How to access local file system from Flex web application?

I'm trying to access local file system开发者_开发知识库 from Flex web application. I know it is pretty difficult, but I think there must be a way. Is there a way that Flex app can use AIR components or maybe web application can call some AIR module in order to choose files and upload?

There is no direct way that a web based Flex/Flash application can access AIR based APIs. They aren't built into the Flash Player, but are rather extensions built into the AIR runtime. You can't access them directly because they aren't there.

If you have an AIR app installed on the user's local machine you can, in theory, use that app as a proxy with localConnection. That way the AIR app can access the file system directly, triggered by the browser based app. I'm not sure how user interaction would work, though.

If you have server software installed on the client machine, you can trigger file processing commands from Flex using RmoteObject/HTTPService/WebService commands. This wouldn't give the user any interaction ability and is not usually practical unless you have strong control over your client machines.

Either approach would present an app installation nightmare; which almost defeats the purpose of a browser based app in the first place.

You can use FileReference's methods to ask user to select files to open (load into flash, upload into server) or save (from server or bytes from flash).