Open Source Resources for Web Application Developers

Downloadify is a tiny JavaScript + Flash library that enables the generation and saving of files on the fly, in the browser, without server interaction. Web applications that allow you to generate vCards, color palettes, custom code, etc would benefit from using this library. In addition to increasing speed (no round trip to the server) this solution can reduce the database and server load of existing web applications.

Flash 10 introduced the ability to generate files on the client-side and trigger a save to the user’s computer. The user must click something in the Flash file to trigger the download for security reasons.

Downloadify couples JavaScript callbacks with the Downloadify.swf to allow your code to respond to the click event and pass in your data at that time. Whatever data is passed in from your function will be saved to their hard-drive when and where they select.

Requirements: JavaScript + Flash library
Demo: http://downloadify.info/
License: MIT License

Mollify is a web file manager for publishing and managing files hosted in a web server of your choice. Different users can have access to different files and with different permissions.

User interface is simple and intuitive, and it comes with following languages: Deutsch, English, Français, Português, Suomi. Mollify is 100% free to use, also sources are available with EPL 1.0 license.

Requirements: -
Demo: http://www.jaervelae.com/mollify/demo.php
License: EPL 1.0 License

MooTools FileManager allows you to (pre)view, upload and modify files and folders via the browser. You can browse through files and folders on your server easily with Mootools FileManager. The user interface is very intuitive. You can view detailed Previews of Images, Text-Files, Compressed-Files or Audio Content. Also, you can Rename, Delete, Move (Drag&Drop), Copy (Drag + hold CTRL) and Download Files.

MooTools FileManager is integrated with FancyUpload, so that you can upload files directly. As a bonus, you can use it as a FileManager in TinyMCE as well. The Script has been tested in Firefox 3+, Safari 4, Opera and IE6+. It is released under the MIT-License, I am sure you can get a great use out of it.

Requirements: MooTools Framework
Demo: http://cpojer.net/Scripts/FileManager/Demos
License: MIT License

Uploadify is a jQuery multiple file upload plugin which allows you to change any element with an ID on your page into a single or multiple file upload tool. The plugin uses a mix of JQuery, Flash, and a backend upload script of your choice to send files from your local computer to your website server. It has been tested on IE7, FireFox 3, Safari 3 and Opera 9.

Requirements: jQuery and Flash Required
Demo: http://www.ronniesan.com/examples/file-upload.html
License: GPL License

jQuery File Tree is a configurable, AJAX file browser plugin for jQuery. You can create a customized, fully-interactive, valid and semantic XHTML file tree with as little as one line of JavaScript code. jQuery File Tree is fully customizeable via CSS with the ability to style icons based on file extension. It also supports custom connector scripts for extended functionality. The expand and collapse event are customizable as well. jQuery File Tree works in all browsers supported by jQuery. It has been fully tested in Internet Explorer 6 & 7, Firefox 2, Safari 3 and Opera 9.

The author has stated that the connector scripts provided with jQuery File Tree are only designed to read information from a specified root folder. Although this is typically harmless, there exists a potential for malicious individuals to be able to view your entire directory structure by spoofing the root parameter. It is highly recommended that you add some form of check to your connector script to verify the path being scanned is a path that you want to allow visitors to see.

Requirements: jQuery
Demo: http://labs.abeautifulsite.net/projects/js/jquery/fileTree/demo/
License: Creative Commons License

Matt Berseth has written one brief post describing how you can incorporate the YUI style progress panel into your existing ASP.NET AJAX web application. He calculated the center of the control and manually placing the progress panel over the center of the rendered GridView. He made the calculation using the OnUpdating and OnUpdated animations of the UpdatePanelAnimationExtender. You can view the full tutorial on YUI Style AJAX Progress Indicator.

Requirements: YUI Framework
Demo: http://mattberseth2.com/yui_style_ajax_progress/
License: License Free

Another great Addon for Ext Framework again. Ext File Upload Form Widget is to provide an user interface for easy uploading of files to a server.

Files are first added to an “upload queue” and then they are uploaded to the server. Any file can be individually removed from the queue before upload or the whole queue can be cleared.

The result of upload is shown for each file by icons of success or failure and, in the case of failure, the server error message is shown as the tooltip of the failure icon.

Requirements: Ext Framework
Demo: http://aariadne.com/uploadform/
License: LGPL License

Ryan Scherf visited a site which used a drag & drop type download system where you drag an icon over another, then the download immediately starts. He realized this would be easy with the onslaught of the prototype.js and scriptaculous frameworks. Ryan Scherf shows us an example of using the built in Ajax drag & drop for Draggables / Droppables included in scriptaculous to achieve Drag to Download with Ajax.

Requirements: Prototype and Scriptaculous Frameworks
Demo: http://www.ryanscherf.net/demos/download/
License: License Free

Sometimes, when we are building websites and web applications, we need a percentage bar / progress bar to show the progress of a specific task. However, it is very difficult to find a working and easy solution without using Flash. Therefore WebAppers has created a simple Javascript based Percentage Bar / Progress Bar which is inspired by Bare Naked App. Bare Naked App taught us how to display Percentage Bar with 2 images only by using CSS. And then I used a little bit of Javascript to make it more interactivity. You can use it anywhere you can think of. Use your Imagination, I am sure you will find it useful somewhere.

Click the image above to see the demo and documentation of Progress / Percentage Bar. And please feel free to grab the package below and test it on your machine.

Download Ajax Progress Bar

Bram.us has created a better version written in objects and unobtrusive, You can view the documentation and demo through Dynamic Unobtrusive Javascript Progress/Percentage Bar.

Download Ajax Progress Bar Version 0.33 by Bram.us

If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave comments. I will update the script regularly.

Requirements: Prototype Framework
Demo: http://www.webappers.com/progressBar/
License: Creative Commons License