[whatwg] Proposal to drag virtual file out of browser

[Sebastian Markbåge]

> Also, would it be possible to hook browser-produced data into this model,
> so client-generated data (f ex text, html, pdf) could be dragged out as a
> virtual file to the desktop?


You could also extend the File API to allow for user created instances of
FileData objects. This would be comparable to Java's Blob and Clob API.
Each "blob" could represent either a local file, http file, ftp file, in
memory data or lazy client-generated data. This is all unknown to the target
and it's very extensible.

Of course you could also create a data URL but you'd have to base64 encode
it and keep the whole file in memory.

The key to having a "blob" API is the lazy nature of it. Of course a "blob"
would only be living as long as the source document is still able to
generate the content on-demand.

(Here's some semi-relevant info on this pattern in the context of
DDD<http://blog.calyptus.eu/seb/2009/03/large-object-storage-for-nhibernate-and-ddd-part-1-blobs-clobs-and-xlobs/>
.)

I'm not sure I like this though because the complexity involved compared to
a "DownloadURL"-format. But there is a need to be able to do this with
client-generated data as well.

Sebastian Markbåge

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 10:31 AM, Mike Wilson <mikewse at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  Sounds interesting!
> You only mention a singular file, what do you think about multiple files?
>
> Also, would it be possible to hook browser-produced data into this model,
> so client-generated data (f ex text, html, pdf) could be dragged out as a
> virtual file to the desktop?
>
> Best regards
> Mike Wilson
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org [mailto:
> whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org] *On Behalf Of *Jian Li
> *Sent:* den 18 augusti 2009 03:03
> *To:* whatwg at lists.whatwg.org
> *Subject:* [whatwg] Proposal to drag virtual file out of browser
>
>  SUMMARY
>
> The HTML 5 spec defines the event-based drag-and-drop mechanism that could
> cross the browser boundary. If a draggable element contains a URL, dragging
> it out of the browser will only copy the URL value. However, in some
> scenarios, we really want to download the data file from the specified URL,
> instead of copying the value. Here we propose a way to allow dragging a
> virtual file denoted by an URL out of the browser boundary.
>
> USE CASES
>
> In order to download the attachment from an Internet mail application, the
> user will have to click the attachment link and a "save" dialog will pop up
> to let the user select the destination folder. This will normally involves
> multiple clicks. Native application, like Outlook, can let the user drag
> attachments directly into the destination place, i.e. desktop, which is
> really convenient.
>
> WORKAROUNDS
>
> Currently there is no direct support in HTML 5 to support such dragging of
> the virtual file. To work around this, a plugin with such capability has to
> be installed and used.
>
> PROPOSAL
>
>  We propose adding a specific format string to the DataTransfer object:
> "DownloadURL". The data associated with the "DownloadURL" format should be
> parsed similar to the "URL" format. When the drag ends in another
> application, the remote file described in the associated data URL should be
> downloaded and provided to the target application.
>
> For example, here's how one can create a draggable image that results in a
> file when dragged:
>
> var dragTarget = document.createElement("img");
> dragTarget.src = "http://example.com/example-attachment.gif";
> document.body.insertBefore(dragTarget, document.body.firstChild);
> dragTarget.addEventListener("dragstart", function(event) {
>   event.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", "
> http://example.com/example-download-attachment");
> }, false);
>
>  Traditionally allowing the non-image file to be dragged out of the
> browser is considered bad. The main danger here is that the user might
> unknowingly drag a file that will auto-execute. To address this issue, the
> browser needs to mark the dragged file to indicate that it is coming from
> the Internet. With this zone marker, the user will be prompted with a
> security warning dialog when the dropped file is launched. If a specific
> platform does not support zone identifier marker, this feature should be
> turned off by default.
>
> We should consider allowing only http and https typed URL in the associated
> data for the "DownloadURL" format. Should we further restrict the download
> URL to the same origin?
>
> If the filename is provided in the Content-Disposition header, it should
> always be used. Otherwise, it is up to the browser to decide how the
> filename is generated from the URL. But once it is chosen, it cannot be
> changed.
>
> The drag-and-drop feedback might be decorated with the filename and the
> domain from which the file is downloaded. However, the real filename might
> be only available when we initiate the download and get back the response
> header. To address this, we can download the response header after the drag
> is initiated and then update the feedback image based on the filename
> retrieved from the Content-Disposition header. This might not be possible
> for certain platform because changing the drag meta-data might not be
> allowed.
>
>
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