javascript, xhtml, or flash to upload a file FROM a specific folder on a client machine?

Question

We have a web application where users often export files from a 3rd party system, and import them into our web app. The 3rd party systems always drops the files in the exact same location (different for each client) ... so we'd like to create a method so that they don't need to browse to the folder.

Is there a way we can do this? I don't want to auto-select the file (I realize this is a security hole), but rather have the Open File dialog pop up to a given file (or just a given folder). We can use either javascript or flash (such as swfupload or uploadify) ... we just want to make sure clients don't need to manually navigate to bizarre paths such as "e:\\h375data\\system\\export\\client\\3801\\healthrecs.dat" every week, it would drive them mad.

Answer 1

Sorry, but no. Same security reasons. Plus, both Flash and browser based file navigation are going to default to the last place the user uploaded from, which may not have been your site or file.

You may be able to do this via java or silverlight, but only after the user grants file system permissions by way of a security dialog each time.