Downloader

You can rest assured that the binaries themselves have not changed, so the new certificates will work seamlessly with your website and will not generate compatibility issues for your code build. The only difference in the new binaries is that now they have the new code signing certificates integrated.

What version to download?

1. If you have version 7.x.x or 8.x.x, just download an appropriate version. For example, if you are using version 7.0.37, find 7.0.37 in the list and download it. 
2. If you have version 5.x, you should download 5.8.1.0 binaries-only. 
3. If you have version 6.x, you should download 6.5.19 (any package will work).

The rule of the thumb is the following: if the package date is 7/19/2012 or higher, it means that this package is signed with the latest certificate. Otherwise, it is signed with outdated certificate. 

How to update?

It depends on how you are using Image Uploader/Upload Suite: 

1. If you are using ASP.NET control, you should update Aurigma.ImageUploader.dll in the /bin folder.
2. If you are using PHP library, you should overwrite the content of the ImageUploaderPHP folder.
3. In all other cases (i.e. when you insert it using JavaScript library), you should update .cab, .jar and .js files from the Scripts folder.  

Note, if you are using newer version that you had before, make sure that the version number in your code is correct. For example, if you have version 6.1.4, after you update it to 6.5.19, you should update javaAppletVersion param appropriately. 

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions on this.

A while ago we have started offering 70% for our VirtueMart plugin based on Image Uploader in exchange for a back link to our product page. This special offer became pretty popular and we decided to extend this offer for another product - Image Uploader Express.

In short, now you can put a sort of "powered by Aurigma" link on the same page with Image Uploader and in exchange we strongly reduce the price - from $199 to only $59. If you are interested to get a discounted price, learn more here:

http://www.aurigma.com/Products/ImageUploader/Buy/LinkForDiscount.aspx

Note, this offer is valid only for the Express version. 

Got any questions? Don't hesitate to email us at sales@aurigma.com. 

On December 29 2011 Microsoft published security update Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-100 - Critical. The security update has been released to fix ASP.NET DoS vulnerability. The update puts a limit to number of key-value pairs that can be sent in a single HTTP POST request. By default not more than 500 variables can be uploaded per one request.

If Image Uploader is configured to upload all files in a single HTTP POST request, it can exceed this amount which leads to failed upload requests. If it happens, error 500 (Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object) is thrown. The problem can be addressed by reconfiguring the uploader or changing your web server settings. Find the detailed information how to fix this issue in this topic: PRB: Image Uploader ASP.NET generates “Operation is not valid due to current state of object” error.

Today I would like to dwell on very popular question asked by our customers. How to organize sending additional data along with files in Image Uploader. It can be very helpful if your website requires some metadata along with files like tags, name of a set to associate the file on server side, etc.

From our perspective we see this task consisting of 3 big portions: 1) displaying and associating data with files selected for upload in Image Uploader, 2) entering data by end-users, and 3) sending data along with files to server-side. Let’s examine approaches to implementing each of them.

Displaying additional data in Image Uploader

Custom upload pane

From the very early versions Image Uploader comes with a separate visual control called Thumbnail. The idea is quite simple. The control is designed to display thumbnail or icon for a specified file selected by a user for upload in “parent” Image Uploader. This way, you can hide upload pane in Image Uploader and create your own custom one using multiple Thumbnail controls in HTML layout. This approach is very flexible. You can create any HTML layout of upload pane you want. Additional data can be displayed next to files selected for upload as well as you can surround them with input fields allowing your clients to enter additional information. All you need to implement this approach is a good understanding of HTML and JavaScript. The product comes with ready to use sample application illustrating this method, it’d be a good starting point.

Additional data inside Image Uploader

Version 7 introduced new way of displaying custom information inside Image Uploader. Now each file in Image Uploader can be accompanied with a custom text. It is formatted in HTML, set through API and rendered inside the control next to each file selected for upload. This way is much simpler than custom HTML pane and requires less coding. The approach is used in the Photo Order demo application available on our web site and redistributed with the product.

How End-users Populate Selected Files with Additional Data

It is not enough to display any data beneath or near selected files, it is very important to give end-users convenient way to fill in data during upload process. User interface layout will depend on which of two ways you implement in your application.

If you stick with custom HTML panel, layout can be anything you want since it is pure HTML and you can use any input fields available there.

If you decide to use the second approach, you have less variety in user interface. Since all data is rendered and displayed inside Image Uploader and it doesn’t support input fields, you will have to organize input of data somewhere in HTML outside of the control. The workflow will be the same regardless of what information you are uploading: a client selects one or several items in upload pane, after that he/she switches to HTML panel and specifies values for selected files there. As soon as the input process is finished, the values are passed inside Image Uploader via JavaScript API, are associated with the selected files and Image Uploader displays the entered information next to them.

Sending Data to Server

The both approaches require a special JavaScript code doing the following. After end-user hits Upload button and prior to starting the upload process, your script should iterate through files selected for upload, and populate their tags with user specified values. It is up to you in what format to save multiple fields in this property; it can be XML or some other format. On server side you get a tag received with each file and extract values stored inside it.

Afterwords

That’s the idea. I guess having documentation and two ready-to-use sample applications will help you to choose the way to implement sending additional data and will give you good starting point for implementation. If you have any questions, feel free to contact our support team, they will be glad to assist you with that.

On this week we are running the Aurigma Blogging Contest. It is designed to encourage developers to share their experiences using Aurigma software. The person who submits the best blog post, as determined by our judges, will be awarded the grand prize of one free uploader of their choice. The winner may choose between:

• Image Uploader 7 Professional ($599 value)
• Image Uploader 7 Flash Professional ($499 value)

To apply:

• You must have a blog, related to software development, where you post on a regular basis.
• Your entry post must link to Aurigma website.
• Best entries will describe how you have integrated Aurigma software into your website (e.g. using code examples, linking to a tutorial, or more - be creative!

To enter shoot us an email at info@aurigma.com, make sure it includes a link to your post, domain name of the website where you are going to use the product, and of course which uploader you will receive if you win.

Learn more about Aurigma blogging contest

During last several months we got multiple complaints from users that Image Uploader had problems with GUI in Firefox and Chrome under Mac OS X. We were not the only one company having these troubles with Java applets on Apple platform, there were a lot of posts on Mozilla and Apple forums from developers about that. Since we have Apple Developer account we tried to contact Apple about this issue, they confirmed it but didn’t reveal any time frames on resolving the problem.

Several weeks ago Apple released Java 1.6.0.26, this version works both in Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.7 (Lion). Preparing new Image Uploader 7.0.35 for release, we invested significant time for testing this Java with our product under both versions of Apple operating systems. The results are much, much better. The applet works perfectly under Max OS X 10.6 and 10.7 in Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. The only limitation that we found is no drag and drop support in Firefox/Chrome under 10.6 and in Safari/Firefox/Chrome under 10.7. All other functionality works perfectly in Image Uploader 7.0.35 and Java 1.6.0.26.

During last several weeks we are getting complaints from client that their users, who do not have administrator privileges, cannot install or launch Image Uploader ActiveX in Internet Explorer. This problem was caused by changes in Internet Explorer logic and appears after installing one of Microsoft updates. To resolve this problem, your Image Uploader should be updated to the most recent version 7.0.28 (released on May 11, 2011).

If you are existing Image Uploader customer and you have plans to upgrade to version 7, hurry up! On May 16, 2011 special upgrade offer will be closed. One week remains!

Today we released new Image Uploader 7.0.28. It includes long list of improvements and bug fixes, you can check them all in the documentation. Today I am writing introduction post about this new version, however this new release is worthy of several big posts about its new great features which will be here some time later.

Since the time when the previous 7.0.15 uploader was posted to our website, long-awaited Internet Explorer 9 has been released. Working under Image Uploader 7.0.28 we paid great attention to the questions of compatibility with new Microsoft browser. Image Uploader 7.0.28 was adapted to IE9 and development team spent significant time checking the uploader under this browser.

Also several weeks ago we found strange problem in Google Chrome 10.0.648 preventing the applet to pass its settings from HTML to Java correctly. The resolution was found several days later and this fix is also in the version 7.0.28. One of the things that make our upload solutions popular among programmers is compatibility with major browsers on different client platforms, and we do our best to remain the leader in this field.

Image Uploader 7.0.28 is available for download on our website; feel free to contact our support team if you have any questions about upgrade or migration.