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DatPart

Proof of concept Dat site viewer extension [and app] for Chrome.

Sites can be loaded via the .dat_site. top-level domain.

For example you can load the Acrylic Style Dat site at http://1c7639eedaf8f7533f92e7c34f5a6d2b43645347836ab5e9f2489e89d3b08306.dat_site/

Oh also, Chrome's Omnibar treats all non-standard TLDs as searches, so you'll have to type the inital HTTP:// or put a slash at the end of the URL for it to load the site.

(BitTorrent/WebTorrent support coming soon, it's already coded into the extension just not the server app. Also it'll load the same torrent sites as PeerCloud and BitTorrent Maelstrom)

Try it

Get the Chrome extension here

Get the Desktop app here

Note: You need both for this to work.

How this works

Basically all this does is use the Chrome Extension WebRequest API and Proxy API to intercept any requests to the top level domain .dat_site. When that TLD is requested, Chrome uses the Proxy API to redirect the request to the local Electron server at http://127.0.0.1:9989/ and from there the server loads the Dat (using sparse mode) and returns the page or file that was requested.

To-Do

  • Update to Hypercore/Hyperdrive.
  • Firefox support (this is trouble as the Firefox WebExtension Proxy API is different, I'm just being lazy here).
    • Firefox for Android support.
  • Opera support.
  • Mac OS support.
  • Linux support.
  • Chrome OS support (aka a Chrome packaged app). (In the works!)
  • WebRTC support (for Chrome OS and providing a web proxy). (In the works!)
  • UDP support on Chrome OS.
  • dat:// link support.
    • This'll require coming up with a way to simply parse Dat URLs in a regular web browser, as parse-dat-url doesn't work very well on the web (there's likely a fix that can be done with regular expressions but I suck at them so... yeah).
  • Have the extension automatically open the app in the background when a .dat_site is requested via the Native Messaging API.
  • Polyfill the Beaker Browser APIs (doesn't need all of them, just the ones to make sure certain sites are viewable, e.g. Fritter and Rotonde sites).
  • Notifications! For everything possible (optional of course). ✓
  • Options! (A real options page) ✓
  • Optional background functionality.
  • Maybe support regular domain names the way Beaker Browser does, I don't know how this would be done via a browser extension but I feel like it might be possible (if well executed this could be useful for easing bandwidth/data use on certain sites).
  • Safari support?
  • Internet Explorer support?

To-Do [Short term + more specific list]

  • Dat URL for current tab in the extension pop up. ✓
  • Support for 404 pages by reading “fallback_page” in dat.json (updated this further to work the same way it does in Beaker Browser). ✓
  • A button in the extension pop up to tell the app to download the entire Dat.
  • A button in the extension pop up to tell the app to delete the entire Dat.
  • A landing page for introducing users to the extension/app. ✓
  • Display a badge for Dat sites. ✓
  • The ability to submit dat links or hashes as searches in the extension via the omnibox API (needs Dat parse for web). (Works via hacky method, needs lots of improving)
    • Come up with a fallback for when the dat can't be found (Maybe a "Did you mean?" page or something).
  • Fix how much the server app checks for the dat.json file (it seriously goes nuts, checks the network for dat.json again on every HTTP request).
  • Code something to let the extension know to hide the "Pin" or "Unpin" button (likely going to be more HTTP headers, for now).
  • Build a web page that displays a list of the Dats stored offline for clarity (this is the last thing I need before building a Mac OS X and Linux version).
  • A page for deleting dats and other information.
  • Get Travis CI working with this repo to auto-build Mac OS X and Linux versions.
  • Get AppVeyor working with this repo to auto-build Windows versions.
  • Provide an optional feature to convert dat:// URLs that aren't anchor links to anchor links (Useful for sites like Twitter).
    • Provide an option to have said links either stay in the dat:// URL format for Beaker Browser or other Dat apps, or to have them switch to the .dat_site domain name format for DatPart to open them (consider providing a context menu item for letting users on the fly decide what should be done).

Credits

Donate

Donate to the Dat Project and the Beaker Browser teams, we're not affiliated but this relies on their work.