5 ms·

Seems like its all server code. It'd be nice to do x-domain posts straight from the browser to Dropbox.

avolcano 15y ago
This would be incredible. Web apps that are 100% HTML5/Javascript/LocalStorage could then use Dropbox to store/retrieve data in the cloud.
- euroclydon 15y ago
  I'm hoping someone will tell me why it's a security problem, but yeah, for a whole slew of apps, I'd like eliminate server logic or at least make it simple to swap out backends.
- temphn 15y ago
  How would that differ from S3? Is the concept that people would also have a better local UI on their data directory?
  - jaredsohn 15y ago
    It is much cheaper to scale an application putting data onto peoples' Dropbox folders instead of S3. For S3, you would have to pay for the total amount of storage used by your customers; with Dropbox you wouldn't have to pay anything for storage, and for the most part your users wouldn't have to either since each gets a certain amount for free.
    - avolcano 15y ago
      Exactly. With Dropbox, you're making storage the customer's problem and not yours. You could argue this is bad for the customer, but you end up with a web app with next-to-no server overhead: just serve your static files and everything else is taken care of. No different than the many mobile apps that sync to iCloud/Dropbox already.
Timothee 15y ago
Though it's still a young project, you might be interested in Unhosted: http://unhosted.org/ http://unhosted.org/ It's an OSS project that kind of aims at doing that kind of stuff. (if I'm not mistaking your post)
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jaredsohn 15y ago
If it is not possible, I think it is more a web programming limitation rather than Dropbox failing to implement something. Everything their SDKs do can also be done using their REST API (https://www.dropbox.com/developers/reference/api https://www.dropbox.com/developers/reference/api) and they support JSONP to allow cross-domain GET queries. However, my understanding is that JSONP is not supported for other REST methods, most importantly POSTs. A person claims to have found a workaround for doing POSTs via JSONP here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5345493/using-put-post-delete-with-jsonp-and-jquery http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5345493/using-put-post-de.... Has anyone tried that or know of a way to do cross-domain POSTs?
- IgorPartola 15y ago
  You can do cross-domain POSTs. You just cannot get a response from the server. Often times though you can get the length of the response. This can be used to do a POST to change settings on an unsecured Wi-Fi routers, for example and checking whether the call succeeded or not by the length of the response. The method described in the SO answer is similar, from what I can tell, to what DISQUS uses. I believe they call it JSONPI: http://alexsexton.com/thirdparty/#forms-are-cool-too http://alexsexton.com/thirdparty/#forms-are-cool-too

This would be incredible. Web apps that are 100% HTML5/Javascript/LocalStorage could then use Dropbox to store/retrieve data in the cloud.

euroclydon 15y ago
I'm hoping someone will tell me why it's a security problem, but yeah, for a whole slew of apps, I'd like eliminate server logic or at least make it simple to swap out backends.
temphn 15y ago
How would that differ from S3? Is the concept that people would also have a better local UI on their data directory?
- jaredsohn 15y ago
  It is much cheaper to scale an application putting data onto peoples' Dropbox folders instead of S3. For S3, you would have to pay for the total amount of storage used by your customers; with Dropbox you wouldn't have to pay anything for storage, and for the most part your users wouldn't have to either since each gets a certain amount for free.
  - avolcano 15y ago
    Exactly. With Dropbox, you're making storage the customer's problem and not yours. You could argue this is bad for the customer, but you end up with a web app with next-to-no server overhead: just serve your static files and everything else is taken care of. No different than the many mobile apps that sync to iCloud/Dropbox already.

Timothee 15y ago

Though it's still a young project, you might be interested in Unhosted: http://unhosted.org/ http://unhosted.org/ It's an OSS project that kind of aims at doing that kind of stuff. (if I'm not mistaking your post)

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jaredsohn 15y ago

If it is not possible, I think it is more a web programming limitation rather than Dropbox failing to implement something. Everything their SDKs do can also be done using their REST API (https://www.dropbox.com/developers/reference/api https://www.dropbox.com/developers/reference/api) and they support JSONP to allow cross-domain GET queries. However, my understanding is that JSONP is not supported for other REST methods, most importantly POSTs. A person claims to have found a workaround for doing POSTs via JSONP here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5345493/using-put-post-delete-with-jsonp-and-jquery http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5345493/using-put-post-de.... Has anyone tried that or know of a way to do cross-domain POSTs?

IgorPartola 15y ago
You can do cross-domain POSTs. You just cannot get a response from the server. Often times though you can get the length of the response. This can be used to do a POST to change settings on an unsecured Wi-Fi routers, for example and checking whether the call succeeded or not by the length of the response. The method described in the SO answer is similar, from what I can tell, to what DISQUS uses. I believe they call it JSONPI: http://alexsexton.com/thirdparty/#forms-are-cool-too http://alexsexton.com/thirdparty/#forms-are-cool-too