The company I work for, provides a Java webapplication deployed on Tomcat for public office processes automation.
For a faster and user-friendly file modification of attachments loaded into the application, the system I describe is used.
The user of the application clicks on a button to open the attachment whose description he reads on the webapp. A codesigned Java applet downloaded via jnlp, downloads the selected blob file (eg myfile.doc). A completion progress bar is showed until the download process is ended. The local path is saved fot the later upload.
To open the file automatically, the Operating System uses the MIME-TYPE related software on the client (eg MS Word for myfile.doc). When the user ends file modifications, the application uploads it again from saved local path to the same db record using an upload servlet triggered by a click on a button. A completion progress bar is showed until the upload process is ended.
This system avoids users to go through the related boring manual operations. Unfortunately, now it only works correctly in old browser MS Explorer.
I'm looking for a modern cross-platform solution. I'm evaluating to substitute the applet with a client side little application to do the job. Do you have any suggestions?