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Google chrome rehost image extension
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I'm writing a Chrome Extension that automates downloading a file from one location and then uploading it to another. I've figured out how to do the download part using the HTML5 Filesystem API. However, I don't know how to then upload the file.
The issue is that the upload has to be done through a form using a "file" input element. I'd like to just tell the form where the file is located (I can get the location of the downloaded file from the Filesystem API). But I can't figure out a way of doing that programmatically.
Any ideas? Let me know if I can clarify anything!
EDIT: Another option is chrome.downloads extension API
EDIT: The File API looks promising (http://dev.w3.org/2006/webapi/FileAPI/). I also found this helpful: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/Using_FormData_Objects
So, this is the way I finally got it working. It's done in a Chrome extension. I don't think it's possible in a normal browser script, since the canvas.toDataURL function is used and will throw a security exception if the downloaded file is cross-origin. Anyway, here's a simplified version of how I did it. Luckily the files I'm downloading and uploading are images, so I can use the Image() class.
// load the image
var img = new Image();
img.src = "url to image";
// loaded
img.onload = function() {
// convert the image into a data url
var dataUrl = getImageDataUrl(this);
var blob = dataUrlToBlob(dataUrl);
// FormData will encapsulate the form, and understands blobs
var formData = new FormData();
// "image_name.png" can be whatever you want; it's what the
// host will see as the filename for this image (the host server
// that receives the posted form). it doesn't have to match the
// original filename, and can be arbitrary or not provided at all.
formData.append("file", blob, "image_name.png");
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
// upload
request.open("POST", "url to form");
request.send(formData);
};
// converts an image into a dataurl
function getImageDataUrl(img) {
// Create an empty canvas element
var canvas = document.createElement("canvas");
canvas.width = img.width;
canvas.height = img.height;
// Copy the image contents to the canvas
var ctx = canvas.getContext("2d");
ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0);
// NOTE: this will throw a cross-origin security exception
// if not done in an extension and if the image is cross-origin
return canvas.toDataURL("image/png");
}
// converts a dataurl into a blob
function dataUrlToBlob(dataUrl) {
var binary = atob(dataUrl.split(',')[1]);
var array = [];
for(var i = 0; i < binary.length; i++) {
array.push(binary.charCodeAt(i));
}
return new Blob([new Uint8Array(array)], {type: 'image/png'});
}
I don´t know if something like that exists, but you could dynamically create a form using Javascript, then updating the file input value and finally trigger the form's submit event.
