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Show HN: Chrome Extension to view any files in your browser

45 points by dallamaneni 11y ago

Tinyyy 11y ago
Is this open source?
- 746F7475 11y ago
  Aren't Chrome extensions just zip packages that contain bunch of HTML and JavaScript? Couldn't you "easily" just see what is in it? Of course author can update the extension at anytime and the JS can be obfuscated.
  - rplnt 11y ago
    But you might not be able to (legally) modify the source, depending on license.
    - 746F7475 11y ago
      Well, yeah, I guess, but you can at least see what is going on and whether or not there is need to fork it.
    - kuschku 11y ago
      Well, for personal use you can always decompile and modify.
      - oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
        Not necessarily true; that totally depends on the licence.
        snarfy 11y ago
        You don't have to agree to the license. At that point any legal weight they have is due to copyright. As long as you aren't distributing a derivative work you're fine.
        hotgoldminer 11y ago
        And what grows out of the ground is mine to modify and decompile provided I don't distribute the derivative.. oh wait.
        kuschku 11y ago
        The license can only provide you rights in addition to what the copyright law already grants you. In some countries making copies and modifications for personal use is completely legal.
        746F7475 11y ago
        If you are doing it for your own use and don't tell anyone the chances you get caught are pretty slim
    - dallamaneni 11y ago
      Dont worry, here is the source code: https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer But it is lagging a month behind due to Firefox webextensions. I want the code to be compatible with all three browsers so I am releasing it according to Firefox's webextensions. Also, nobody ever cared to check the code from past two years so I never bothered to update it on Github. The only 1 star in the source code is my own star ;) Will do it soon. That said, feel free to view/modify the crx/zip file as mentioned in the other comments. Will be glad if you can make any comments or suggest improvements to the code. :)
  - welanes 11y ago
    Very easily in fact: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-source-v/jifpbeccnghkjeaalbbjmodiffmgedin https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-s...
    - 746F7475 11y ago
      Yeah, I remember toying around with the Chrome extensions years back, but then Google changed TOS (or something) and took down my extensions. I vaguely remember them being "just-zip-files" with different extension.
- dallamaneni 11y ago
  Here is the source code for anyone interested: https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer
czardoz 11y ago
Is there a list where I can see which services might see my data?
- dallamaneni 11y ago
  Actually, no services see your data while browsing. But when you click/open a file, it opens with http://docs.google.com/ http://docs.google.com/. So technically, docs.google.com will be able to see your data. I may add Microsoft Office Online soon.
  - gravypod 11y ago
    I would start using this if the data never left my network. Without it, this is a huge security risk.
Piskvorrr 11y ago
Any files? That's a brave claim. Actually: "Supported File Formats: DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, PDF, PAGES, AI, PSD, TIFF, DXF, SVG, EPS, PS, TTF, XPS, RTF, ODT, SXW, SSV, SXC, ODS, SXI, ODP, WPD"
- dallamaneni 11y ago
  Yeah, sorry about that but thanks you asked. I am trying to integrate rollApp (https://www.rollapp.com/ https://www.rollapp.com/), Microsoft Office online and Yandex document viewer into it. rollApp supports literally hundreds of file formats. The only problem I have is keeping the interface less complex. For that I am now working on a API wrapper interface separated from the extension to keep the extension's settings simple. It may take a couple of months before I roll it out though.
  - Piskvorrr 11y ago
    Hmm, that looks far more useful than my original impression of "pass the URL to GDocs and call it a day" :) Good luck!
    - dallamaneni 11y ago
      Thank you :)
lsiebert 11y ago
Please don't ignore container formats like .rar .zip .tar etc. Also remember there are ebook formats to consider for documents.

45 points by dallamaneni 11y ago

Tinyyy 11y ago

Is this open source?

746F7475 11y ago
Aren't Chrome extensions just zip packages that contain bunch of HTML and JavaScript? Couldn't you "easily" just see what is in it? Of course author can update the extension at anytime and the JS can be obfuscated.
- rplnt 11y ago
  But you might not be able to (legally) modify the source, depending on license.
  - 746F7475 11y ago
    Well, yeah, I guess, but you can at least see what is going on and whether or not there is need to fork it.
  - kuschku 11y ago
    Well, for personal use you can always decompile and modify.
    - oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
      Not necessarily true; that totally depends on the licence.
      - snarfy 11y ago
        You don't have to agree to the license. At that point any legal weight they have is due to copyright. As long as you aren't distributing a derivative work you're fine.
        hotgoldminer 11y ago
        And what grows out of the ground is mine to modify and decompile provided I don't distribute the derivative.. oh wait.
      - kuschku 11y ago
        The license can only provide you rights in addition to what the copyright law already grants you. In some countries making copies and modifications for personal use is completely legal.
      - 746F7475 11y ago
        If you are doing it for your own use and don't tell anyone the chances you get caught are pretty slim
  - dallamaneni 11y ago
    Dont worry, here is the source code: https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer But it is lagging a month behind due to Firefox webextensions. I want the code to be compatible with all three browsers so I am releasing it according to Firefox's webextensions. Also, nobody ever cared to check the code from past two years so I never bothered to update it on Github. The only 1 star in the source code is my own star ;) Will do it soon. That said, feel free to view/modify the crx/zip file as mentioned in the other comments. Will be glad if you can make any comments or suggest improvements to the code. :)
- welanes 11y ago
  Very easily in fact: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-source-v/jifpbeccnghkjeaalbbjmodiffmgedin https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-extension-s...
  - 746F7475 11y ago
    Yeah, I remember toying around with the Chrome extensions years back, but then Google changed TOS (or something) and took down my extensions. I vaguely remember them being "just-zip-files" with different extension.
dallamaneni 11y ago
Here is the source code for anyone interested: https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer https://github.com/adeekshith/Docs-Online-Viewer

czardoz 11y ago

Is there a list where I can see which services might see my data?

dallamaneni 11y ago
Actually, no services see your data while browsing. But when you click/open a file, it opens with http://docs.google.com/ http://docs.google.com/. So technically, docs.google.com will be able to see your data. I may add Microsoft Office Online soon.
- gravypod 11y ago
  I would start using this if the data never left my network. Without it, this is a huge security risk.

Piskvorrr 11y ago

Any files? That's a brave claim. Actually: "Supported File Formats: DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, PDF, PAGES, AI, PSD, TIFF, DXF, SVG, EPS, PS, TTF, XPS, RTF, ODT, SXW, SSV, SXC, ODS, SXI, ODP, WPD"

dallamaneni 11y ago
Yeah, sorry about that but thanks you asked. I am trying to integrate rollApp (https://www.rollapp.com/ https://www.rollapp.com/), Microsoft Office online and Yandex document viewer into it. rollApp supports literally hundreds of file formats. The only problem I have is keeping the interface less complex. For that I am now working on a API wrapper interface separated from the extension to keep the extension's settings simple. It may take a couple of months before I roll it out though.
- Piskvorrr 11y ago
  Hmm, that looks far more useful than my original impression of "pass the URL to GDocs and call it a day" :) Good luck!
  - dallamaneni 11y ago
    Thank you :)

lsiebert 11y ago

Please don't ignore container formats like .rar .zip .tar etc. Also remember there are ebook formats to consider for documents.