Extracting file icon and display in html - node.js

Evening Everyone,
I have started doing some research for an application i want to write using the electron framework. I have figured out how to display what i want to the user with the exception of the icons. There is a part of the application where the user can type a path and it will list the files in that path, i would like to pull the icon from the files so its displayed just like it would be in the windows file explorer. This is where i have been running into a roadblock and I'm looking for some guidance.
Is there a method in nodejs that would allow me to provide a file path and in return get a image back i can pass to HTML? Im new to nodejs so i figured i would ask and see if anyone knew of an easy way.

There is icon-extractor
you can use it like this to extract any app icon from the system , but it must be an**".exe"** file.
var iconExtractor = require('icon-extractor');
var fs= require('fs');
iconExtractor.emitter.on('icon', function(data){
console.log('Here is my context: ' + data.Context);
console.log('Here is the path it was for: ' + data.Path);
var icon = data.Base64ImageData;
fs.writeFile('img.png', icon, 'base64', (err) => {
console.log(err);
});
});
iconExtractor.getIcon('ANY_TEXT','PAHT_TO_APP.exe');

If you are using electron, you might run into a lot of issues. For me no other package worked than this one:
Windows Powershell Icon Extractor

Related

Best way to copy a directory from an external drive to a local folder with electronjs?

Just wondering if anyone has ever attempted to copy a directory from an external drive (connected via USB) to a local folder.
I am using ElectronJS so I can use my JavaScript, HTML/CSS skills to create a desktop application without utilising a C language. (i.e. C# or C++) With ElectronJS there's a lot less to worry about.
Here is the list of things I've tried so far:
basic fs.copyFile (using copyFile intially and will then loop round the directory to copy all files)
var fs = require('fs');
window.test = () => {
fs.moveSync("targetFile","destDir", function(err) {
if(err){
console.log(err);
}else{
console.log("copy complete")
}
});
}
fs.moveSync is not a function even though Visual Studio Code brought up moveSync as a suggestion when I entered fs. (ctrl + space)
using child_process functions to copy files using the command line.
Code is:
var process = require('child_process')
window.test = function(){
process.exec('ipconfig', function(err, stdout, stderr){
if(err){
console.log(err);
}else{
console.log(stdout)
}
})
}
Then bundled with browserify. Bundle.js is then imported into the html file and the test function is called on the click of a button. I'm aware the command is ipconfig for now, this was merely used to see if a command could be executed. It appears it could because I was getting process.exec is not defined.
use the node-hid node module to read and trasfer data from the external drive.
The exposed functions within this module were also reported as being undefined. And I thought about the use case longer I thought a simple copy process would suffice because external drive can be accessed like any other folder in the file explorer.
Unfortunately, all of the above have failed and I've spent the most part of the day looking for alternative modules and/or solutions.
Thanks in advance because any help to achieve this would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Patrick
The npm package fs-extra should solve your problem.
It has the move function, which
Moves a file or directory, even across devices
Ended up adding this to my preload.js for:
window.require = require;
It will work for now but is due to be depreciated.
I'll use this for now and make other updates when I have to.

How to upload a file using WebdriverIO

I'm trying to port the following code from Ruby with the selenium-webdriver gem to Node.js with WebdriverIO:
#webdriver.navigate.to "https://imgur.com/upload"
element = #webdriver.find_element(:id, 'global-files-button')
element.send_keys("C:\\test\\image.png")
As you can see the code is very simple: navigate to a url, find the input, set the file path and it works as expected selecting the file for upload.
This is my ported version:
describe('User can upload', () => {
it('select file', () => {
browser.url("https://imgur.com/upload");
browser.waitForExist('#global-files-button');
$('#global-files-button').keys("C : \\ t e s t \\ i m a g e . p n g".split(" "));
});
});
Unfortunately this test doesn't set the path and I haven't been able to find a working example of uploading a file like this with wdio and the documentation has left me guessing. Any suggestions much appreciated.
I'm aware of both chooseFile and uploadFile but I'm working with a cloud platform to run my wdio tests and they don't seem to work reliably.
I've had trouble with this. From what I've researched it is not an issue with WebdriverIO or it's chooseFile() or uploadFile() methods. The root of the issue I believe comes down to an error in Selenium Webdriver being unable to handle the 'multiple' <input type='file' multiple> upload elements.
I fought this for a solid maybe 3 days before stumbling across this github issue:
https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium-google-code-issue-archive/issues/2239
Long story short, because the HTML on imgur has the "multiple" property on it, your upload tests won't work correctly. WebdriverIO / Selenium just stops functioning from what I've noticed.
Note: I've been able to actually have my application upload a single file and add files to my system and application while testing an <input type='file' multiple>. The problem is however, that WebdriverIO and Selenium just stops. The tests end, without reporting any success or failure results.
If you go and test another <input type=file> element somewhere across the web that is NOT designated as a "multiple" upload input field you should be able to make the chooseFile() methods from WebdriverIO function correctly.
I hope this helps you and perhaps anyone else who's struggled with file uploads.
EDIT:
I've tried to make your example work, and I had success with "chooseFile()" and passing the "filepath" to it directly. Perhaps you're trying to send keyboard commands when you don't really have to? Do you have a direct file path to the image you're attempting to upload? Below is what i was able to use to successfully upload a file.
it('upload a file to imgur', function () {
browser.url("https://imgur.com/upload");
browser.waitForExist('#global-files-button');
browser.chooseFile('#global-files-button', '/insert/path/to/image.png')
})
// c:/test/image.png
var test1 = 'c:/test/image.png'
var path = test1.split('/').join('\\\\')
browser.addValue('[name="fileField"]', path )
or maybe this also work
// c:\test\image.png
var path = 'c:\\test\\image.png'
browser.addValue('[name="fileField"]', path )
or maybe this
// c:/test/image.png
var path = 'c:/test/image.png'
browser.addValue('[name="fileField"]', path )

node.js issues with Meteor's file system

I have tried to figure out what i am missing from this puzzle between. Node.js and Meteor.js. Meteor is built on Node.js i know this. But Meteor doesn't not work properly with Node.js. Either I need to do 20 more steps to get the same result, which I don't know what they are. Or there is a serious bug between the two. Standalone Node.js runs the command below just fine. Running the same commands on Meteor cause errors or undefined results. Wish i had a why to solve this or they need to patch this so it will work the way it should work.
examples #1
var fs = require('fs');
fs.readFile('file.txt', 'utf8', function (err,data) {
if (err) {
return console.log(err);
}
console.log(data);
});
example #2
var jetpack = require('fs-jetpack');
var data = jetpack.read('file.txt');
console.log(data);
example #3
var fs = require ('fs');
var readMe = fs.readFileSync('file.txt', 'utf8');
console.log(readMe);
You shouldn't try to load files like this because you don't know what the folder structure looks like. Meteor creates builds from your project directory, both in development and production mode. This means that even though you have a file.txt in your project folder, it doesn't end up in the same place in the build (or it isn't even included in the build at all).
For example, your code tries to read the file from the development build folder .meteor/local/build/programs/server. However, this folder doesn't contain file.txt.
Solution: Store file.txt in the private folder of your project and use Assets.getText to read it. If you still want to use the functions from fs to load the file, you can retrieve the absolute path with Assets.absoluteFilePath.

Unable to open local file using cordova inappbrowser on windows 8.1 platform

I am developing a phone gap application and we've recently added support for the windows 8.1 platform. The application downloads/creates files which are saved to the device using the Cordova FileSystem API.
I have successfully saved a file to the device using a URL which looks like this
ms-appdata:///local/file.png
I have checked on my PC and the file is viewable inside the LocalState folder under the app's root folder. However, when I try to open this file using inAppBrowser nothing happens; no error message is being reported and none of the inAppBrowser default events fire.
function empty() { alert('here'); } //never fires
var absoluteUrl = "ms-appdata:///local/file.png";
cordova.InAppBrowser.open(absoluteURL, "_blank", "location=no", { loadstart: empty, loadstop: empty, loaderror: empty });
I have verified that the url is valid by calling the following built-in javascript on the url
Windows.Storage.StorageFile.getFileFromApplicationUriAsync(uri).done(function (file) {
debugger; //the file object contains the correct path to the file; C:\...etc.
});
Also, adding the url as the src for an img tag works as expected.
I have also tried attaching the inAppBrowser handlers using addEventListener("loadstart") etc. but none of them are firing either. However, when I try to open "http://www.google.com" the events do fire and the inAppBrowser pops up on the screen.
After inspecting the dom I can see that the inAppBrowser element has been added, but it doesn't appear to have a source attribute set
<div class="inAppBrowserWrap">
<x-ms-webview style="border-width: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;"></x-ms-webview>
</div>
I have looked at other questions such as this one but to no avail. I have verified that
a) InAppBrowser is installed
b) deviceReady has fired
I have also tried changing the target to "_self" (same issue) and "_system" (popup saying you need a new app to open a file of type msappdata://) and I'm running out of ideas. Has anybody come across similar issues?
I had a similar problem. My cordova app downloads a file and then opens it with native browser (so that images, PDF files and so on are properly handled).
In the end I had to modify InAppBrowserProxy.js class (part of InAppBrowser plugin for Windows platform).
This is the code that opens the file (plain JavaScript):
// This value comes from somewhere, I write it here as an example
var path = 'ms-appdata:///local//myfile.jpg';
// Open file in InAppBrowser
window.open(path, '_system', 'location=no');
Then, I updated InAppBrowserProxy.js file (under platforms\windows\www\plugins\cordova-plugin-inappbrowser\src\windows). I replaced this code fragment:
if (target === "_system") {
url = new Windows.Foundation.Uri(strUrl);
Windows.System.Launcher.launchUriAsync(url);
}
By this:
if (target === "_system") {
if (strUrl.indexOf('ms-appdata:///local//') == 0) {
var fileName = decodeURI(strUrl.substr(String(strUrl).lastIndexOf("/") + 1));
var localFolder = Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.current.localFolder;
localFolder.getFileAsync(fileName).then(function (file) {
Windows.System.Launcher.launchFileAsync(file);
}, function (error) {
console.log("Error getting file '" + fileName + "': " + error);
});
} else {
url = new Windows.Foundation.Uri(strUrl);
Windows.System.Launcher.launchUriAsync(url);
}
}
This is a very ad-hoc hack, but it did the trick for me, and it could be improved, extended, and even standarized.
Anyway, there may be other ways to achieve this, it's just that this worked for me...
After more searching, it seems that the x-ms-webview, which is the underlying component used by PhoneGap for Windows only supports loading HTML content. This Microsoft blog post on the web view control states that
UnviewableContentIdentified – Is fired when a user navigates to
content other than a webpage. The WebView control is only capable of
displaying HTML content. It doesn’t support displaying standalone
images, downloading files, viewing Office documents, etc. This event
is fired so the app can decide how to handle the situation.
This article suggests looking at the Windows.Data.Pdf namespace for providing in-app support for reading PDFs.

Is it possible to use PhantomJS and Node to dynamically generate PDFs from templates?

Background / Need
I am working with a group on a web application using Node.JS and Express. We need to be able to generate reports which can be printed as hard copies and also hard copy forms. Preferably we'd like to dynamically generate PDFs on the server for both reports and hand written forms. We're currently using EJS templates on the server.
Options
I was thinking that it would be convenient to be able to use templates to be able to build forms/reports and generate a PDF from the resulting HTML, however my options to do this appear limited as far as I can find. I have looked at two different possible solutions:
PhantomJS -- (npm node-phantom module)
PDFKit
EDIT: I found another Node.JS module which is able to generate PDFs from HTML called node-wkhtml which relies on wkhtmltopdf. I am now comparing using node-phantom and node-wkhtml. I have been able to generate PDFs on a Node server with both of these and they both appear to be capable of doing what I need.
I have seen some examples of using PhantomJS to render PDF documents from websites, but all of the examples I have seen use a URL and do not feed it a string of HTML. I am not sure if I could make this work with templates in order to dynamically generate PDF reports.
When a request for a report comes in I was hoping to generate HTML from an EJS template, and use that to generate a PDF. Is there anyway for me to use Phantom to dynamically create a page completely on the server without making a request?
My other option is to use PDFkit which allows dynamic generation of PDFs, but it is a canvas-like API and doesn't really support any notion of templates as far as I can tell.
The Question
Does anyone know if I can use PhantomJS with Node to dynamically generate PDFs from HTML generated from a template? Or does anyone know any other solutions I can use to generate and serve printable reports/forms from my Node/Express back-end.
EJS seems to run fine in PhantomJS (after installing the path module). To load a page in PhantomJS given a string of HTML, do page.content = '<html><head>...';.
npm install ejs and npm install path, then:
var ejs = require('ejs'),
page = require('webpage').create();
var html = ejs.render('<h1><%= title %></h1>', {
title: 'wow'
});
page.content = html;
page.render('test.pdf');
phantom.exit();
(Run this script with phantomjs, not node.)
I am going to post an answer for anyone trying to do something similar with node-phantom. Because node-phantom controls the local installation of PhantomJS, it must use asynchronous methods for everything even when the corresponding PhantomJS operation is synchronous. When setting the content for a page to be rendered in PhantomJS you can simply do:
page.content = '<h1>Some Markup</h1>';
page.render('page.pdf');
However, using the node-phantom module within node you must use the page.set method. This is the code I used below.
'use strict';
var phantom = require('node-phantom');
var html = '<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title>My Webpage</title></head>' +
'<body><h1>My Webpage</h1><p>This is my webpage. I hope you like it' +
'!</body></html>';
phantom.create(function (error, ph) {
ph.createPage(function (error, page) {
page.set('content', html, function (error) {
if (error) {
console.log('Error setting content: %s', error);
} else {
page.render('page.pdf', function (error) {
if (error) console.log('Error rendering PDF: %s', error);
});
}
ph.exit();
});
});
});
A really easy solution to this problem is the node-webshot module - you can put raw html directly in as an argument and it prints the pdf directly.

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