1671647 - file open dialog is missing features

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Untriaged, defect)

Description

[Eric Benton]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:75.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/75.0

Steps to reproduce:

In firefox 73.0.1 64-bit (linux) if you use the File->OpenFile menu option, the dialog that comes up is missing a lot of common features like being able to type a path or sort with dirs kept first (at top of list), include/exclude hidden files. This makes it extremely cumbersome to use. I've not seen any other program use such a clumsy file dialog. Surely this is a relatively easy fix.

Actual results:

None of the features described are available nor configurable
This should be considered a bug not an enhancement as its pretty much standard faire for everything else out there

Comment 1

[Timea Cernea [:tbabos][inactive]]

Hi Eric,

After a bit of research on this, here are the following items you requested:

1. Type a path:

• This can be enabled using Ctrl+L shortcut while the file open dialog is opened. (There is also a guide on how to enable this by default on linux - because it is not - http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2020/05/textual-path-ubuntu-20-04-files/ - but I am not sure if it also applies it to Firefox (my ubuntu is giving me a hard time with installing stuff, so please give it a shot yourself if you want to experiment)

2. Sorting:

• Right-click on any of the files and a context menu will be opened that has the "Sort Folders before Files" option

3. Hidden files:

• Right-click on any of the files and a context menu will be opened that has the "Show Hidden Files" option

If there is anything else I missed to answer please let me know, hope the above helped. Also attached an image for reference.

Comment 2

[Timea Cernea [:tbabos][inactive]]

Attachment: Requested Options

Comment 3

[Eric Benton]

Ok, that all works. It sure is counter intuitive tho. Ctrl-L? What does that represent?
Can the Ctrl-L result be made persistent? So that the path box is always there?
Also, the path box doesnt take paths very well, Try typing one path component, by that i mean suppose you are in home and in home you have the path ~/p1/p2,p2->x1,p2->x2,p2->x3/p2->p3/p2->p4 type p1 and hit enter, then type p2 and you will end up getting a 'file not found' error.
If you wish to see this whole thing done right then try KDE's Kate, i urge you to play with kate's file open menu item and the dialog that comes up.

Comment 4

[Timea Cernea [:tbabos][inactive]]

The reason why the direct input of filename was disabled a long time ago is Bug 258875, a high-security issue, you can still enable it using Ctrl+L which is a linux specific shortcut, not firefox.
There were several other reports like this on this matter for which you can follow explanations in Bug 374011 if you would like to.

Comment 5

[Eric Benton]

So, its not a problem if you have to press Ctrl+L first but it is a problem if you don't have to?
This a dialog, not a browser pre-se.
Why is it not a problem in a lot of other apps?
Did you play with kde kate like a was saying above? I want to be sure you really understand what I am saying. The dialog is for picking a file, it should be able to do that without some kind of risky fancy preview or whatever, just let us type in a path, component<enter>component<enter>etc and please offer a persistent option for having the path box shown by default.

Comment 6

[Timea Cernea [:tbabos][inactive]]

Yes, the difference is: a user deliberately choosing to do something unsafe is very different from settings that make it trivial to trick a user into doing something unsafe.

Comment 7

[Timea Cernea [:tbabos][inactive]]

Closing this as resolved:invalid. For Sorting and Hidden files the answer was given in Comment 1 and the "Type a path" request is a security issue further discussed in Bug 374011.