Javascript save data to file system (with user prompt)

Question

What is the best way to achieve the below in latest latest browsers (with html5 support). I mainly target Google Chrome.

In my application, data is manipulated through javascript and needs to write output to the file system with a browser prompt (save as dialog). I am not sure about the security restrictions to write to file system, but I am not planning anonymous write (but user is prompted, and selects the location).

I see saveAs not natively supported yet. With my research, I see few options.

1. https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js
2. a.download (http://html5-demos.appspot.com/static/a.download.html)
3. web filesystem
4. object URLs

FileServer falls back to 2,3,4 if no native support and I may use it. But, I don't find a way to open a Save As dialog. It just save a file in default location (downloads folder in mac).

Which option would you use to get a good support in latest browsers? How can get open the Save As dialog and let the user name the file.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I agree with Nathan Hayfield. The browser will handle the save dialog box for you. Setting the header Content-Disposition will send the response back as an attachment and the browser will handle it from there. eg.

content.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=export.csv");