Trying to click the 'Find a file' input programmatically

Question

The question is practically in the title. I am trying to simulate an enter button click on the find a file input (with id "inplaceSearchDiv_WPQ1_lsinput") of SharePoint, after having populated it with a value that I get from the query string. (See code snippet below which I added as a script in the AllItems.aspx view page)

$( window ).on( "load", function() {
    var e = jQuery.Event("keypress");
    e.which = 13; //choose the one you want
    e.keyCode = 13;

    var input = document.getElementById("inplaceSearchDiv_WPQ1_lsinput");

    var textval = getParameterByName("Name");
    input.value = textval;

    //document.getElementById("inplaceSearchDiv_WPQ1_lsimg").click();
    $("#inplaceSearchDiv_WPQ1_lsinput").trigger(e);
})

I also tried the .click() function on the input itself, on the span and search image.

Both the .trigger with the 'e' event and the .click() methods do nothing: practically the code is passed and no click is fired.

The console returns the below errors intermittently:

HTTP 403 - The server understood the request, but is refusing to fulfill it. 
POST - https://outlook.office365.com/owa/

And:

HTTP 401 - DENIED - The requested resource requires user authentication.

These errors appear regardless of the code being included or not. I am mentioning them as I am wondering whether they could be preventing the methods from working.

Does SharePoint block such events? If yes how can I go around it?!

Any ideas?

---

Update: I noticed that even though the value is being filled in by javascript, I cannot manually submit the input, unless I manually type in the text, remove the javascript work and click enter or click the search button. This may be the reason why I cannot submit it programatically either. Nonetheless, I still would like someone's input about my problem. Perhaps another way of achieving the same thing. Thanks!

Answer 1

Think of the security implications if it is possible to do that manual operation programmatically

I could write code that grabs any file from your local system

So it is has nothing to do with the Office365 Server-side

It is the Browser denying access and safe-guarding you.

Why isn't it possible to programmatically trigger the file input selection?

Most browsers prevent submitting files when the input field didn't receive a direct click (or keyboard) event as a security precaution. Some browsers (e.g. Google Chrome) simply prevent the click event, while e.g. Internet Explorer doesn't submit any files that have been selected by a programmatically triggered file input field. Firefox 4 (and later) is so far the only browser with full support for invoking "click"-Events on a completely hidden (display: none) file input field.