Resaving A Blob File In Java

Question

I have a web application in GWT and a complementary desktop client also written in Java (so the same solution basically applies to both). In my program users can attach files, then download them later or do whatever. These files are stored as blobs and can be in just about any format. Many of the users that use Excel and Word want to be able to open the file, make changes, then have those changes stored back in the attached file. In other words, need an inline editing of attachments.

Any ideas on how to make this happen? Should I have an 'edit' mode that keeps a file handler while the file is open, and then store that File handler? Some way keeping track of whether the file is changing, or not?

Answer 1

Sorry about the late response. Amol >> I have that going. I want to save directly back to a blob as if it were a filehandle. Thought that was clear in my question.

I have decided that this is almost impossible with a web application without writing some kind of client interface for each and every potential file type - word, excel, pdf, graphics, etc...