[whatwg] Forms: <input type=file> and directory tree picking

[Jonas Sicking]

On Oct 2, 2013 6:51 PM, "Glenn Maynard" <glenn at zewt.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 7:48 PM, Jonas Sicking <jonas at sicking.cc> wrote:
>>
>> Proposals for filesystem is just part of what we need. We also need a way
>>
>> to expose it through HtMLInputElement. And a way to allow not exposing
the
>> files through .files.
>
>
> Assuming for now that we need separate modes for files and directories,
I'd suggest <input type=directory>, which causes a directory picker to be
shown, doesn't populate .files at all, and adds an API entry point to
retrieve a filesystem.  If somebody suggests an implementable way to expose
UI that doesn't need to separate files and directories then we may want
something else, but that doesn't seem likely to me.
>
> (Implementations could still allow selecting individual files, or groups
of files, as long as it's exposed transparently as if they're files in a
directory.  So, something like type=filesystem might be a better name.)

The downside with this approach is that it doesn't work well on systems
that doesn't have a filesystem in the traditional sense though. Such as
most mobile platforms.

I'd rather extend <input type=file multiple> such that platforms that have
directories can expose those, and ones that don't just expose files.

And on platforms that have combined file-or-directory pickers can render a
single button, and platforms that use separate Widgets can render two
buttons.

Then we of course need to deal with pages that want to do their own
styling...

/ Jonas