Re: File Upload: Outstanding Issues

jern@spaceaix.jhuapl.edu
Tue, 18 Oct 1994 12:12:30 -0500 (EDT)


I thought my mail box was broken then someone reminded me of the web
conference in Chicago. We who aren't there have a moral obligation to
clutter the mailboxes of those who are. :)

> 2) I can see two distinct scenarios for file uploads. The first is when the
> user knows the filename (perhaps having copied it to their window system's
> clipboard), so they just want to give the widget the filename. The other
> scenario is when the exact filename or filenames are not known or easily
> remembered, so a "file open"-type dialog box would be of immense help. The
> Microsoft Windows Visual C++ tool has a reasonable dialog box for the second
> scenario in its project (collection of files) management toolset. These
> scenarios imply to me a widget like (in character GUI form):
>
> +-------------------------+ +---------+
> File(s): | | | Open... |
> +-------------------------+ +---------+
> (a) (b) (c)
>
I agree with this but does it belong in the browser? The document
can have a link to an application helper, written in VB or Applescript or
perl, that would handle the task. We've been working with this
concept for our MIS application. The use of the http protocol
outside the standard server/browsers programs hasn't been discussed
much here. For database applications integrated with the web, we've
found that writing mini-webclient modules for Excel is a hit with
users. With implementors too because we don't have to write
input form for users.

bob (not in chicago) jernigan