67178 - "download file" option in Open Web Location dialog

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: File Handling, enhancement)

Description

[Jesse Ruderman]

I sometimes need to download large HTML files using Mozilla, but don't have a 
page with a link to the file I'm downloading.  I usually end up typing in 
data:text/html,<a href="url">foo and then right-clicking the link :(  I'd like 
to see a "download file" option added to the Open Web Location dialog.

Questions/potential problems:

- Should it be "download" or "save"?  "(download) target", "(download) url", 
or "(download) file"?

- Currently the text next to the drop-down is "Open in:", so the whole thing 
shows up as "Open in: [Current Navigator window]."  Can "download" be made to 
fit with this text, should the text be changed, or should "Open in" be moved 
inside the drop-down items that need it (so there would be no text outside)?

- Should there also be an "open" or "open with..." option?  If this is added, 
we need to make sure that whatever security warnings are added to 
the "downloading unknown mime type" dialog are also seen by people using this 
option.  One possibility would be to just add one new option to Open Web 
Location called "save/open" which would open a dialog similar to the "download 
unknown mime tpye" dialog, but that might seem redundant.

Comment 1

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Having the word `save' *anywhere* in an `Open' dialog is a recipe for 
disaster ...

See also bug 10546.

Comment 2

[Jesse Ruderman]

mpt: I'm sure there's a better place to put this kind of functionality than the 
Open Web Location dialog.  Can you give any hints as to where that is? :)

Comment 3

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Yes -- the menus of the browser window once you have opened the file.

Comment 4

[Jesse Ruderman]

That's not an option for 13-megabyte HTML files full of tables :)  At least not 
with 128MB RAM.

Comment 5

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

bill, methinks this would be yours [change as needed, o'course].

Comment 6

[Jesse Ruderman]

This bug is one possible way to fix to bug 62253, "[RFE] Option to force to 
save an URL explicitly".

Comment 7

[Bill Law]

Setting target milestone.  Need to work out the UI issue(s).

Comment 8

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

spam: over to File Handling.

Comment 9

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

moving open bugs pertaining to the Open Web Location dialog to [e-mail]
as qa contact.

to find all bugspam pertaining to this, set your search string to
"GottaGetThisHenOut!"

Comment 10

[Andy Lyttle]

I agree that this is needed (having "Save Page As..." after the file has been
rendered is a great feature, but that's not always what I want to do).  I also
agree that it should be "Download", not "Save" - the button indicates the action
I want to take right now, and I have not yet downloaded anything to save.

Comment 11

[Adam Kennedy]

If an option in the open web location for some variant of "Save/Download [
directly ] to disk/a file" isn't the best place, then how about a 

File->"Save Web Location..." located with above of below the current File->"Save
Page As" menu item.

I have a real need for something like this to, in my case for getting old of big
PDF files where I don't want look at the file, just download one or more of them.

Yet another alternative would be to put a menu option in the "Download Manager"
to "Download Web Location"...

Either would suffice for me, but who knows which one would be easiest to implement.

Comment 12

[Vedran Miletic]

retargeting

Comment 13

[Dale R. Worley]

I would like to add my voice as requesting this feature.

A reason for adding this feature that has not been mentioned is that there may
be file types that one has a program to display, but one has not or can not set
up Mozilla to display it correctly.  Thus, it is impossible to open the file and
then save it.

In regard to where to place this feature in the menus, File -> Open Web Location
*is* the natural place to look for it, despite that the grammar doesn't work.  I
would suggest adding an item to the "Open in:" drop-down that says "Save Target
As...", to match the menu obtained when right-clicking on a link.  This wording
also makes it clear *what* is being saved.