Is it possible to create something like Google Chrome's Workspaces in the browser?

Question

Is it possible to create something like Google Chrome's Workspaces, but with HTML5, Javascript or some other web based language?

I'm currently working on a web based ide, and I'm interested in implementing something similar to how Google Chrome handles local file editing. Basically asking the user for permission for accessing files in a particular directory that they select.

I've managed to open files that the user selects and show its content, but after editing there's no way to save it back to the same file, short of downloading it every time they save.

Is this possible with current technologies? or would I have to use something like Java?

Answer 1

The Achilles heel of your plan comes from a misunderstanding of the File System API. The most common misunderstanding about the File System API is that it might somehow give scripts direct read/write access to the client's local file system (e.g., C://whatever). As has been widely documented, including in the tag Wiki for HTML5-FileSystem here on Stackoverflow, "the File System API cannot directly access the local file system." The API provide access to a "virtual" file system, not the user's local file system. You cannot, therefore, use the File System API to "ask the user for permission for accessing files in a particular directory that they select," as you're seeking to do for your browser-based IDE project.