From the course: HTML5: File API

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What is the File API?

What is the File API? - HTML Tutorial

From the course: HTML5: File API

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What is the File API?

Let's start by talking about what the HTML5 File API actually is. It provides a way to interact with local files on the user's device. Now, up until recently, this is a capability that only native applications have had. Of course, there was a way to upload files. There has always been the <input type="file"> element, in which you could select the file and that would send the file off to the web server from within a form. But this provides a way via script to actually read file content and work with it and discover information about files. So you can work with either the <input type="file"> element, which we've had for a while, or you can use drag-and-drop, and in this course we'll see examples of working with both. The HTML5 File API is a W3C specification. It's not final yet; it's still in work in progress. I've got the address up--and actually we will visit this back in just a moment-- but that's the official specification for the File API at the W3C. The File API actually consists…

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