Open .pdf, .txt, .docx, etc documents from a list of paths

Dash Python
1

I have a list of document paths listed in Dash. I want to make the document paths clickable so that users can open the documents by clicking the document paths. For instance, if the path is a .docx document, the user’s default .docx program should pop up. Is there a way to do this in Dash?

I tried using dcc.Link with the href parameter as the filepath. I also tried using html.A with the href parameter and target=‘_blank’. Both didn’t work unfortunately. I got the following error:

react-dom@16.v2_9_3m1685119029.14.0.min.js:32 Uncaught DOMException: Failed to execute ‘pushState’ on ‘History’: A history state object with URL ‘file:///C://…’ cannot be created in a document with origin ‘http://127.0.0.1:8080’ and URL ‘http:127.0.0.1:8080/’.

Not sure if this is the right way to go or if there is a better route. Any help is greatly appreciated!

2

Hello @williamwirono,

I dont think that you can make it happen by default, it would have to be defaulted on each computer what to do with a downloaded document.

You can allow a download of the object with a dcc.Download, other than that, typically controlling a computer from a browser is a no-no due to viruses/malware/etc. :slight_smile:

3

@jinnyzor Hmm gotcha. I am a bit reluctant in making it as a download feature since the user has already had those files in their system. I just wanted to open the file in that path. But anyways, thanks for the input! If you think of something as you go, please do reach out!

4

If the user already has the folder, you can hard code it.

I believe the path for a file is something like:

file://
5

@jinnyzor I tried this, and it gave me the following error in the Console: ‘Not allowed to load local resource.’ Has this got something to do with the browser’s security settings?

6

Nevermind, got it to work in Chrome. You will need to install a Chrome Extension called ‘Enable local file links’ to allow links to local files that was disabled by Chrome by default.

1 Like
7

I believe it is regularly disabled…

I dont know if you could skirt around this with having an onclick function that forces the browser to open a new window at that location.