file access from javascript code

Question

I'm trying to access a text file using javascript code, but I keep receiving a security error message. What I'm trying to do is:

var file = File('path/filename.txt');

The path is relative to the script location. I found that running from local machine could be the reason for that, so I tried to run from my local webserver but the error is still there. Does someone know why? What can I do to load this text file? If possible, considering that it is always under the script path, could it be also loaded from local disk (no web server)?

Thank you.

Can you get to the file from the browser?

Skarlinski
– Skarlinski

2013-06-17 13:52:06 +00:00
Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 13:52 — Skarlinski
– Skarlinski, Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 13:52
yes, the file is accessible from the browser

chokito76
– chokito76

2013-06-17 14:08:00 +00:00
Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 14:08 — chokito76
– chokito76, Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 14:08

Laurent S. · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-17 14:13:11Z

1

If you're trying to access a file on the server, you should do it using a server side coding language like PhP. If you're trying to access a client file (= a file on the computer of your website visitor), ~~it's not possible for obvious security reasons~~ [EDIT] Thanks to Colin DeClue , I discovered this is possible using the HTML5 File API. An article explaining this is available here : http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/file/dndfiles/

edited Jun 17, 2013 at 14:13

answered Jun 17, 2013 at 13:52

Laurent S.

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2 Comments

Colin DeClue Over a year ago

If you're trying to access a client file (= a file on the computer of your website visitor), it's not possible for obvious security reasons.

Yes it is, in modern browsers. Read up on HTML5 File API.

Laurent S. Over a year ago

Indeed, I had overlooked that possibility. I will update my answer accordingly. Thanks for pointing this out, I will remember it for sure !

score 0 · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-17 19:56:52Z

0

Your snippet will attempt to load the file from your local file system, so can't retrieve a file from a server. You'd need to look at requestFileSystem or FileReader to make something like this work if the file is local.

Alternatively, you could use AJAX to retrieve the file from a server.

edited Jun 17, 2013 at 19:56

answered Jun 17, 2013 at 13:55

user1864610

4 Comments

chokito76 Over a year ago

How could I load it using FileReader? The file to load is chosen from user interaction: in this case I want to load a subtitle text file based on a video source.

user1864610 Over a year ago

You'll find documentation here and a tutorial here

Colin DeClue Over a year ago

This answer seems like it could imply that you could use requestFileSystem or FileReaser to read files from the server. That's not the case. Those just make reading files from the user's local file system easier. If you need to read from the server, you need server side code.

user1864610 Over a year ago

@ColinDeClue Wording tweaked to clarify.

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