Question

Is it possible to use jQuery’s drop event for dragging files from the desktop?

If so, how do I get the dropped file data?

Answer 1

It’s a little messy (you need to handle at least 3 events) but possible.

First, you need to add eventhandlers for dragover and dragenter and prevent the default actions for these events like that:

$('#div').on(
    'dragover',
    function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        e.stopPropagation();
    }
)
$('#div').on(
    'dragenter',
    function(e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        e.stopPropagation();
    }
)

It’s actually important to call preventDefault on these events, otherwise, some browsers may never trigger the drop event.

Then you can add the drop-handler and access the dropped files with e.originalEvent.dataTransfer.files:

$('#div').on(
    'drop',
    function(e){
        if(e.originalEvent.dataTransfer && e.originalEvent.dataTransfer.files.length) {
            e.preventDefault();
            e.stopPropagation();
            /*UPLOAD FILES HERE*/
            upload(e.originalEvent.dataTransfer.files);
        }
    }
);

Now you are able to drag files from the desktop/explorer/finder in the div and access them.

http://jsfiddle.net/fSA4N/5/