Multiple File Upload with Angular 9 FormData and PHP by Example

Angular PHP Upload FormData

In this tutorial, we'll learn by example how to implement Angular 9 multiple file upload with FormData and PHP. We'll also see an example of Angular Reactive forms for uploading multiple files.

Multiple File Uploading with Angular 9, FormData and PHP

Uploading multiple files in Angular 9 and FormData is easy.

In this example, we'll show you how to create a form for sending multiple files in your Angular 9 application.

We'll be using the reactive form/model based approach.

For the server, we'll use a simple REST API for receiving the upload files and store them in a folder using php:

<?php

 header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *");
 header("Access-Control-Allow-Methods: PUT, GET, POST");
 header("Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept");

 $uploadFolder =  "upload/";
 $files = $_FILES["file"]["name"];
 for  ($i =  0; $i < count($files); $i++)  {
    $filename=$files[$i];
    $ext =  end(explode(".", $filename));
    $original = pathinfo($filename, PATHINFO_FILENAME);
    $fileurl = $original .  "-"  . date("YmdHis")  .  "."  . $ext;
    move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"][$i], $uploadFolder . $fileurl);
  }
?>

We'll implement a simple reactive form using formGroup.

We'll listen for the input onchange event, and add the selected file to a list. Next, after a click on the submit button of the form. we'll send an Http post request using Angular 9 HttpClient to the php server for uploading the file(s).

Step 1: Create an Angular 9 Project

Open your command-line interface and run the following command to initialize a new Angular 9 project:

$ ng new angular-9-upload-file-demo

Choose No for routing, and CSS for stylesheets format.

Step 2: Import Angular `HttpClientModule`, `FormsModule` and `ReactiveFormsModule`

Next, we need to import HttpClientModule, FormsModule and ReactiveFormsModule in the src/app/app.module.ts file:

import  {  BrowserModule  }  from  '@angular/platform-browser';
import  {  NgModule  }  from  '@angular/core';
import  {  HttpClientModule  }  from  '@angular/common/http';
import  {  FormsModule,  ReactiveFormsModule  }  from  '@angular/forms';
import  {  AppComponent  }  from  './app.component';

@NgModule({
 declarations:  [
  AppComponent
  ],
 imports:  [
  BrowserModule,
  HttpClientModule,
  FormsModule,
  ReactiveFormsModule
  ],
 providers:  [],
 bootstrap:  [AppComponent]
})
export  class  AppModule  {  }

Step 3: Create a Reactive Form

Let's now add a reactive form with an input element with the file type.

Open the src/app/app.component.html

<h1>Angular 9 Multiple File Upload Example</h1>

<form [formGroup]="uploadForm" (ngSubmit)="submitForm()">

  <div  class="form-group">

  <label  for="name">Name</label>

  <input  

  formControlName="name"

  id="name"  

  type="text"  

  class="form-control">

  <div *ngIf="f.name.touched && f.name.invalid">

  <div *ngIf="f.name.errors.required">Filename is required</div>

  </div>

  </div>

  <div  class="form-group">

  <label  for="file">File</label>

  <input  

  formControlName="file"

  id="file"  

  type="file"  

  multiple

  class="form-control"

 (change)="onFileChange($event)">

  <div *ngIf="f.file.touched && f.file.invalid">
  <div *ngIf="f.file.errors.required">Choose a file</div>
  </div>
  </div>
  <button type="submit">Upload</button>

</form>

Step 4: Implement the Angular Reactive Form Using `formGroup` and `formControl`

Now, let's implment the reactive form for uploading the selected files using formGroupand formControl.

Later, we'll be running the php script from http://localhost:8000/upload.php for receiving the upload files and save them in the server.

Open the src/app/app.component.ts file and update it as follows:

import  {  Component  }  from  '@angular/core';
import  {  HttpClient  }  from  '@angular/common/http';
import  {  FormGroup,  FormControl,  Validators}  from  '@angular/forms';

@Component({
 selector:  'app-root',
 templateUrl:  './app.component.html',
 styleUrls:  ['./app.component.css']
})
export  class  AppComponent  {
 URL= "http://localhost:8000/upload.php";
 files:string  []  =  [];
 uploadForm =  new  FormGroup({
    name:  new  FormControl('',  [Validators.required,  Validators.minLength(3)]),
    file:  new  FormControl('',  [Validators.required])
  });

 constructor(private httpClient:  HttpClient)  {  }

  get f(){
     return  this.uploadForm.controls;
  }

 onFileChange(event)  {
    for  (var i =  0; i <  event.target.files.length; i++)  {  
        this.files.push(event.target.files[i]);
    }
  }

 submitForm(){

  const formData =  new  FormData();
  for  (var i =  0; i <  this.myFiles.length; i++)  {  
      formData.append("file[]",  this.myFiles[i]);
  } 

  this.httpClient.post(this.URL, formData).subscribe(res =>  {
      console.log(res);
      alert('Files uploaded Successfully!');
  })
  }
}

Finally, start the Angular 9 development server using the following command: