HTML: upload-form in an other form

Question

I have a little problem with an upload-form within an other form (call it data-form). I know it is not possible to put a form into an other.

So I would need to put it after my data-form.

But I need the upload-form controls in the middle of my data-form because of optical and structural reasons. The file-upload should also perform other actions and not the same than the data-form.

So any idea how can I make the upload-form after my data-form but visible in it or any other ideas to handle this?

I am using javascirpt and php also.

thanks and best wishes for 2011!

br,chris

Answer 1

I know it is not possible to put a form into an other.

Nesting HTML forms is not valid HTML and results into undefined behavior which could vary between browsers. Here's a similar post.

Answer 2

You could leave some space in your design and then nest the form (visually) in the other one with CSS and absolute positioning..

Answer 3

Apart from position: absolute that might work depending on your layout, I had the idea of using a Flash based uploader like SWFUpload. That process works separately from the surrounding form. However, it creates a dependency on Flash and does not degrade gracefully (i.e. if Flash is not present, it does not work at all).