access to client-side files [was: Proposal to Adopt HTML5 -- procedural issue]

At 02:38 AM 4/11/2007, Cameron McCormack wrote:

>David Dailey:
>
> > >execCommand('SaveAs',false, '.txt') that was (is?) available in
> > >IE. About seven years ago I put together a little web app using VML
> > >(IE only) http://srufaculty.sru.edu/david.dailey/grapher/
>
>[...] For this particular case you could construct a data: URI and
>have the browser navigate to it, so that the user could then save the
>file you want.

data: URI is not yet available in IE (according to Wikipedia). If I 
follow you here, it means that if data: URI becomes a part of our 
standard web arsenal, then we can use it to allow users to store 
files client-side?

It is apparently covered by IETF RFC 2397. The only references in 
http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/ to either RFC 2397 
or data: URI seems to be in the <canvas> section of the document. If 
this is how users are to save their work, then I think we oughta make 
sure it's in the spec.

Ian Hixie wrote:
 >Why wouldn't you just provide a link to the file and let the user use the
browser's Save Page As feature?

If this is a different question than Cameron's, then the answer would 
be that it is because the content of the page is constructed by the 
user/visitor -- it's a graph drawing program. Save As saves the 
application, not the work done in the application.

I think the use case for allowing users to save content would pretty 
much apply to all situations where the user uses a web application to 
make stuff.

It would be fine with me to allow that to happen through data: URI -- 
that apparently circumvents some of the security risks, but the 
ability to read and write files client side seems like a fundamental 
requirement to me of "web application" development.

David

Received on Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:16:41 UTC