WICG / file-system-access

Expose the file system on the user’s device, so Web apps can interoperate with the user’s native applications.
https://wicg.github.io/file-system-access/
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Hybrid picker returning both file and parent folder handles #386

Open jan-tosovsky-cz opened 2 years ago

jan-tosovsky-cz commented 2 years ago

I need to upload the entire folder to the remote server, but also specify the path to the main file (used as a starting point in further processing). Imagine the folder with multiple documents sharing the same resources stored in subfolders.

Now I use a desktop app: once one of the documents in the folder is selected, the parent folder can be determined easily (as there are no security restrictions) so I have it all in one step.

To avoid degrading the user experience I haven't migrated to the web app yet. Currently, it would not only require two steps, but also a more complex UI. After picking the folder all the files in the root folder would have to be listed, complemented with e.g. radio buttons, and the desired one then selected. In some projects there are tens of files so picking the correct one can be challenging.

So my proposal is to offer some kind of hybrid picker, the same as a File picker, but returning not only the File handle but also the Parent folder handle. To let users know, there could be some warning message in such a picker dialog that parent folder info will be passed together with the selected file. Handles would be returned as an array with two items.