Writing file and sending it back with Javascript

Question

This is what I need:

I need to get an XML file from a server using the standard code:

if(window.XMLHttpRequest)
    xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
else
    xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); // For IE6

xmlhttp.open("GET", xml_file, false);
xmlhttp.send();
xmldoc = xmlhttp.responseXML;

After this I need to make some changes to the XML information I received and save it to the server. Is this possible? Can I edit a file client side and send it to a server to replace the old file?

assuming that's a full-blown XML file, then you parse to a DOM tree, do your manipulations, convert back to a string, and post the string back to the server. There should never be a need to use an actual file, which standard JS has no concept of anyways. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Sep 17, 2012 at 14:28

SoWhat · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-17 14:34:14Z

1

Well, you can but you need a server side script that will accept the file (as a string) and save it.

You will need a url that will accept the contents of the file and write it on the server:

//site.com/writeXML.php

This file will accept the contents of the file(say as file_contents parameter) Now you have to send your contents to the file

//Do something with xmlDoc

if(window.XMLHttpRequest)
  xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
else
  xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); // For IE6
  xmlhttp.open("POST", "http://site.com/writeXML.php", false);
  xmlhttp.send("file_contents="+xmlDoc);

On server side, you need to accept the data and write it to the file as follows:

   $contents=$_POST['file_contents'];
   $handle = fopen("/home/user/data/xmlFile.xml, "wb");
   fwrite($handle, $contents);

answered Sep 17, 2012 at 14:34

SoWhat

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1 Comment

petermlm Over a year ago

Thanks! This was something like what I needed.

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