Implementing ftp using Javascript

Question

I dont understand why cant javascript make ftp calls?. Why do we have to make such a request using server?

Even Browsers have ability to authenticate and browse a ftp server. Maybe use browser api's to do it?

Answer 1

Ok, answering my own question here.

I went through Mozilla docs on XMLHTTPRequest. It specifically says -

Despite its name, XMLHttpRequest can be used to retrieve any type of data, not just XML, and it supports protocols other than HTTP (including file and ftp).

So, I am satisfied with this. JavaScript can make calls to ftp using this.

Answer 2

The title of this question suggests the requester is keen on understanding if an FTP transfer could be implemented using JavaScript. However looking at the the answer by the same requester it appears that the question was just to know if URLs with FTP protocols can be used with JS and possibly HTML tags. The answer is yes. Even a simple <a> tag supports FTP URLs in the href attribute. Hope this helps the new readers. And yes, the XMLHttpRequest AJAX object does enable calling a URL with an FTP protocol.

Cheers.