Re: [OSCOM] drag-n-drop solutions for ajax

On May 4, 2005, at 4:28 PM, Oliver Crow wrote:

>
> I'm inspired by the discussion abut ajax + drag and drop to ask you  
> guys a question that has been percolating in the back of my mind  
> for a while. The javascript/ajax drag-and-drop solutions work well  
> for drag and drop between elements within the browser window.  They  
> don't solve the problem of how to drag and drop between  
> applications, or from the user's desktop, as far as I know.
>
> Has anyone found a good way to improve over the html <input  
> type="file"> control, for handling user file uploads?
>
> The drawbacks I see with the html control are that you can only  
> upload one file at a time, and that you can't drag-and-drop a file  
> onto the control (at least in IE or Firefox).  I would like to see  
> something web based that provides for more complex uploads.  For  
> exmaple, uploading several files, uploading an entire tree of files  
> (+ transmitting the tree structure), or even syncing a local tree  
> with a remote tree.
>
> I know that one can use FTP programs for these features but they  
> have some drawbacks.  The web application doesn't usually have  
> callback hooks in the FTP server to update server side databases  
> when new files are uploaded. Also, the FTP server doesn't usually  
> share the same authentication database as the CMS/web application.
>
> Has anyone built a custom uploader into a CMS?  What technologies  
> did you use?  Plugins?  Java?  Helper apps?  Are there any open  
> source programs to do file upload to web based applications?


WebDAV to the rescue!  :)

And a smart WebDAV repository could indeed have hooks back to the web  
application, and with AJAX polling frequently, the web page could  
update with some notification that files were just added.

I'm speaking entirely hypothetically.  I don't know whether such a  
system currently exists, but there is no technical reason it  
couldn't.  WebDAV doesn't address the drag-n-drop into the browser  
issue - rather you'd have a WebDAV-capable mounted drive on your  
system (Web Folders on Windows, webdavfs on Mac, etc) in conjunction  
with the web application in a browser.

     Erik


Sorry Oliver for the duplication... I got bit by the darn "reply"  
thing and sent only to you the first time :)