App shouldn't try to upload non-image files to commons

[sivaraam]

Summary:
It is possible to try to share non-images using the app using certain external apps such as file managers. In that case the app doesn't clearly indicate to the user about why uploads of non-image files fail.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Open a File explorer of your choice (e.g.) Amaze file manager.
2. Choose multiple files containing at least one image and a non-image file (.mp3, .md, .pdf, you name it)
3. Click on the 'Share' menu to share the chosen files
4. Choose the Commons app to share the files
5. Give a title for the upload set.
6. Tap on Upload (provide categories if you wish)

Expected behavior:
The app shouldn't allow users to try uploading non-image files.

Observed behavior:
The app allows users to try uploading non-image files. The upload of the non-image files fails. The upload of the images seems to succeed.

Device and Android version:
Device: Samsung Galaxy j1 ace
OS: Android 5.1.1

Commons app version:
2.7.2 (beta flavour)

Screen-shots:

Would you like to work on the issue?
No.

[nicolas-raoul]

I believe this is a feature, not a bug.
The app allows people to upload videos and sounds, in particular, and more generally we should try to support as many formats as possible.
We could reformulate this issue as "Does the app crash or misbehaves when we upload a file in a format that Commons does not support?"

[sivaraam]

I didn't think of this as a feature as the app doesn't seem to be advertising itself to be allowing uploads anything other than images, does it? It doesn't seem to be allowing the users to chose anything other than images through the main user interface. Further one of my tests to confirm whether this is a bug or not was trying to upload a mp3 file along with an image. The upload of the mp3 file failed though commons added support for mp3.

Maybe this issue was closed prematurely I suppose?

[misaochan]

I guess this would need to be discussed in the more specific context of adding support for specific formats. For instance, we have #4 for videos (as an interesting point of note, that issue is currently our oldest unsolved issue ;)). The end goal is to allow these other formats, but we don't have the resources to implement that at the moment.

I wonder what the demand would be for uploading mp3s, videos, etc? I haven't received too many requests for it, compared to other features.

[sivaraam]

I wonder what the demand would be for uploading mp3s, videos, etc?

I'm not a veteran commons uploader to comment about this. :)

I filed this issue not with the motive of adding support for non-image file formats but with the motive of improving the user experience of the user trying to share non-image files along with images. Currently,

1. The app doesn't clearly state why the upload fails (particularly why non-image uploads fail)
2. The app seems to be uploading the complete file regardless of whether it is an image and then states the upload fails (which is even bad). It's bad as it wastes data which could've been avoided if it didn't allow users to upload non-image files from the beginning.

I think this should be fixed until the app really supports uploading of non-image file formats.

[chrisdebian]

It hadn't occurred to me to upload anything other than images, using the app. If I interpret this ticket correctly, would it be a good idea to limit uploads to the file-types listed here?

Chris.