Any (or best) way to share data between desktop and browser/webapp?

Question

I am looking for a way to let the user expose some local data to an webapp. The idea is to have a webapplication that goes somethings (e.g. plots a chart, edits photos, etc...) using information directly from the desktop instead of requiring the user to upload the data.

While some of it might be possible with some technologies like Flash or other plugins, they all seem to suffer from a couple major flaws in this regards. For instance, most file upload dialogs will only accept a file at a time which can be problematic if the user wants to send (e.g.) 100 photos at a time. Afaik, all solutions would also make it impossible for the "shared" files to be persisted between sessions, so the user would have to resend all the files after leaving the application.

Anyhow, I know it's a long shot, but maybe HTML5 or something else has a way of implementing this in a standard and flexible way.

Answer 1

Security concerns make it very hard for applications within the browser to seamlessly access data on the user's hard drive.

And that is a Martha Stewart-level Good Thing.

Long story short, it isn't possible without using some sort of intermediary application. For examples, get an account with Flickr and install Uploadr (ugh). Another example would be to see how photoshop.com integrates a web application with a user's desktop. One more similar situation would be MS' web/desktop synchronization tool Live Sync.

Essentially, the user has to install an application that intelligently connects the web to the desktop. Exactly what it does depends on your requirements.