I want to read a list of files from a Git repo and make them viewable via a web interface.

2    08 Sep 2015 20:29 by u/groovyStallion

I have been tasked to set up a spot for people to collaborate on files and have them published instantly. Google Drive is not an option.

I've been able to set up a Github-pages branch where Jekyll reads markdown files from a /content folder and pushes to a webpage, but my client insists that he be able to use any kind of file (Word docs, Powerpoint slides, photos, diagrams from Omnigraffle). Is this possible? Are there any open-source projects like this out there?

Thank you!

5 comments

2 u/Master_Foo 09 Sep 2015 08:31

Assuming you are working from Github, this might not be possible. You'd be limited by:

  1. The Github API

  2. The capabilities of the browser to display an arbitrary file. Can a browser naturally display diagrams from Omnigraffe? If not, you are screwed. What happens when your client wants to display a file type that no browser supports?

Browsers aren't meant to display EVERY arbitrary file type. Sometimes Microsoft will go further than the standard and build functionality to read .doc files, but why would Microsoft spend resources to display Omnigraffle files?

There might be a plug-in that allows a browser to display a specific file (For instance PDFs), but this is something your client is going to need to install on a case by case basis on his browser, and not all browsers might have a plug-in for that file type. (If a plug-in exists at all).

This sounds like a case where your client would rather be stubborn and expect reality to conform to his wishes, as opposed to learning the proper way of working collaboratively. You probably won't be able to appease this person, so, one way or another he is probably going to get angry.

You might as well grow some balls and accept that he isn't going to like the "Realistic Solution" and then, when the Wookie calms down, teach him the "Realistic Solution".

Or, you can make promises you can't keep. See how that works out for you.

Good luck!

Edit: Send your client a link to this message and I'll be the one to break the news to him.

0 u/groovyStallion [OP] 09 Sep 2015 21:55

Ha, alright. Thanks. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't possible before I told him that.

1 u/FFX01 09 Sep 2015 05:45

Are you trying to display the files from github in a word doc/powerpoint/etc or are you trying to pull a word doc/powerpoint/etc from github?

0 u/groovyStallion [OP] 09 Sep 2015 21:56

The latter.

0 u/FFX01 10 Sep 2015 04:39

Like the other guy said, there's no realistic way to do it. You could try serving the files from a private server.