File Upload removes Mimetype

scott192 · 05-18-2020 08:57 AM

So I have the File data type on a form for the user to upload with.
The files appear in my App’s Attachments_Files_ folder in my Google Drive.
For anything other than a PDF or Jpeg file, the Mimetype of the file has been removed and neither Appsheet.Com’s file viewer application nor Google Drives built in viewers and editors can display the file again without showing it as RAW filedata.
My desired behaviour for files uploaded using the Files column is to be able to click the URL and have appsheet let Google open it somehow?
By the look of it at the moment, the data is extracted out of my drive and passed to a third party for viewing and I do not want this behaviour for HIPAA reasons.
Does somebody have a more detailed explanation of what happens when a file is attached and why the mimetype gets stripped?

Jonathan_S

Im only asserting because no one has answered for a while.
Maybe break it down a little. I think people are not exactly understanding what you are asking. Im possibly understanding what you are saying but not exactly sure how it is relevant to app-sheet. Its really coming out of no where

scott192

Hi @Jonathan_S, thanks for replying to the question. I will just take the filetyping part out as this seems to be the most important for now.

So specifically, when using the File Upload column in a form to upload a file it seems that the Type information that allows a web service to understand how it should open and display that file is stripped off. If the file is of a type that is PDF or JPG then this behaviour doesn’t seem to happen and when clicking the weblink for those files they open and display correctly.

I have only tested with Word files so far though. My expected behaviour is that when clicking the weblink for an uploaded Word document that Google’s Word viewer service would display the file without any problems. However, AppSheet’s own file viewer springs into action for the link and shows RAW data instead of the formatted Word document.

When examining the actual file in the Google Drive folder it has been placed by the File Uploader, you can see that even Google Drive does not know that this is a Word Doc (Icon shows it as an unknown filetype) and double clicking the file gives the same RAW display. So I can only assume that the metadata that describes the type of document has been stripped during the upload process.

For the purposes of testing, I started with an actual Word doc stored in a GDrive folder that when clicked displays the Word doc perfectly in Google’s viewer. I then downloaded this file to my chromebook’s local storage. Again, from local storage, double clicking the file opened correctly in google’s viewer. I then used Appsheet to upload this file and checked the folder it ends up in. The file has it’s filename mangled and its filetype stripped (note…when I say filetype, I do not mean the .docx file extension as this still remains in the filename).

So…that’s it in a nutshell. Uploaded files can not be opened in Appsheet’s or Google’s web services unless they are of type PDF or Jpeg.

Do you concur?

Jonathan_S

Honestly, Im not to Sure about this one Scott,
Have never really had any similar issues.

Maybe @JCadence Could help you out a little more.

jcadence

Hi @Scott_Robinson1 thank you for your question. I think we need a little more clarification as to what you’re trying to achieve but I can provide a little additional information.

For trust and privacy information, this page can provide some important information

This section on working with data in the help center might also be helpful.

If you are unable to find a clear answer to your question, I would recommend reaching out to either our support team or your sales rep for additional help.

Fabian_Weller

@Scott_Robinson1 This is a known issue