Module development and code questions

Is there a module that allows Drupal users to upload multiple files at one time? I see that some modules allow upload of multiple image files, but I would like to upload multiple .mp3, .mpg, .doc, .pdf and other files at the same time.

I'm trying to create a node type to which the user can attach multiple images. When the user is first presented with the Submit form, I want them to see a fixed number of image input fields. See the diagram below which has three such fields. (The number of images per node would be a set on the settings page.)

When the user clicks the 'Browse...' button, the standard file selection dialog box opens. When they select a file and the dialog box closes, I would like the image to immediately be uploaded. In the diagram, 'tn' means thumbnail and this would initially be an empty graphic. After the file uploades, I'd like that to be replaced with a thumbnail derived from their uploaded image.

And, I want various information to be associated with each image. In the example, this would be the make and model of cars. I'd store this information in its own table: the image location, the description, the make, the model, etc.

I've tried to put something like this together by modifying the upload module in 4.6, but it has a few undesirable features. For one, the user has to press the 'Attach' button and that refreshes the page. Even in 4.7 with jsupload.js, they still need to press that button. And, the upload module doesn't allow the same exact image to be associated with a node twice. And, you need to add a new image one at a time. In 4.7, the upload module is also even more difficult to understand than in 4.6.

I've been working on an idea.

Mission

To move my development modules into 4.7, without losing compatability with my establised 4.6 client installations.
We will not be commiting to 4.7 for a while (if ever) but the features I'm developing deserve to be forward-looking.

Problem

To even get the old modules to work in 4.7 requires a significant rewrite.
Doing so would branch the code, then make added features (developed under 4.7) harder to apply in parallal to the target 4.6 implimentations

Experimental solution - a hybrid 4.6/4.7

I'm converting my modules to 4.7 but adding the bits of the forms API that I need as a conditional library that will bring the 4.6 site up-to-date enough to be able to handle it.

I've got a bit of development happening to ease the migration from Forms 4.6 to 4.7 - I'm back-porting (part of) the 4.7 forms API to a plug-in for 4.6 so that I can move on with converting my modules to 4.7 without divorcing them entirely from my target 4.6 audience.

Most of it is looking pretty straight-forward, but I can't find a global or variable that explicitly tells me what version is running. I started by checking for the existance of 4.7-only functions, but now my back-port is emulating them, they exist once more.

Is there some sort of User Bio module or something so that users could look at each other's information? (screen name, etc.)

Jay

I didn't get any response in a previous post (http://drupal.org/node/50187) and still have the problem so hopefully someone can help....

I've created my own module based on dashboard and it seems to work when it's in the dashboard folder, however move it to it's own folder or the base module foldre and it shows up in list of modules to enable, but not on the create content page or the "access control" page. Now someone thought it might be linked to absolute paths or the like but as far as I can tell, no.