Develop Reference

How do I open and display a base64 pdf from inside my Cordova App?

I am creating an App for Android using Cordova, and I would like to open and display a file (PDF or image) that is served from the server as Base64-encoded binary data.
Of course I have read the multiple other posts on the subject that already exist on this website, but none of the proposed solutions have worked for me, more details below.
To be more precise, the server sends a JSON-file to the app, which among many other things contains a string consisting of the base64-encoded contents of a PDF file. I want to convert this data back into the represented PDF and display it to the user.
If this were a pure browser page, I would simply package my base64 data into a data-URL, attach this as the href of some anchor, and add a download-attribute. Optionally I could wrap all of my data into a blob and create an object url for that first.
In Cordova, this does not work. Clicking the <a> does nothing. Here is what I have attempted so far:
Using the file plugin, I can write the binary data to a file on the device. This works, and using a terminal I can see that the file was downloaded correctly, but into an app-private directory which I cannot access normally (e.g. through the file explorer).
Accessing the user's "downloads" folder is blocked by the file system
Using window.open with the file path as the first argument and "_system" as the target does nothing. There is no error but also nothing happens. Setting the target to "_blank" instead, I get an error saying ACCESS_DENIED.
Using cordova.InAppBrowser behaves the same was as window.open
With the plugin file-opener2 installed, the app will not compile, because the plugin is looking for an android4 toolchain, and I am building for android 9 and up
The plugin document-viewer (restricting to PDFs for the time being) suffers the same problem and does not compile.
Passing the data-URI to window.open (or cordova.InAppBrowser) directly loads for a very long time and eventually tells me that the desired page could not be loaded.
The PDF file I am using for testing is roughly 17kb after converting to base64. I know this is technically above the spec for how long data-URIs can be, but Chrome in the browser has no trouble with it whatsoever, and using a much shorter URI (only a few dozen bytes) produces the same behavior.
Ideally, what I would like to do, is download the file and then trigger the user's standard browser to open the file itself. That was, I would not have to deal with MIME types and also it would look exactly how the user expected from their own device.
Alternatively, if that doesn't work, I would be ok with downloading the file into a system-wide directory and prompting the user to open it themselves. This is not optimal, but I would be able to swallow that pill.
And lastly, if there is a plugin or some other solution that solves the problem amazingly, but for PDFs only, then I can also work out something else for images (e.g. embedding a new into my app and assigning the URI to that).
I would be thankful for any suggestion you might have on how to solve this problem. The code I use to download the file currently is shown below.
Thank you for your time.
var filePath = cordova.file.externalDataDirectory; // Note: documentsDirectory is set to "" by Cordova, so I cannot use that
var fileName = "someFileName.pdf";
var mime = "application/pdf";
var dataBlob = /* some blob containing the binary data for a PDF */
function writeFile(fileEntry, dataBlob) {
// Create a FileWriter object for our FileEntry.
// This code is taken directly from the cordova-plugin-file documentation
fileEntry.createWriter(function (fileWriter) {
fileWriter.onwriteend = function() {
console.log("Successful file write...");
readFile(fileEntry);
};
fileWriter.onerror = function (e) {
console.log("Failed file write: " + e.toString());
};
fileWriter.write(dataBlob);
});
}
window.resolveLocalFileSystemURL(
filePath,
function onResolveSuccess (dirEntry) {
dirEntry.getFile(
fileName,
{ create: true },
function onGetFileSuccess (file) (
writeFile(file, dataBlob);
// At this point, the file has been downloaded successfully
window.open(file.toURL(), "_system"); // This line does nothing, and I don't understand why.
}
);
}
);

I managed to solve the problem.
As per the documentation of the file-opener2 plugin, you need to also add the androidx-adapter plugin to correct for the outdated (android 4) packages. With the plugins file, file-opener2 and androidx-adapter installed, the complete code is the following:
var filePath = cordova.file.externalDataDirectory; // Note: documentsDirectory is set to "" by Cordova, so I cannot use that
var fileName = "someFileName.pdf";
var mime = "application/pdf";
var dataBlob = /* some blob containing the binary data for a PDF */
function writeFile(fileEntry, dataBlob) {
// Create a FileWriter object for our FileEntry.
// This code is taken directly from the cordova-plugin-file documentation
fileEntry.createWriter(function (fileWriter) {
fileWriter.onwriteend = function() {
console.log("Successful file write...");
readFile(fileEntry);
};
fileWriter.onerror = function (e) {
console.log("Failed file write: " + e.toString());
};
fileWriter.write(dataBlob);
});
}
window.resolveLocalFileSystemURL(
filePath,
function onResolveSuccess (dirEntry) {
dirEntry.getFile(
fileName,
{ create: true },
function onGetFileSuccess (file) (
writeFile(file, dataBlob);
// At this point, the file has been downloaded successfully
cordova.plugins.fileOpener2.open(
    filepath + filename,
    mime,
    {
     error : function(){ },
success : function(){ }
    }
);
}
);
}
);

How to convert Base64 string to PNG (currently using Jimp)?

I'm currently creating a real-time chat application. This is a web application that uses node.js for the backend and uses socket.io to connect back and forth.
Currently, I'm working on creating user profiles with profile pictures. These profile pictures will be stored in a folder called images/profiles/. The file will be named by the user's id. For example: user with the id 1 will have their profile pictures stored in images/profiles/1.png. Very self-explanatory.
When the user submits the form to change their profile picture, the browser JavaScript will get the image, and send it to the server:
form.addEventListener('submit', handleForm)
function handleForm(event) {
event.preventDefault(); // stop page from reloading
let profilePicture; // set variable for profile picture
let profilePictureInput = document.getElementById('profilePictureInput'); // get image input
const files = profilePictureInput.files[0]; // get input's files
if (files) {
const fileReader = new FileReader(); // initialize file reader
fileReader.readAsDataURL(files);
fileReader.onload = function () {
profilePicture = this.result; // put result into variable
socket.emit("request-name", {
profilePicture: profilePicture,
id: userID,
}); // send result, along with user id, to server
}
}
I've commented most of the code so it's easy to follow. The server then gets this information. With this information, the server is supposed to convert the sent image to a png format (I can do whatever format, but it has to be the same format for all images). I am currently using the jimp library to do this task, but it doesn't seem to work.
const jimp = require('jimp'); // initialize Jimp
socket.on('request-name', (data) => { // when request has been received
// read the buffer from image (I'm not 100% sure what Buffer.from() does, but I saw this online)
jimp.read(Buffer.from(data.profilePicture), function (error, image) {
if (error) throw error; // throw error if there is one
image.write(`images/profiles/${data.id}.png`); // write image to designated place
}
});
The error I get:
Error: Could not find MIME for Buffer <null>
I've scoured the internet for answers but was unable to find any. I am available to use another library if this helps. I can also change the file format (.png to .jpg or .jpeg, if needed; it just needs to be consistent with all files). The only things I cannot change are the use of JavaScript/Node.js and socket.io to send the information to the server.
Thank you in advance. Any and all help is appreciated.

If you're just getting the data URI as a string, then you can construct a buffer with it and then use the built in fs to write the file. Make sure the relative path is accurate.
socket.on('request-name', data => {
const imgBuffer = Buffer.from(data.profilePicture, 'base64');
fs.writeFile(`images/profiles/${data.id}.png`, imgBuffer);
}

Blob name issue with new tab in chrome and firefox [duplicate]

In my Vue app I receive a PDF as a blob, and want to display it using the browser's PDF viewer.
I convert it to a file, and generate an object url:
const blobFile = new File([blob], `my-file-name.pdf`, { type: 'application/pdf' })
this.invoiceUrl = window.URL.createObjectURL(blobFile)
Then I display it by setting that URL as the data attribute of an object element.
<object
:data="invoiceUrl"
type="application/pdf"
width="100%"
style="height: 100vh;">
</object>
The browser then displays the PDF using the PDF viewer. However, in Chrome, the file name that I provide (here, my-file-name.pdf) is not used: I see a hash in the title bar of the PDF viewer, and when I download the file using either 'right click -> Save as...' or the viewer's controls, it saves the file with the blob's hash (cda675a6-10af-42f3-aa68-8795aa8c377d or similar).
The viewer and file name work as I'd hoped in Firefox; it's only Chrome in which the file name is not used.
Is there any way, using native Javascript (including ES6, but no 3rd party dependencies other than Vue), to set the filename for a blob / object element in Chrome?
[edit] If it helps, the response has the following relevant headers:
Content-Type: application/pdf; charset=utf-8
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename*=utf-8''Invoice%2016246.pdf;
Content-Description: File Transfer
Content-Encoding: gzip

Chrome's extension seems to rely on the resource name set in the URI, i.e the file.ext in protocol://domain/path/file.ext.
So if your original URI contains that filename, the easiest might be to simply make your <object>'s data to the URI you fetched the pdf from directly, instead of going the Blob's way.
Now, there are cases it can't be done, and for these, there is a convoluted way, which might not work in future versions of Chrome, and probably not in other browsers, requiring to set up a Service Worker.
As we first said, Chrome parses the URI in search of a filename, so what we have to do, is to have an URI, with this filename, pointing to our blob:// URI.
To do so, we can use the Cache API, store our File as Request in there using our URL, and then retrieve that File from the Cache in the ServiceWorker.
Or in code,
From the main page
// register our ServiceWorker
navigator.serviceWorker.register('/sw.js')
.then(...
...
async function displayRenamedPDF(file, filename) {
// we use an hard-coded fake path
// to not interfere with legit requests
const reg_path = "/name-forcer/";
const url = reg_path + filename;
// store our File in the Cache
const store = await caches.open( "name-forcer" );
await store.put( url, new Response( file ) );
const frame = document.createElement( "iframe" );
frame.width = 400
frame.height = 500;
document.body.append( frame );
// makes the request to the File we just cached
frame.src = url;
// not needed anymore
frame.onload = (evt) => store.delete( url );
}
In the ServiceWorker sw.js
self.addEventListener('fetch', (event) => {
event.respondWith( (async () => {
const store = await caches.open("name-forcer");
const req = event.request;
const cached = await store.match( req );
return cached || fetch( req );
})() );
});
Live example (source)
Edit: This actually doesn't work in Chrome...
While it does set correctly the filename in the dialog, they seem to be unable to retrieve the file when saving it to the disk...
They don't seem to perform a Network request (and thus our SW isn't catching anything), and I don't really know where to look now.
Still this may be a good ground for future work on this.
And an other solution, I didn't took the time to check by myself, would be to run your own pdf viewer.
Mozilla has made its js based plugin pdf.js available, so from there we should be able to set the filename (even though once again I didn't dug there yet).
And as final note, Firefox is able to use the name property of a File Object a blobURI points to.
So even though it's not what OP asked for, in FF all it requires is
const file = new File([blob], filename);
const url = URL.createObjectURL(file);
object.data = url;

In Chrome, the filename is derived from the URL, so as long as you are using a blob URL, the short answer is "No, you cannot set the filename of a PDF object displayed in Chrome." You have no control over the UUID assigned to the blob URL and no way to override that as the name of the page using the object element. It is possible that inside the PDF a title is specified, and that will appear in the PDF viewer as the document name, but you still get the hash name when downloading.
This appears to be a security precaution, but I cannot say for sure.
Of course, if you have control over the URL, you can easily set the PDF filename by changing the URL.

I believe Kaiido's answer expresses, briefly, the best solution here:
"if your original URI contains that filename, the easiest might be to simply make your object's data to the URI you fetched the pdf from directly"
Especially for those coming from this similar question, it would have helped me to have more description of a specific implementation (working for pdfs) that allows the best user experience, especially when serving files that are generated on the fly.
The trick here is using a two-step process that perfectly mimics a normal link or button click. The client must (step 1) request the file be generated and stored server-side long enough for the client to (step 2) request the file itself. This requires you have some mechanism supporting unique identification of the file on disk or in a cache.
Without this process, the user will just see a blank tab while file-generation is in-progress and if it fails, then they'll just get the browser's ERR_TIMED_OUT page. Even if it succeeds, they'll have a hash in the title bar of the PDF viewer tab, and the save dialog will have the same hash as the suggested filename.
Here's the play-by-play to do better:
You can use an anchor tag or a button for the "download" or "view in browser" elements
Step 1 of 2 on the client: that element's click event can make a request for the file to be generated only (not transmitted).
Step 1 of 2 on the server: generate the file and hold on to it. Return only the filename to the client.
Step 2 of 2 on the client:
If viewing the file in the browser, use the filename returned from the generate request to then invoke window.open('view_file/<filename>?fileId=1'). That is the only way to indirectly control the name of the file as shown in the tab title and in any subsequent save dialog.
If downloading, just invoke window.open('download_file?fileId=1').
Step 2 of 2 on the server:
view_file(filename, fileId) handler just needs to serve the file using the fileId and ignore the filename parameter. In .NET, you can use a FileContentResult like File(bytes, contentType);
download_file(fileId) must set the filename via the Content-Disposition header as shown here. In .NET, that's return File(bytes, contentType, desiredFilename);
client-side download example:
download_link_clicked() {
// show spinner
ajaxGet(generate_file_url,
{},
(response) => {
// success!
// the server-side is responsible for setting the name
// of the file when it is being downloaded
window.open('download_file?fileId=1', "_blank");
// hide spinner
},
() => { // failure
// hide spinner
// proglem, notify pattern
},
null
);
client-side view example:
view_link_clicked() {
// show spinner
ajaxGet(generate_file_url,
{},
(response) => {
// success!
let filename = response.filename;
// simplest, reliable method I know of for controlling
// the filename of the PDF when viewed in the browser
window.open('view_file/'+filename+'?fileId=1')
// hide spinner
},
() => { // failure
// hide spinner
// proglem, notify pattern
},
null
);

I'm using the library pdf-lib, you can click here to learn more about the library.
I solved part of this problem by using api Document.setTitle("Some title text you want"),
Browser displayed my title correctly, but when click the download button, file name is still previous UUID. Perhaps there is other api in the library that allows you to modify download file name.

Get filename from url

I am using file picker. File picker gives me a url like this after saving the file https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/YVlnXammQium3ukD3Zf4
But how do I know what the file name is? When I enter this URL in my browser I get the download tab and the tab shows me the filename. How can I get the file name using javascript?
Is there another way to get the file name? I am using Rails as a backend and Backbone as the front end.

You can get the filename via metadata:
https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/hFHUCB3iTxyMzseuWOgG/metadata?filename=true
In Javascript this would look like:
var blob = { url: 'https://www.filepicker.io/api/file/hFHUCB3iTxyMzseuWOgG' };
console.log("Loading metadata...");
filepicker.stat(
blob,
{
filename: true
},
function(metadata){
console.log(JSON.stringify(metadata));
}
);
All of this is in the documentation, so take a look there for more info.

Phonegap 3.5 fetching audio / video files from external sd card Android

Currently I am not able to fetch video (.mp4) and audio (.wav) files from external sd card, basically I want to fetch the files and convert them to base64 and send them to the server.
Here is my code
window.requestFileSystem(LocalFileSystem.PERSISTENT, 0, function(fileSystem) {
// fileSystem's root is -> file:///storage/emulated/0/
var url = "cdvfile://localhost/root/storage/extSdCard/DCIM/Camera/20141018_143740.mp4";
window.resolveLocalFileSystemURL(url, function(fileObj) {
var fullPath = fileObj.fullPath;
// fullPath -> file:/storage/extSdCard/DCIM/Camera/20141018_143740.mp4
fileSystem.root.getFile(fullPath, null, function(fileEntry) {
fileEntry.file(function(file) {
//.. FileReader function to convert the file to base64 by reader.readAsDataURL(file)
},errorFunc);
},errorFunc);
},errorFunc);
},errorFunc);
Now the problem is I am not able to get the .mp4 file i.e. my fileSystem.root.getFile is giving me the error
Error code 1 i.e. File Not Found
After checking few stack overflow questions and http://rickluna.com/wp/2014/01/accessing-external-storage-in-android-phonegap-3-3/ blog I think my problem lies in "root"
i.e. my fileSystem obj (success callback of requestFileSystem method) looks like this:
filesystem: FileSystem
fullPath: "/"
isDirectory: true
isFile: false
name: ""
nativeURL: "file:///storage/emulated/0/"
__proto__: utils.extend.F
So is it possible to change the root? i.e. from file:///storage/emulated/0/ to file:///storage/ so that I can call getFile and pass the absolute url i.e. /extSdCard/DCIM when( file:///storage/) becomes root
I even tried by changing root i.e.
fileSystem.root.fullPath = 'file:///storage/';
even I tried to change the nativeURL property of fileSystem object but it's not working
ps. solution given in the blog hasn't worked for me
ps ps. The same code is working fine when my absolute url is: file:///storage/emulated/0/MRS/fileName.txt
and I am passing the relative url in function i.e. fileSystem.root.getFile("MRS/fileName.txt",...)