microsoft / microsoft/AzureStorageExplorer

Don't require SAS generation for simple previews

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:gear: file preview :gear: sas :grey_question: investigate
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Description

Problem

Simple previews leverage built-in web technologies to render common data formats, including PDFs. The preview panel's location just needs to be set to a blob or file URL. In order to provide access, a SAS must be generated. However, even if a user has read permissions, a blob cannot be viewed in Storage Explorer if the user is unable to generate a SAS URL to the blob/file.

Desired Solution

Improve on the existing simple preview so that SAS is not necessary to preview data. Rather than generate a SAS URL, it should be possible to download the data to a temporary location and generate a local file URL instead.

Alternatives and Workarounds

Download and open the file using another application.

Additional Context

Simple preview operates by attempting to generate a SAS URL for the blob/file and setting the preview panel's location to that SAS URL. Built-in web technology then renders the content. Obviously, this won't work if the user does not have the ability to generate SAS (either because key-based authentication is not available or the user does not have permission to generate user delegation keys).

This feature request is on behalf of a user who opened an Azure service request.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing the existing simple preview flow that generates a SAS URL and sets the preview panel's location. Determine how readable blob or file data can be downloaded to a temporary location and exposed through a local file URL; done means simple previews work for users who can read the data but cannot generate SAS credentials.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
azure
Domain
cloud
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

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