Is it possible to drag and drop from desktop (or filesystem) to an
AJAX application (or into a browser based application/plug-ins?  Is it
possible in a flash client.

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 05 Apr 2006 22:58 PDT

sundari...

From what I'm reading on the Adaptive Path website, the AJAX
engine is not contained within the browser, but rather, depends
on the initiation of a session when loading a website:

"Instead of loading a webpage, at the start of the session, the
 browser loads an Ajax engine ? written in JavaScript and usually
 tucked away in a hidden frame. This engine is responsible for
 both rendering the interface the user sees and communicating
 with the server on the user?s behalf."
http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php

Therefore dragging and dropping from the desktop or filesystem
would not load an AJAX engine, which depends on the website
itself to load it.

Since I'm relatively new to the topic, I won't post this as an
answer unless you indicate that you are as relatively confident
as I am with my interpretation.

Let me know your thoughts...

sublime1-ga

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Clarification of Question by sundari_haseena-ga on 09 Apr 2006 16:18 PDT

My question is after the AJAX engine has been loaded i.e. user has
already accessed an AJAX based application.

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 09 Apr 2006 16:51 PDT

As I understand it, based on the references I provided, the engine
mediates requests between the browser and the website, and would
only be responsive to links in the page, or, at best, from the site,
so that a shortcut on the hard drive (desktop, e.g.) which referenced
content on the website loading the AJAX engine might work, but other
filetypes would not produce the desired effect.

Flash, on the other hand, has an associated file extension, and the
Shockwave Flash engine resides on the user's computer, so an .swf
file can be made to open by default in the user's browser, though
I don't believe the association is made by default. I, personally,
have made that association on my computer, so that I can download
.swf files and click on them to play in my browser.

Let me know if this satisfies your interests...

sublime1-ga

My answer to your question is "it depends ...", depends on platform,
what type of object involved and very much depends on developer who
binds the code responding to "drag n drop" action. Do not
mis-understand me, I come with a soluton.

Depends on platform, application developer:
For OS like Windows XP and almost all Microsoft product is "drag n'
drop"-aware (this is why it's so popular). Of course there is some
other OS will support it as well, I'm not sure on this ... you find it
out.

Solution:
Well instead of using Flash to archieve this, I recommend to use a
normal browser ... more portable.

So how do I drag n' drop files from my local filesystem to a web
application? E.g: Use a frame to contain local file pointed to "file:"
and the other frame is the html area with javascript listening to the
"drag n' drop" event.

How do I archieve "Drag n' drop" mechanism in html?
Get a piece of javascript library from
http://www.walterzorn.com/dragdrop/dragdrop_e.htm.

So, with the help of AJAX and some server-side scripting
(PHP,.Net,Java Servlet, you named it) you will do the trick.

OK, I gave you the hints ... hopefully you can work your way out :)


By Avatar Ng
http://avatar21.superihost.com/
(Avatar's Blog - KLJUG)

Yes I forgot, what you got from the drag-n-drop action is probably the
"url string" of the file location.