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31

Access Local Files with Local Javascript

rated 0 times [ 36] [ 5] / answers: 1 / hits: 18247 / 15 Years ago, mon, december 14, 2009, 12:00:00

Based on the other answers on this site, I already feel like I know the answer to this question, but, as it's slightly different, I wanted to ask.

Is it possible to access local files from JavaScript that is running locally on the machine (AKA, my website address will be file:///C:/...)? Or, is this sandboxed as well?

What I am trying to do: I have a standalone computer that I want people to be able to drop in JSON or XML files into a local folder which are read in at the creation of the site and used to generate a single web page. If the JavaScript solution is not possible, can you provide any other suggestions?

Thank you.

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lailab

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answered 15 Years ago maya · Accepted Answer

A webpage can read any file on the same server as it was loaded from (this is the cross-site policy of JavaScript). That means that the page file:///C:/mywebsite/index.html can read the file file://C:/somedir/somefile.xml. To read this file, either use ajax, load it in an iFrame or load it as a javascript or css file.

Several browsers support custom methods for loading local file (and other interesting things), IE has activeX and Firefox has XPCOM.