On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 10:52 AM, Andrew Grieve <agri...@chromium.org>wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 14, 2014 at 10:38 AM, Ian Clelland <iclell...@chromium.org>
> wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 9:16 PM, Andrew Grieve <agri...@chromium.org>
> wrote:
> >
> >> I think we need two things for transitioning to different PERSISTENT /
> >> TEMPORARY locations:
> >> 1. The ability for the user to retrieve the files at the old location
> >> (so they can be moved to the new location)
> >> 2. The ability to turn turn on the change with a switch (e.g.
> >> <preference name="IosUseLegacyFileSystemPath" value="true" />)
> >>
> >> I'd love for the default to be the new locations so that new apps
> >> don't forget to turn on the preference and find out they need to
> >> migrate later on.
> >>
> >
> > This is the really dangerous bit, though. If we make the default anything
> > but the current behaviour, then devs *will* update their plugins and
> push,
> > and users *will* lose the ability to access old saved files. We will
> > absolutely encounter the situation where developers test their app with
> > blank filesystems, and everything works fine, but data is rendered
> > inaccessible to users who upgrade from an old version. And I'm sure it'll
> > happen no matter how loudly we announce the change.
> >
> > I would sooner make the new plugin be "broken by default", so that the
> app
> > doesn't even start until you add a configuration preference, one way or
> the
> > other. Then we could recommend at that time, "if you have an existing app
> > with users, then use the old value; if this is a brand new app, use the
> new
> > one".
>
> I really like this idea!
>
> >
> > Also - the simpler our instructions can be, the better. I don't think
> >> most devs even realize that they are doing a foolish thing with the
> >> way things are set up right now, so telling them to configure their
> >> own paths might put too much of a burden on them (they'd have to learn
> >> where files should go, and then also figure out how our config syntax
> >> works).
> >>
> >
> > True. The simple case should be as simple as possible. Ideally, doing
> > nothing at all should get them some reasonable behaviour, compatible with
> > previous versions.
> >
> >
> >>
> >> The case of adding new FS roots is compelling, but I think most users
> >> would appreciate FS roots for content, assets, sdcard, etc to be
> >> pre-built-in rather than have to wire them up themselves.
> >>
> >
> > Agreed. Those ones should be available out-of-the-box, either as part of
> > File, or as part of a related plugin. (Leaning towards File, since it is
> > already providing content and assets filesystem URLs)
> >
> >
> >
> >> One thing that jumped out to me is the src= argument:
> >> <filesystem name="documents"
> >> type="local-filesystem"
> >> prefix="cdvfile://localhost/documents"
> >> src="Documents" />
> >>
> >> If the goal is for these to be customizable, then it's not that
> >> flexible to use pre-defined values in the src= argument. Perhaps
> >> instead of using config.xml, the File plugin could have a
> >> registerFileSystemRoot(name, type, prefix, rootPath) function that
> >> could be used for this purpose. That way plugins could compute their
> >> root paths and then call this function at plugin init time.
> >>
> >
> > That was mostly an off-the-top-of-my-head strawman for the format.
> However,
> > it does address the issue of how to specify "this filesystem lives at the
> > NSTemporaryDirectory location; that one lives at NSLibraryDirectory",
> > without having to know the real filesystem path for those things.
> >
> > I expected that the interpretation of something like a "src" attribute
> > would be very dependent on the filesystem type, and specialized to that
> > type, rather than representing an absolute device fs path.
>
> If the valid values here are pre-determined by the FS type, then I
> don't know why we'd have this configuration.
> Let's just expose all of the roots that the FS knows about. If we want
> to be able to toggle some on/off, then let's add a pref for
> "fs-type-whitelist" which is just a comma-separated-list.
>
>
A comma-separated list isn't so bad; in fact, given the call signature of
requestFileSystem, the *order* of items in that list may be the critical
thing. A CSL is certainly easier to shoehorn into our existing config
parsing than a whole block of XML, even if it's a bit uglier.
What about something shaped like
<preference name="filesystems" value="temporary,documents,assets,library" />
Then you could switch "documents" and "library" in the list, and you would
be storing files in the new position (by the definition of
window.PERSISTENT).
Ian
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Another thing that occurred to me (maybe off topic?): Why:
> >> cdvfile://localhost/documents
> >> instead of:
> >> cdvfile://documents/
> >> Looking at this URL-wise, I think it would be a nice-to-have to have
> >> the type encoded as the hostname so that root-relative URLs would work
> >> with the URLS.
> >>
> >
> > We discussed this at the Waterloo meetup, and there was definitely some
> > push for having the authority part in the URL be the real authority
> > (localhost), for consistent URL handling.
> >
> > Having the FS type be the authority would make some of the internal URL
> > parsing easier, but I don't know if it causes problems anywhere else.
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >> Could we get away with just two parameters to each FS root?
> >> 1. Name (use this to determine prefix as cdvfile://${name})
> >> 2. src (URI to be considered the root of the FS).
> >>
> >
> > Those are, internally, the parameters used by the "local filesystem" FS
> > type (i.e., not "content" or "assets library".) The actual device-FS
> root,
> > though, is currently determined at run time by the device, based on
> whether
> > it is the temporary or persistent FS.
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 4:29 PM, Ian Clelland <iclell...@chromium.org>
> >> wrote:
> >> > On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 3:21 PM, Jesse <purplecabb...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Will any of the following work?
> >> >>
> >> >> <img src="cdvfile://localhost/persistent/1.png"/>
> >> >>
> >> >> xhr.open("GET","cdvfile://localhost/persistent/data.txt");
> >> >>
> >> >> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
> >> >> href="cdvfile://localhost/persistent/style.css"/>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > If the new file plugin is installed, and the file exists, then the
> first
> >> > three of those should definitely work (assuming the default
> >> configuration).
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> <a href="cdvfile://localhost/temporary/site/temp.html"
> >> >> target="_blank">Review Site</a>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > I'm not sure about this -- haven't tried it. If it's doing navigation,
> >> then
> >> > I don't know how it plays with the fact that plugins get unloaded or
> >> reset
> >> > at some point.
> >> >
> >> > The in-app-browser version of this:
> >> >
> >> > window.open("cdvfile://localhost/temporary/site/temp.html", "_blank")
> >> >
> >> > should work just fine.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> @purplecabbage
> >> >> risingj.com
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 10:37 AM, Brian LeRoux <b...@brian.io> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > I am apprehensive about making this surface configurable. (I can
> live
> >> w/
> >> >> > our own protocol cdvfile:// personally).
> >> >> >
> >> >> > The main use case is being able to add custom storage providers in
> the
> >> >> > future?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > (Might be good to add this to the 'lets talk configuration'
> backlog /
> >> >> > meeting.)
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 7:32 AM, Ian Clelland <
> iclell...@chromium.org
> >> >> > >wrote:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > > The new File plugin is essentially ready, for iOS and Android
> (with,
> >> >> > > hopefully, no breaking changes for those or other platforms)
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > I had to move away from the "filesystem://" URL scheme -- on
> Android
> >> >> 4.4,
> >> >> > > that scheme appears to be special, and doesn't defer to
> >> >> > > WebView.shouldInterceptRequest(). (I filed
> >> >> > > https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=333395 on
> >> Friday
> >> >> > once
> >> >> > > I
> >> >> > > had isolated the problem.) For now, I've settled on "cdvfile://",
> >> but
> >> >> the
> >> >> > > issue is open to bikeshedding, I suppose.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > What I'd really like to open for discussion though, is the idea
> of
> >> >> making
> >> >> > > the whole plugin configuration, er, configurable.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > The URL scheme is one driving force behind this; the historical
> >> >> locations
> >> >> > > of the TEMPORARY and PERSISTENT filesystems is another; the new
> >> ability
> >> >> > to
> >> >> > > open up completely new filesystems is a third.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > I'm thinking of implementing a section in config.xml that would
> >> define
> >> >> > the
> >> >> > > names of the installed filesystems available to a Cordova app,
> along
> >> >> with
> >> >> > > their type, the URL prefix to use, and any other required details
> >> (like
> >> >> > > *where the files live*). Something like this:
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > <widget>
> >> >> > > <filesystems platform="android">
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="temporary" type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/temporary" src="cache" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="persistent" type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/persistent" src="Documents" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="content" type="content-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="content://" />
> >> >> > > </filesystems>
> >> >> > > </widget>
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > or
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > <widget>
> >> >> > > <feature name="File">
> >> >> > > <filesystems platform="android">
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="temporary" type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/temporary" src="cache" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="persistent" type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/persistent" src="Documents" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="content" type="content-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="content://" />
> >> >> > > </filesystems>
> >> >> > > </feature>
> >> >> > > </widget>
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > (The platform's defaults.xml, or whatever we're calling it these
> >> days,
> >> >> > > could specify the default mapping, so that devs could write
> >> >> > cross-platform
> >> >> > > apps without having to add this for every platform, or even at
> all,
> >> if
> >> >> > they
> >> >> > > don't care to change it)
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > I think that being this explicit will let us change the url
> scheme
> >> as
> >> >> > > needed (hopefully cdvfile won't need to change, but it would have
> >> if it
> >> >> > was
> >> >> > > still "filesystem"). It could eventually allow new FS plugins to
> be
> >> >> added
> >> >> > > to an app with this mechanism. And it would mean that we could
> roll
> >> >> out a
> >> >> > > default configuration that left the iOS files in their current
> >> >> locations:
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="temporary"
> >> >> > > type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/temporary"
> >> >> > > src="Temporary" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="persistent"
> >> >> > > type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/persistent"
> >> >> > > src="Documents" />
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > and then, in a later version, we could change the default for new
> >> >> > projects
> >> >> > > to
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="temporary"
> >> >> > > type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/temporary"
> >> >> > > src="Temporary" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="persistent"
> >> >> > > type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/persistent"
> >> >> > > src="Library" />
> >> >> > > <filesystem name="documents"
> >> >> > > type="local-filesystem"
> >> >> > > prefix="cdvfile://localhost/documents"
> >> >> > > src="Documents" />
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > and existing projects shouldn't see any change. And in the
> meantime,
> >> >> any
> >> >> > > dev who wanted to use the more sensible filesystem locations
> could
> >> just
> >> >> > > change their own config.xml.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > I'm going to take a stab at implementing this as described, but
> >> >> > discussion
> >> >> > > is certainly welcome before it goes out to the world. As multiple
> >> >> people
> >> >> > > have said, we need to get this right, and not hurt all of our
> >> existing
> >> >> > > devs.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Ian
> >> >> > >
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >>
>
