David Tong on web.dev

Integrating Canvas into your Web App

2011-08-05T00:00:00Z

Introduction #

In this article, I am going to discuss how to use the HTML5 canvas element to create, edit, open and export images. I will also introduce several open-source tools that are relevant to this technology, and provide some tips on how these techniques can be applied to an existing web application.

Check for canvas support #

The first thing to do is check that your browser fully supports HTML5 canvas. An easy way to do that is to use Modernizr to check for a certain feature:

if (Modernizr.canvas) {
  // Browser supports native HTML5 canvas.
} else {
  // Fallback to another solution, such as Flash, static image, download link, and so on.
}

Creating a canvas element and importing an image as binary or data URI #

First, you will need to have a canvas element in your page. Using JavaScript, you do the following:

var ctx = document.getElementById('new_canvas').getContext('2d');
var img = new Image();
img.src = "html5.gif"
img.onload = function () {
   ctx.drawImage(img,0,0);
}

In this code, the first step is to get the 2D context, which gives us access to the API that defines all the drawing methods and properties. Next, we create an image object and set the src property to the location of the binary image. When the image is loaded, we then use the drawImage() method to import the image into the canvas element. You can also use a data URI instead of the URL of an image. So instead of the URL above, you can do the following:

img.src="data:image/gif;base64,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"

You may ask, "Why would we use data URI instead of the binary image?" There are many advantages. And later in this article, you will see how easily we can export a canvas image as data URI. Here is a tool to convert a binary image file to a data URI.

Manipulating the canvas image #

If you have ever done any sort of Logo programming, drawing on a canvas uses the same concept. Mark Pilgrim has a chapter on canvas in his book, Dive Into HTML5. Based on an example in the chapter, we can add a grid diagram to the image that we imported above by using the following:.

var img2 = new Image();
img2.onload = function () {
  var context2 = document.getElementById('new_canvas2').getContext('2d');
  /* vertical lines then horizontal ones */
  for (var x = 0.5; x < 800; x += 10) { context2.moveTo(x, 0); context2.lineTo(x, 500); } 
  for (var y = 0.5; y < 500; y += 10) { context2.moveTo(0, y); context2.lineTo(800, y); }
  context2.strokeStyle = "#bbb";
  context2.stroke();
  context2.drawImage(img2,0,0);
}
img2.src = "html5.gif";

You can be more creative than this, but I leave it to the other tutorials listed in the appendix of this article for additional instructions on that subject. We haven't seen anything very exciting yet, but the next section will change that.

Exporting the canvas image as data URI #

The canvas element has a toDataURL() method, which takes a MIME type as the parameter. With this, we can export the canvas we used above.

window.open(document.getElementById('ctx').toDataURL("image/png"));

This exports the canvas as a PNG image into a new browser window. The image, however, is not an ordinary binary image, but is instead a base64-encoded data URI that can be rendered by a browser. Thus, from the user's standpoint, there is no difference between that and the binary equivalent. Note that the line of code above needs to be run on a web server. Running toDataURL() on a local file would fail. See this ticket for the status of this issue in Chrome.

Integrating into your web app #

Canvas can be a very powerful add-on to any web applications that store user-uploaded images.

For example, we have an online file storage application that stores user-uploaded images. We can add an edit button to open the image file in a canvas-based picture editor. If you don't want to write your own canvas editor, Harmony is one of the few canvas editors openly available. It features easy addition of brushes, which can satisfy your artistic tastes. When you choose "edit image" in the menu illustrated above, a canvas editor should open, and it would make a call to a custom read_file() function in the editor's init() function as follows:

function read_file() {
   var url = file_id;
   // hide a copy of the original image if it is needed to load
   document.getElementById('editableImage').src = url; 
   image = new Image();
   image.src = url;
   image.onload = function() {
      context.drawImage(image,0,0); // context, defined above, as canvas.getContext('2d')
   }
}

Adding HTML5 LocalStorage #

A little touchup that you should always consider--if you care about user experience--is applying LocalStorage. For example, if you have a big text area that requires the user to input a lot of information. When the user is about to submit the form, he accidentally closes the browser (or the browser crashes). The user might be frustrated and not bother rewriting the message again. In the demo below, instead of saving the data onto the server, simply save the image onto LocalStorage as data URI:

// Save Image
function saveToLocalStorage() {
    localStorage.setItem('canvas', canvas.toDataURL('image/png'));
}

// Load Image
function init() {
        // for demo purpose, all variables are declared in the parent scope
        canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
        context = canvas.getContext('2d');

        // Use Modernizr to detect whether localstorage is supported by the browser
        if (Modernizr.localstorage && localStorage.getItem('canvas'))
        {
            localStorageImage = new Image();
            localStorageImage.addEventListener("load", function (event) {
                //...
                context.drawImage(localStorageImage, 0, 0);
            }, false);
            localStorageImage.src = localStorage.getItem('canvas');
        }
//...
}

Saving canvas as a binary file onto the server #

You may want to save the canvas image as a binary file. There are many ways to do that. For example, you can perform a POST action to pass the data URI to your backend code. Using jQuery, it would look like this:

var url = '/api/write/' + file_id + '?data_url_to_binary=1';
var data_url = flattenCanvas.toDataURL('image/png');
var params = { contents: data_url };

$j.post(url, params, function(json){
   if (json.status == 'upload_ok')
   {
      //ok
   }
}, 'json');

This creates a XHR call with the content being the data URI. You then need to decode the base64 data URI on the server. In PHP, for example, you can do the following:

if ($_GET['data_url_to_binary'])
{
   $contents_split = explode(',', $contents);
   $encoded = $contents_split[count($contents_split)-1];
   $decoded = "";
   for ($i=0; $i < ceil(strlen($encoded)/256); $i++) {
      $decoded = $decoded . base64_decode(substr($encoded,$i*256,256)); 
   }
   $contents = $decoded; // output
}

In the first two lines, the data URI ($contents) is split into two parts. 'data:image/png;base64', and 'VBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAWwAAAB+CAIAAACPlLzKAAAACXBIWXMAAC4jAAAuIwF4pT92...' We will then use base64_decode() to decode the data URI string. The trick here is that there are issues decoding string greater than 5K, and this "divide-and-conquer" approach will be able to decode the string. Finally, using fwrite(), you can save the binary file, $contents, onto your server.

Enabling "save image" in browser #

Canvas is a HTML element. It looks pretty much like an image, but your browser does not provide a "Save Image As" option for it because it is not really an image element. To enable "Save Image As," you may dynamically create an Img element, and set the src to the data URI of the canvas element. You can also use the canvas2image utility.

A more advanced canvas editor #

If you are looking for a more advanced canvas editor, PaintWeb is probably worth a try. It was written by Mihai Sucan, a Romanian student, during the Google Summer of Code 2009. He also authored a few tutorials on writing your own online paint application.

For a more professional library, be sure to check out Pixati.

More fun with canvas? #

Paul Irish combined Harmony and $1 Unistroke Recognizer to create a little Easter Egg on his website.

You can also learn how to inspect canvas with the Chrome DevTools using our recent inspection features.

Go deeper with additional tutorials on canvas #

MDN: Canvas Tutorial
Dive into HTML5: Canvas
HTML5 canvas - the basics on Dev.Opera covers the basic drawing primitives
Building a Breakout clone in canvas includes basic motion, physics and interactivity

Case Study - Drag and Drop Download in Chrome

2010-09-25T00:00:00Z

Introduction #

Drag and Drop (DnD) is one of the many great features of HTML 5, and it is supported in Firefox 3.5, Safari, Chrome and IE. Google recently rolled out a new feature that allows Google Chrome users to drag and drop files from the browser to the desktop. It is an extremely convenient feature, but it was not widely known until Ryan Seddon posted an article on the discoveries of his reverse engineering on this new feature.

At Box.net, we are very excited about how these new capabilities are enabling us to improve our cloud content management solution, as well as contribute more to the developer community. I am pleased to announce that DnD Download has been integrated into our product. Now, Box users can drag files directly from a Chrome browser to their desktop to download and save the file.

I would like to share how I went through several iterations during the development of this new feature.

Check for Drag and Drop API Support #

The first thing to do is check that your browser fully supports HTML5 drag and drop. An easy way to do that is use a library called Modernizr to check for a certain feature:

if (Modernizr.draganddrop) {
// Browser supports native HTML5 DnD.
} else {
// Fallback to a library solution.
}

Iteration 1 #

I first tried the approach that Seddon found in Gmail. I added a new attribute called 'data-downloadurl' to anchor links of files. This process uses HTML5's custom data attributes. In data-downloadurl, you need to include the MIME type of the file, the destination file name (the desired file name of the downloaded file), and the download URL of the file. Thus, this is added to the HTML template:

<a href="#" class="dnd"
data-downloadurl="{$item.mime}:{$item.filename}:{$item.url}"></a>

which would create an output like the following:

<a href="#" class="dnd" data-downloadurl=
"image/jpeg:Penguins.jpg:https://www.box.net/box_download_file?file_id=f66690"></a>

Based on a jQuery plugin that von Schorsch created, which is based on Seddon's article, I added a jQuery plugin that does a bit of browser feature detection. Highlighted are the lines that I added to von Schorsch's version:

(function($) {

$.fn.extend({
dragout: function() {
var files = this;
if (files.length > 0) {
    $(files).each(function() {
    var url = (this.dataset && this.dataset.downloadurl) ||
                this.getAttribute("data-downloadurl");
    if (this.addEventListener) {
        this.addEventListener("dragstart", function(e) {
        if (e.dataTransfer && e.dataTransfer.constructor == Clipboard &&
            e.dataTransfer.setData('DownloadURL', 'http://www.box.net')) {
            e.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", url);
        }
        },false);
    }
    });
}
}
});

})(jQuery);

The reason I did this is because without prior browser detection, doing addEventListener() to a HTML element in IE will create a JavaScript error because IE uses its own attachEvent() method. e.dataTransfer is undefined in IE (as of now), e.dataTransfer.constructor returns DataTransfer in Firefox (Mozilla), while Webkit browsers (Chrome and Safari) implements the Clipboard constructor. In Safari, e.dataTransfer.setData('DownloadURL','http://www.box.net') returns false, and Chrome returns true for this statement. Doing all of the tests mentioned above leave the feature only available to Chrome. You may argue that I could simply do the following:

/chrome/.test( navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase() )

But I prefer feature detection to browser detection, though this technically does not detect that DnD download will work.

Problems of iteration 1 #

Because we currently have on-page DnD enabled for moving/copying files between folders, we need a way to distinguish DnD Download and on-page DnD. Technically, we cannot combine these two actions. We cannot predict whether the user wants to move a file to another folder within the Box.net account or drag it to their desktop. These two actions are completely different. Moreover, there is no easy way to detect if the cursor is outside the browser window. You could use window.onmouseout (IE) and document.onmouseout (other browsers) to attach mouseout event to the document, and check if e.relatedTarget.nodeName == "HTML" (e is the mouseout event or window.event, whichever is available). But this is quite difficult due to event bubbling. The event may trigger randomly when you are over an image or layer, especially in a complex web app like Box.net.
We want the user to explicitly do something to prevent them from dragging something out to the desktop by mistake. Potentially, an editor of a Box folder can upload an executable file that does something undesirable on the computer of whoever downloads it. We want the user to know exactly when a file would be downloaded to the desktop.

Iteration 2 #

We decided to experiment with control + drag (dragging a file when the Windows Ctrl key is pressed). This action is consistent with what people can do on a Windows desktop to duplicate a file. It also requires extra work (but not an extra step) from the user to prevent files from downloaded by mistake.

The jQuery plugin in iteration 1 is abandoned now because we need to tightly integrate DnD Download with the on-page DnD. For those who are interested, we use a modified version of jQuery UI's Draggable plugin. Inside the mousedown event of a target element, we put the following code:

// DnD to desktop when the Ctrl key is pressed while dragging
if (e.ctrlKey) {
var that = $(e.target);
// make sure it is not IE (attachEvent).
if (that[0].addEventListener) {
    that[0].addEventListener("dragstart",function(e) {
        // e.dataTransfer in Firefox uses the DataTransfer constructor
        // instead of Clipboard
        // make sure it's Chrome and not Safari (both webkit-based).
        // setData on DownloadURL returns true on Chrome, and false on Safari
        if (e.dataTransfer && e.dataTransfer.constructor == Clipboard &&
            e.dataTransfer.setData('DownloadURL','http://www.box.net')) {
        var url = (this.dataset && this.dataset.downloadurl) ||
                    this.getAttribute("data-downloadurl");
        e.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", url);
        }
    }, false);
    return;
}
}

Other than enabling the Ctrl key, we also added a little toaster tooltip, which shows up when the user performs a regular on-page drag. It tells the user that files can be downloaded if the file icon is dragged to the desktop while the Ctrl key is being held.

Problems of iteration 2 #

Due to security concerns, Box.net does not expose permanent URLs to directly access static files. This is not unique to Box.net. Any online storage service should not expose permanent URLs without an extra layer of security to check if the file is public and whether the intended download is requested by a user with appropriate permissions.

When following the "download URL" (e.g. https://www.box.net/box_download_file?file_id=f_60466690) of an item, it returns a "302 Found" status code, and redirects to a random URL (e.g. https://www.box.net/dl/6045?a=1f1207a084&m=168299,11211&t=2&b=aca15820d924e3b) that is the temporary "actual URL" of the file. The challenge is that it expires every few minutes, and so placing it in the HTML output is impractical. It could return "404" when the user tries to download the file at the link in the HTML output generated several minutes ago.

DnD Download only works on actual URLs that point directly to a resource. If redirection is involved, it is currently not smart enough to follow the chain (and it should never follow the chain due to security). Therefore, although the link https://www.box.net/box_download_file?file_id=f_60466690 from above would let you download the file when you enter it in the browser location bar, it would not work with DnD.

To better illustrate the differences between an "actual URL" and a "redirect URL", see the screenshots:

302 redirect URL

Actual URL

Iteration 3 #

Let's try Ajax.

We slightly modified the code in the previous iteration and came up with the following:

// DnD to desktop when the Ctrl key is pressed while dragging
if (e.ctrlKey) {
var that = $(e.target);
// make sure it is not IE (attachEvent).
if (that[0].addEventListener) {
that[0].addEventListener("dragstart", function(e) {
    // e.dataTransfer in Firefox uses the DataTransfer constructor
    // instead of Clipboard
    // make sure it's Chrome and not Safari (both webkit-based).
    // setData on DownloadURL returns true on Chrome, and false on Safari
    if (e.dataTransfer && e.dataTransfer.constructor == Clipboard &&
        e.dataTransfer.setData('DownloadURL', 'http://www.box.net')) {
    var url = (this.dataset && this.dataset.downloadurl) ||
                this.getAttribute("data-downloadurl");
    $.ajax({
        complete: function(data) {
        e.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", data.responseText);
        },
        type:'GET',
        url: url
    });
    }
}, false);
return;
}
}

This makes sense. Upon dragstart, it immediately makes an Ajax call to the server to retrieve the latest download URL of the file. However, it does not work.

It turns out that it needs to be a synchronous call (or as I like to call it, Sjax). Seems like setData has to be done at the time when the event listener is attached. According to jQuery's API, the highlighted lines become:

$.ajax({
async: false,
complete: function(data) {
e.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", data.responseText);
},
type: 'GET',
url: url
});

And it works fine until I unplugged the network connection. Because it does a synchronous call, the browser freezes until the call is successful. If the Ajax call fails (404, or if it does not respond at all), the browser would not defrost at all as if it had crashed.

It is much safer to do something like the following:

$.ajax({
async: false,
complete: function(data) {
e.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", data.responseText);
},
error: function(xhr) {
if (xhr.status == 404) {
    xhr.abort();
}
},
type: 'GET',
timeout: 3000,
url: url
});

For a demo of this feature, feel free to upload a static file to a Box.net account. Drag the file icon out to your desktop while holding the Ctrl key. If you do not have an account, it literally takes less than 30 seconds to create one.

With this feature, you can be creative and make a lot of things possible. Dragging an image to a Windows printer dialog will immediately have the image printed. You can copy a song from Box to your mobile phone's drive, drag a file from Box to your IM client in order to transfer it directly to your friend… This opens up endless possibilities to increase your productivity.

Dragging a file to the printer.

Dragging a file to IM client.

Thoughts, and future improvements #

This is still less than ideal, as a synchronous call could lock up the browser for a brief moment. The HTML 5 Web Worker does not help either, as a Web Worker has to be asynchronous. It does seem like setData has to be done at the time when the event listener is attached.

In reality, the performance is pretty acceptable. The synchronous Ajax (Sjax) call merely retrieves an URL string, which should be pretty fast. It does come with big overhead in the HTTP header, which can possibly be addressed by WebSockets. However, until we see more usage of this kind of technology, it is not worth using WebSockets to send every little update down to the client.

I also hope that the capability of multi-file download will be added to the API in the future. Combined with custom checkboxes to select multiple files on the user interface, this would be incredible. Furthermore, it would be even nicer if client-generated files, such as text files generated from the result of a form submitted, can be downloaded in this way.

Column dnd
Rearrange list
Creating an image gallery
Exporting a canvas image

References #

Drag and Drop specification