I'm sure I'm not the first and I'm sure I wont be the last but I would like to voice my dislike of Flex's handling of accessing the local file system.
As we are all aware Flex uses the Sandbox to restrict data access to and from .swf files. Which is entirely a good idea to stop Flash Player being used for maliciously purposes and to ensure Adobe isnt finger-pointed in such an event. However I have to question the stone-wall denial of remote .swf from accessing files on the local file system. Considering Flex is such a multimedia heavy-weight & considering its an Application development platform, stopping me from accessing users files (particularly images) just seem crazy. If anyone needs a good reason why this is so import I have a good one: modern digital cameras. Flex applications can load user's images but they have to be uploaded to the server and downloaded again to access them. This, while annoying, was manageable in the past few years (Flash & flex). The problem now is modern digital camera producing 5-6-7-8 mega byte images. This combined with the plummeting cost of memory cards means there is no end or plateau in sight. The options? Well it is not particularly feasible to upload images of this size even on a large bandwidth internet connection and it is not particularly practical or easy to ask/instruct a user to resize the image either. Ideally I would like to have access to the images on the local drive, compress them into a manageable size using the jpgEncoder found in Adobe's <http://I%27m%20sure%20I%27m%20not%20the%20first%20and%20I%27m%20sure%20\ I%20wont%20be%20the%20last%20but%20I%20would%20like%20to%20voice%20my%20\ dislike%20of%20Flex%27s%20handling%20of%20access%20local%20files.> coreLib <http://I%27m%20sure%20I%27m%20not%20the%20first%20and%20I%27m%20sure%20\ I%20wont%20be%20the%20last%20but%20I%20would%20like%20to%20voice%20my%20\ dislike%20of%20Flex%27s%20handling%20of%20access%20local%20files.> then upload to server. I already have a sample application that can perform this and work in the development environment... I just need a door in the sandbox to make it work eveywhere else! :) I'm not suggesting for a second that we just lift the flood-gate and allow blanket access to the users files but surely... SURELY there is a better way of doing this then the current options. Why cannot the user give permission to access the file? Perhaps only allow local file access if it is an image that is trying to be accessed? What about security certificates? Users have to give permission to programs to access their computer all the time, so why not FP? I don't want anyone to explain the sandboxes and reasoning to me, I've read the docs. But can perhaps someone from Adobe offer a glimmer of hope that this is being addressed? Many Thanks, Russell Munro
