I have a web form that will upload a user-selected file. I need to get the icon file that is registered on the user's system for this file to upload it along with the uploaded file. How can I access a local file and extract its associated icon in the browser with JavaScript?
If this can be done, and you know how, thanks in advance.
You can't access local files of the user with JS. This is prevented by the security sandbox model of all browsers explained here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript#Security and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same_origin_policy.
But there is a way on Mozilla based browser, set netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege(”UniversalFileRead”) in about:config, see details here: http://cakebaker.wordpress.com/2006/03/29/file-upload-with-selenium/
In Firefox you can use the moz-icon://filename[?size] URI scheme.
For example: moz-icon://someDocument.pdf?size=32 will display a 32x32 pixel image for whatever image is registered on the user's system for the filename extension.