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How to allow users select a file, and store the client file path? I'm banging my head against the wall, so to speak. How on Earth should I be allowing users to select a file, and simply just store the full file path into the database? One annoyance in building web-based applications is the functionality of <input type="file">. The task I'm trying to do, is to simply allow users to browse and select a file, situated locally or within a network, then simply store the full path of that file into a database, without actually uploading the file. Annoyance 1: FF3's file input no longer includes the PATH in such field types. Annoyance 2: FF3's file input no longer allows manual input into such field types. Those two annoying issues were discussed here: http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.firefox/browse_thread/thread/7503208936a34955 BEFORE I bumped into the above issues, I was originally trying to apply this technique: http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/inputfile.html, which seemed to be a promising way for me to not only store the file path STRING and prevent file uploads, but also to style such file fields. Dang it, all I am trying to do is to store a STRING. How hard could that be? Any suggestions? Started By Terry Young on Sep 29, 2009 at 3:09:00 AM

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bod1467 on Sep 29, 2009 at 4:29:45 AM (# 6) Long-winded ... user opens Explorer, finds the file in question, then copies the path from the Explorer address bar into a form text field. User still has to type in the filename itself though. Sensible suggestion? Not a clue. :-( Terry Young on Sep 29, 2009 at 8:30:24 PM (# 7) This message has been edited. ~sigh~ ...and when it comes to web applications competing with desktop applications, issues like these depress me sometimes. I finally came up with a solution in FF3 now, a hint of the solution involves the following line: netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalXPConnect"); But that's not the experience we want to give to our users. I'm back to the drawing board, a DHTML solution doesn't seem to be future-proof now, and I'm open to Flash / .NET solutions. Terry Young on Sep 29, 2009 at 9:16:03 PM (# 8) I'm even open to building signed scripts and/or building Firefox add-ons just to allow this. Terry Young on Oct 7, 2009 at 7:15:42 PM (# 9) Ruled out Flash. Hacked a firefox add-on and tweaked it a bit to prove I could append the complete path of the client file onto the DOM. But then, I'm still seeking for a cross-browser, cross-platform solution. I'm turning to java applets (which I have never touched) Terry Young on Oct 8, 2009 at 7:37:07 AM (# 10) OK, I've found a Java Applet solution... (I'll leave some yummy crumbs for googlebot to pick up) http://www.maschek.hu/preview/ffx3_file/filepath.html http://devdaweb.blogspot.com/2008/09/get-file-path-in-firefox-3-revisited.html https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=405630#c40 If I could, I would propose new type attributes to the input tag: <input type="filepath"> <input type="directory"> which does NOT upload files, is always readonly, not writable, non-cross-domain, whilst still allowing us to just send valid client paths as strings. MHenke on Oct 29, 2009 at 2:16:29 AM (# 11) I introduce a hearty STFU to you. One is double, dumbass.

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