Accessing text files with Javascript in a chrome app - javascript

I would like to be able to edit and save text files in javascript, like the code below, but I have to be able to do it without using system.io, as this is a chrome app. Is there any way to be able to do this?
import System.IO;
var filePath = "data.txt";
function Start() {
if (!File.Exists(filePath)) {
CreateFile();
}
}
function CreateFile() {
var sw: StreamWriter = new StreamWriter(filePath);
sw.WriteLine("Hello World")
sw.Flush();
sw.Close();
print("Done");
}

While you are creating a chrome app, you can use chrome.fileSystem.
This snippet comes from the chrome app samples:
https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-app-samples/tree/master/samples/text-editor
function openFile() {
chrome.fileSystem.chooseEntry(function (entry) {
if (chrome.runtime.lastError) {
showError(chrome.runtime.lastError.message);
return;
}
clearError();
setEntry(entry, false);
replaceDocContentsFromFileEntry();
});
}

For security reasons, JavaScript has no access to local files. It can only access the HTML document. To access external files, such as text files, you must use VBScript. Note that VBScript only works on IE and Edge browsers, and only when they are enabled in the browser's settings.

Related

Firefox Extension Global Variables and onInstalled

I have a chrome extension that uses the Omnibox API. I want to port this extension to firefox by myself.
I've tried nearly everything that may help, and miserably, I'm exhausted and out of solutions.
Anyway, the extension basically does these steps in Chrome with no errors:
Load global variable called sites which is an array of object
var sites = [
{
"name":"ytb",
"desc":"YouTube",
"url":"https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query={%query%}"
},
{
"name":"ggl",
"desc":"Google",
"url":"https://www.google.com/search?q={%query%}"
},
{
"name":"dvand",
"desc": "Android Devs",
"url": "https://developer.android.com/s/results?q={%query%}"
},
{
"name":"bng",
"desc":"Bing",
"url":"https://www.bing.com/search?q={%query%}"
},
...
];
Save sites object to storage.local on runtime.onInstalled:
browser.runtime.onInstalled.addListener((details) => {
if (details.reason == "install") {
console.log("First install");
save(); //which saves sites to local storage...
load(); //which load sites from local storage...
}
});
Here is the save and load functions:
function save() {
browser.storage.local.set({"ssearch_sites":sites}, () => {
console.log("Saved!",sites);
sites = sites;
});
}
function load() {
browser.storage.local.get('ssearch_sites', (res) => {
console.log("Got!",res.ssearch_sites);
sites = res.ssearch_sites;
});
}
I think the problems could be relying on these:
onInstalled is not working
global variables such as sites are not stored (which is not quite possible).
local storage api is not working very well...
Oh, and I must say, when
I run the extension from these:
web-ext run
It works sometimes as expected, but when I download it from the store, it does not work. How could this even possible? I mean how works on testing and does not work on the production stage?
One more thing, do you know an alternative to local storage API?
Thanks!
Source codes are here:
Google Chrome version
Firefox version

Injecting javascript using LoadUrl fails in Android WebView for SDK 24+

I am trying to inject a javascript namespace with function from App to Android WebView
NOTE: I do not have any control on the actual source being loaded on WebView apart from the below script. I am working in Xamarin so the Android code is C#
So there are two major components that I am using:
(function() {
console.log("Loading JS Bindings");
function addOnClickHandler () {
$(document).ready(function () {
if (window.InjectedNamespace) { // check InjectedNamespace namespace exists
var onClickHandler = window.InjectedNamespace.handleOnClick;
if (typeof onClickHandler === 'function') {
$(":button, a").each(function (idx) {
$(this).click(function() {
onClickHandler("click!");
});
});
} else {
console.error('missing onclick handler');
}
} else {
console.error('missing InjectedNamespace namespace');
}
});
}
})();
Above script which will be added by the third-party, which will attach click function to all <button> and <a> tags.
Below namespace will be injected from the App side
var InjectedNamespace={handleOnClick:function(a){Internal.handleOnClickEvent(a)}};
On App side I have this Javascript interface object
class JSInterfaceObject : Java.Lang.Object
{
readonly CustomWebView View;
string Data;
public JSInterfaceObject(CustomWebView view)
{
View = view;
}
[Export]
[JavascriptInterface]
// only methods exposed with annotation [JavascriptInterface] are exposed to javascript
public void handleOnClickEvent(string data)
{
Log.ForContext("TAG", TAG).Debug("handleOnClickEvent: " + data);
if(View.OnClick != null)
{
View.OnClick(data);
}
}
}
And this interface is added to webview using
AddJavascriptInterface(new JSInterfaceObject(this), "Internal");
And in OnPageStarted I am injecting the javascript using
webview.LoadUrl("javascript:"+"var IM={handleOnClick:function(a){Internal.handleOnClickEvent(a)}};");
This setup work fine for Android SDK < 24. But for Webview in SDK >=24 the script always errors out with missing InjectedNamespace namespace, which implies the LoadUrl in OnPageStarted failed!
This check is done in $(document).ready in the script.
I found this note in "Android 7.0 for Developers" which says
"Starting with apps targeting Android 7.0, the Javascript context will
be reset when a new page is loaded. Currently, the context is carried
over for the first page loaded in a new WebView instance.
Developers looking to inject Javascript into the WebView should
execute the script after the page has started to load."
So tried to add the javascript injection code after the page started loading but got the same error. Also tried using the WebView.EvaluateJavascript() but error persists.
The error disappers if I change my TargetSDK to <=23.

Save HTML locally with Javascript

I know that client-side Javascript cannot write data to the local filesystem, for obvious security reasons.
The only way to save data locally with Javascript seems to be with cookies, localStorage, or allow the user to download a file (with a "Save..." dialog box or to the browser's default Download folder).
But is it possible, in the very specific case when the file is accessed locally with an URL like file:///D:/test/index.html (and not through internet) to write data locally ? (without any server language, and even without any server at all: just local browsing of a HTML file)
For example, would it be possible, by clicking on SAVE here:
<div contenteditable="true" style="height:200px;">Content editable - edit me and save!</div>
<button>Save</button>
...that such a HTML file (accessed through file:///D:/test/index.html) is overwritten with its new content ? (i.e. the local HTML file should be updated when SAVE is pressed).
TL;DR: Is this possible to SAVE a file thanks to Javascript, when the HTML page is accessed locally?
Note: I want to be able to silently save, not propose a Download/Save dialog box in which the user has to choose where to download, then "Are you sure to want to overwrite" etc.
EDIT : Why this question? I'm doing an in-browser notepad that I can run locally without any server (no Apache, no PHP). I need to be able to save easily without having to deal with Dialog Box "Where do you want to download the file?" and having to always re-browse to the same folder to overwrite the currently-being-edited file. I would like a simple UX like in any notepad program: CTRL+S done, the current file is saved! (example: MS Word doesn't ask to browse where you want to save the file each time you do "Save": CTRL+S, done!)
You can just use the Blob function:
function save() {
var htmlContent = ["your-content-here"];
var bl = new Blob(htmlContent, {type: "text/html"});
var a = document.createElement("a");
a.href = URL.createObjectURL(bl);
a.download = "your-download-name-here.html";
a.hidden = true;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.innerHTML = "something random - nobody will see this, it doesn't matter what you put here";
a.click();
}
and your file will save.
The canonical answer, from the W3C File API Standard:
User agents should provide an API exposed to script that exposes the features above. The user is notified by UI anytime interaction with the file system takes place, giving the user full ability to cancel or abort the transaction. The user is notified of any file selections, and can cancel these. No invocations to these APIs occur silently without user intervention.
Basically, because of security settings, any time you download a file, the browser will make sure the user actually wants to save the file. Browsers don't really differentiate JavaScript on your computer and JavaScript from a web server. The only difference is how the browser accesses the file, so storing the page locally will not make a difference.
Workarounds:
However, you could just store the innerHTML of the <div> in a cookie. When the user gets back, you can load it back from the cookie. Although it isn't exactly saving the file to the user's computer, it should have the same effect as overwriting the file. When the user gets back, they will see what they entered the last time. The disadvantage is that, if the user clears their website data, their information will be lost. Since ignoring a user's request to clear local storage is also a security problem, there really is no way around it.
However, you could also do the following:
Use a Java applet
Use some other kind of applet
Create a desktop (non-Web based) application
Just remember to save the file when you clear your website data. You can create an alert that pops up and reminds you, or even opens the save window for you, when you exit the page.
Using cookies: You can use JavaScript cookies on a local page. Just put this in a file and open it in your browser:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<p id="timesVisited"></p>
<script type="text/javascript">
var timesVisited = parseInt(document.cookie.split("=")[1]);
if (isNaN(timesVisited)) timesVisited = 0;
timesVisited++;
document.cookie = "timesVisited=" + timesVisited;
document.getElementById("timesVisited").innerHTML = "You ran this snippet " + timesVisited + " times.";
</script>
</body>
</html>
Chromium's File System Access API (introduced in 2019)
There's a relatively new, non-standard File System Access API (not to be confused with the earlier File and Directory Entries API or the File System API). It looks like it was introduced in 2019/2020 in Chromium/Chrome, and doesn't have support in Firefox or Safari.
When using this API, a locally opened page can open/save other local files and use the files' data in the page. It does require initial permission to save, but while the user is on the page, subsequent saves of specific files do so 'silently'. A user can also grant permission to a specific directory, in which subsequent reads and writes to that directory don't require approval. Approval is needed again after the user closes all the tabs to the web page and reopens the page.
You can read more about this newish API at https://web.dev/file-system-access/. It's meant to be used to make more powerful web applications.
A few things to note about it:
By default, it requires a secure context to run. Running it on https, localhost, or through file:// should work.
You can get a file handle from dragging and dropping a file by using DataTransferItem.getAsFileSystemHandle
Initially reading or saving a file requires user approval and can only be initiated via a user interaction. After that, subsequent reads and saves don't need approval, until the site is opened again.
Handles to files can be saved in the page (so if you were editing 'path/to/file.html', and reload the page, it would be able to have a reference to the file). They can't seemingly be stringified, so are stored through something like IndexedDB (see this answer for more info). Using stored handles to read/write requires user interaction and user approval.
Here are some simple examples. They don't seem to run in a cross-domain iframe, so you probably need to save them as an html file and open them up in Chrome/Chromium.
Opening and Saving, with Drag and Drop (no external libraries):
<body>
<div><button id="open">Open</button><button id="save">Save</button></div>
<textarea id="editor" rows=10 cols=40></textarea>
<script>
let openButton = document.getElementById('open');
let saveButton = document.getElementById('save');
let editor = document.getElementById('editor');
let fileHandle;
async function openFile() {
try {
[fileHandle] = await window.showOpenFilePicker();
await restoreFromFile(fileHandle);
} catch (e) {
// might be user canceled
}
}
async function restoreFromFile() {
let file = await fileHandle.getFile();
let text = await file.text();
editor.value = text;
}
async function saveFile() {
var saveValue = editor.value;
if (!fileHandle) {
try {
fileHandle = await window.showSaveFilePicker();
} catch (e) {
// might be user canceled
}
}
if (!fileHandle || !await verifyPermissions(fileHandle)) {
return;
}
let writableStream = await fileHandle.createWritable();
await writableStream.write(saveValue);
await writableStream.close();
}
async function verifyPermissions(handle) {
if (await handle.queryPermission({ mode: 'readwrite' }) === 'granted') {
return true;
}
if (await handle.requestPermission({ mode: 'readwrite' }) === 'granted') {
return true;
}
return false;
}
document.body.addEventListener('dragover', function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
});
document.body.addEventListener('drop', async function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
for (const item of e.dataTransfer.items) {
if (item.kind === 'file') {
let entry = await item.getAsFileSystemHandle();
if (entry.kind === 'file') {
fileHandle = entry;
restoreFromFile();
} else if (entry.kind === 'directory') {
// handle directory
}
}
}
});
openButton.addEventListener('click', openFile);
saveButton.addEventListener('click', saveFile);
</script>
</body>
Storing and Retrieving a File Handle using idb-keyval:
Storing file handles can be tricky, since they can't be unstringified, though apparently they can be used with IndexedDB and mostly with history.state. For this example we'll use idb-keyval to access IndexedDB to store a file handle. To see it work, open or save a file, and then reload the page and press the 'Restore' button. This example uses some code from https://stackoverflow.com/a/65938910/.
<body>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/idb-keyval#6.1.0/dist/umd.js"></script>
<div><button id="restore" style="display:none">Restore</button><button id="open">Open</button><button id="save">Save</button></div>
<textarea id="editor" rows=10 cols=40></textarea>
<script>
let restoreButton = document.getElementById('restore');
let openButton = document.getElementById('open');
let saveButton = document.getElementById('save');
let editor = document.getElementById('editor');
let fileHandle;
async function openFile() {
try {
[fileHandle] = await window.showOpenFilePicker();
await restoreFromFile(fileHandle);
} catch (e) {
// might be user canceled
}
}
async function restoreFromFile() {
let file = await fileHandle.getFile();
let text = await file.text();
await idbKeyval.set('file', fileHandle);
editor.value = text;
restoreButton.style.display = 'none';
}
async function saveFile() {
var saveValue = editor.value;
if (!fileHandle) {
try {
fileHandle = await window.showSaveFilePicker();
await idbKeyval.set('file', fileHandle);
} catch (e) {
// might be user canceled
}
}
if (!fileHandle || !await verifyPermissions(fileHandle)) {
return;
}
let writableStream = await fileHandle.createWritable();
await writableStream.write(saveValue);
await writableStream.close();
restoreButton.style.display = 'none';
}
async function verifyPermissions(handle) {
if (await handle.queryPermission({ mode: 'readwrite' }) === 'granted') {
return true;
}
if (await handle.requestPermission({ mode: 'readwrite' }) === 'granted') {
return true;
}
return false;
}
async function init() {
var previousFileHandle = await idbKeyval.get('file');
if (previousFileHandle) {
restoreButton.style.display = 'inline-block';
restoreButton.addEventListener('click', async function (e) {
if (await verifyPermissions(previousFileHandle)) {
fileHandle = previousFileHandle;
await restoreFromFile();
}
});
}
document.body.addEventListener('dragover', function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
});
document.body.addEventListener('drop', async function (e) {
e.preventDefault();
for (const item of e.dataTransfer.items) {
console.log(item);
if (item.kind === 'file') {
let entry = await item.getAsFileSystemHandle();
if (entry.kind === 'file') {
fileHandle = entry;
restoreFromFile();
} else if (entry.kind === 'directory') {
// handle directory
}
}
}
});
openButton.addEventListener('click', openFile);
saveButton.addEventListener('click', saveFile);
}
init();
</script>
</body>
Additional Notes
Firefox and Safari support seems to be unlikely, at least in the near term. See https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/154 and https://lists.webkit.org/pipermail/webkit-dev/2020-August/031362.html
Yes, it's possible.
In your example, you are already using ContentEditable and most of tutorials for that attribute have some sort of localStrorage example, ie. http://www.html5tuts.co.uk/demos/localstorage/
On page load, script should check localStorage for data and if true, populate element. Any changes in content could be saved in localStorage when clicking save button (or automatically, in linked example, using blur and focus). Additionally you can use this snippet to check weather user is online or offline and based on state modify your logic:
// check if online/offline
// http://www.kirupa.com/html5/check_if_internet_connection_exists_in_javascript.htm
function doesConnectionExist() {
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
var file = "http://www.yoursite.com/somefile.png";
var randomNum = Math.round(Math.random() * 10000);
xhr.open('HEAD', file + "?rand=" + randomNum, false);
try {
xhr.send();
if (xhr.status >= 200 && xhr.status < 304) {
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
} catch (e) {
return false;
}
}
EDIT: More advance version of localStorage is Mozilla localForage which allows storing other types of data besides strings.
You could save files, and make it persistent using the FileSystem-API and webkit. You would have to use a chrome browser and it is not a standards technology but I think it does exactly what you want it to do. Here is a great tutorial to show how to do just that http://www.noupe.com/design/html5-filesystem-api-create-files-store-locally-using-javascript-webkit.html
And to show that its on topic it starts off showing you how to make the file save persistent...
window.webkitRequestFileSystem(window.PERSISTENT , 1024*1024, SaveDatFileBro);
Convert your HTML content to a data uri string, and set as href attribute of an anchor element. Don't forget to specify a filename as download attribute.
Here's a simple example:
<a>click to download</a>
<script>
var anchor = document.querySelector('a');
anchor.setAttribute('download', 'example.html');
anchor.setAttribute('href', 'data:text/html;charset=UTF-8,<p>asdf</p>');
</script>
Just try it in your browser, no server required.
Have a look into this :)
Download File Using Javascript/jQuery
there should be everything you need. If you still need help or it's not the solution you need, tell me ;)
Yes, it is possible. Proof by example:
TiddlyFox: allows modification of local files via an add-on. (source code) (extension page):
TiddlyFox is an extension for Mozilla Firefox that enables TiddlyWiki
to save changes directly to the file system.
Todo.html: An HTML file that saves edits to itself. Currently, it only works in Internet Explorer and you have to confirm some security dialogs when first opening the file. (source code) (functional demo).
Steps to confirm todo.html actually saves changes to itself locally:
Save todo.html to local harddrive
Open with Internet Explorer. Accept all the security dialogs.
Type command todo add TEST (todo.html emulates the command-line interface of todo.txt-CLI)
Inspect todo.html file for addition of 'TEST'
Caveats: there is no cross-platform method. I'm not sure how much longer these methods will exist. When I first started my todo.html project, there was a jQuery plugin called twFile that allowed cross-browser loading/saving of local files using four different methods (ActiveX, Mozilla XUL, Java applet, Java Live Connect). Except for ActiveX, browsers have disallowed all these methods due to security concerns.
If you are fine with your code running outside of the scope of your default browser, and you are fine with windows only support, HTAs meet the silently save without prompts requirement easily.
The below code doesn't use many HTA specific features but it does still use microsoft specific stuff like ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").
<html>
<head>
<title>Simple Notepad</title>
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9">
<script>
document.addEventListener('keydown', function (event) {
if (event.ctrlKey) {
if (event.key == 's') {
var FSo = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
//see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/language/reference/user-interface-help/opentextfile-method
var thisFile = FSo.OpenTextFile(window.location.pathname, 2, true, -1);
thisFile.Write(document.getElementsByTagName("html")[0].outerHTML);
thisFile.Close();
// Comment out the below alert to get truly silent saving.
alert('Saved Successfully');
if (event.preventDefault) event.preventDefault();
return false;
}
}
}, false);
</script>
</head>
<body contentEditable="true">
<h1>Press <kbd>CTRL + S</kbd> To Save</h1>
</body>
</html>
It also isn't a very rich editing experience but that can be fixed with some more buttons or keyboard shortcuts I think. Like CTRL + B to embolden selected text. It doesn't have any safety checks as of yet, but binding an event handler to beforeunload should prevent any data loss caused by accidentally closing the program.
HTA's do have other disadvantages too. They don't support ES6 (though transpiling is an option).
Although it is a bit dated, If you're not trying to use modern web features, I think you'll agree that it is very functional and usable.
Edit
I forgot to mention, but HTAs have to be saved with the .hta file extension for mshta.exe to be registered as their file type handler. Which is needed so that you can double click it in windows explorer to open it easily.
See also
Introduction to HTML Applications on MSDN
HTML Applications reference on MSDN
I think it's important to clarify the difference between server and client in this context.
Client/server is a program relationship in which one program (the client) requests a service or resource from another program (the server).
Source: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/client-server
I'm not sure you'll find too many advanced applications that don't have at least one server/client relationship. It is somewhat misleading to ask to achieve this without any server, because any time your program speaks to another program, it is a client/server relationship, with the requester being the client and the response coming from the server. This is even if you are working locally. When you want to do something outside of the scope of the browser, you need a hook in a server.
Now, that does not mean you can't achieve this without a server-side specific language. For example, this solution uses NodeJS for the server. WinJS has WinJS.xhr, which uses XmlHttpRequest to serve data to the server.
AJAX seeks to offer the same sort of functions. The point here is that whether you have a program or there is some sort of hook pre-built, when you issue a command like "save file" and the file actually gets saved, there is a program on the other side that is parsing it, whether it's a server-side language or something else, meaning you can't possibly have something like this function without a server to receive the request.
Just use https://github.com/firebase/firepad — See it in action
This doesn’t need a server on your computer, it will reach out and save the data remotely.
Use jsPDF -> https://github.com/MrRio/jsPDF
<div id="content">
<h3>Hello, this is a H3 tag</h3>
<p>a pararaph</p>
</div>
<div id="editor"></div>
<button id="cmd">generate PDF</button>
Javascript
var doc = new jsPDF();
var specialElementHandlers = {
'#editor': function (element, renderer) {
return true;
}
};
$('#cmd').click(function () {
doc.fromHTML($('#content').html(), 15, 15, {
'width': 170,
'elementHandlers': specialElementHandlers
});
doc.save('sample-file.pdf');
});
This is an example for those who want to know how to use the localStorage.
<div id="divInput" contenteditable="true" style="height:200px;border: 2px solid blue">
Content editable - edit me and save!
</div>
<button onclick="onSave()">Save</button>
<button onclick="onLoad()">Load</button>
<script>
config = {
localStorageItemName: "demo",
datetimeFormat: {
year: 'numeric',
month: '2-digit',
day: '2-digit',
hour: '2-digit',
hour12: false,
minute: '2-digit',
second: '2-digit'
}
}
function Now() {
return new Date().toLocaleString("zh-TW", config.datetimeFormat)
}
const errMap = {
IsEmptyError: new Error('is empty'),
LengthError: new Error('length = 0')
}
/**
* #param {string} itemName
* #return {Object}
* */
function getLocalStorageItem(itemName) {
const dbDataString = localStorage.getItem(itemName)
if (dbDataString === null) {
throw errMap.IsEmptyError
}
const db = JSON.parse(dbDataString)
if (Object.keys(db).length === 0) {
throw errMap.LengthError
}
return db
}
function onSave() {
const inputValue = document.querySelector(`#divInput`).textContent
try {
const db = getLocalStorageItem(config.localStorageItemName)
db.msg = inputValue
db.lastModTime = Now()
localStorage.setItem(config.localStorageItemName, JSON.stringify(db))
console.log("save OK!")
} catch (err) {
switch (err) {
case errMap.IsEmptyError:
console.info("new localStorageItemName")
localStorage.setItem(config.localStorageItemName,
JSON.stringify({msg: inputValue, createTime: Now()})
)
break
/*
case ...
break
*/
default:
console.error(err.message)
}
}
}
function onLoad(e) {
try {
const db = getLocalStorageItem(config.localStorageItemName)
console.log("load")
document.querySelector(`#divInput`).textContent = db.msg
} catch (err) {
return
}
}
(()=>{
window.onload = () => (
onLoad()
)
})()
</script>
It is written in pure javascript with no dependencies.

firebreath chrome extension: form saver

I have coded a browser helper object in C# for IE, and would like to wrap up that code to implement a chrome/firefox extension. My research led me to Firebreath. I am now loading a content_script file which will fire an onSubmit event and send a message to backgound.htm,js files which handles my firebreath plugin. However, sure enough, m_host now points to the background htm file rather than the original website (from which the user pressed submit button). I tried replacing the html code form the native plugin, but it is not working..
test setup:
content_script:
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () {
alert(document.forms.length);
for (var i = 0; i < document.forms.length; i++) {
document.forms[i].addEventListener("submit", function () {
var documentHTML = "<html>" + document.documentElement.innerHTML + "</html>";
chrome.runtime.sendMessage({ inputElement: documentHTML }, function (response) { }); }); } });
background.js:
chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener(
function (request, sender, sendResponse) {
document.getElementById('plugin0').sethtml(request.inputElement); });
firebreath code:
void coolnewtestpluginAPI::setInnerHTML(const FB::variant& innerHTML)
{
m_host->getDOMDocument()->setInnerHTML(innerHTML.convert_cast<std::string>());
}
The native plugin is being called, and I can debug through it. "setInnerHTML()" returns successfully without any errors, but the html code is not being updated, and refers to the original background.htm file. Any ideas?
PS: I'm not that fluent in javascript, so I'd rather offload as much as possible to c# / c++
The only way to put an NPAPI/FireBreath plugin into the actual page is to inject the object tag into that page using javascript from the extension. Otherwise the plugin will know nothing about that page.

Can javascript access a filesystem? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
Local file access with JavaScript
(14 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I was pretty sure the answer was NO, and hence google gears, adobe AIR, etc.
If I was right, then how does http://tiddlywiki.com work? It is persistent and written in javascript. It is also just a single HTML file that has no external (serverside) dependencies. WTF? Where/how does it store its state?
Tiddlywiki has several methods of saving data, depending on which browser is used. As you could see in the source.
If ActiveX is enabled, it uses Scripting.FileSystemObject.
On Gecko-based browsers, it tries to use UniversalXPConnect.
If Java is enabled, it uses the TiddlySaver Java applet.
If Java LiveConnect is enabled, it tries to use Java's file classes.
HTML5's File[1], FileWriter[2], and FileSystem[3] APIs are available in the latest Developer channel of Google Chrome. The FileSystem API lets you read/write to a sandbox filesystem within a space the browser knows about. You cannot, for example, open 'My Pictures' folder on the user's local FS and read/write to that. That's something in the works, but it won't be ready for a while. Example of writing a file:
window.requestFileSystem(
TEMPORARY, // persistent vs. temporary storage
1024 * 1024, // 1MB. Size (bytes) of needed space
initFs, // success callback
opt_errorHandler // opt. error callback, denial of access
);
function initFs(fs) {
fs.root.getFile('logFile.txt', {create: true}, function(fileEntry) {
fileEntry.createWriter(function(writer) { // FileWriter
writer.onwrite = function(e) {
console.log('Write completed.');
};
writer.onerror = function(e) {
console.log('Write failed: ' + e.toString());
};
var bb = new BlobBuilder();
bb.append('Lorem ipsum');
writer.write(bb.getBlob('text/plain'));
}, errorHandler);
}
}
Check out this HTML5 Storage slide deck for more code snippets.
It uses a java file references like this:
drivers.tiddlySaver = {
name: "tiddlySaver",
deferredInit: function() {
if(!document.applets["TiddlySaver"] && !$.browser.mozilla && !$.browser.msie && document.location.toString().substr(0,5) == "file:") {
$(document.body).append("<applet style='position:absolute;left:-1px' name='TiddlySaver' code='TiddlySaver.class' archive='TiddlySaver.jar' width='1'height='1'></applet>");
}
},
isAvailable: function() {
return !!document.applets["TiddlySaver"];
},
loadFile: function(filePath) {
var r;
try {
if(document.applets["TiddlySaver"]) {
r = document.applets["TiddlySaver"].loadFile(javaUrlToFilename(filePath),"UTF-8");
return (r === undefined || r === null) ? null : String(r);
}
} catch(ex) {
}
return null;
},
saveFile: function(filePath,content) {
try {
if(document.applets["TiddlySaver"])
return document.applets["TiddlySaver"].saveFile(javaUrlToFilename(filePath),"UTF-8",content);
} catch(ex) {
}
return null;
}
}
Technically you can do
netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege('UniversalBrowserWrite');
in a netscape-compatible browser (Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape), and it will ask the user* whether or not to allow filesystem access, but this is not portable.
*once per browser process
Can javascript access a filesystem?
Not outside of the sandbox area mentioned above, to the best of my knowledge. However, it can access a signed java applet that has callable public methods which can get to all files. I have done it and it works fine and is cross browser.
The signing part is somewhat involved and for professional use you might need to pay for a code signing certificate which authorises your identity. Get it from some place like Verisign. That way users at least know who the applet is written by (if that helps). You can sign it yourself for free but one of those "possible security risk" popups will occur at first use for authorisation by the user.
You would think that such signed applets for file writing would exist already for download but I couldn't find any via searching. If they did, you could just plug it in your page, learn the API and off you go.
The answer is indeed NO. Java applets, and the dreaded ActiveX plugins are usually used if this is required

Categories