Problems with jQuery getJSON using local files in Chrome

Question

I have a very simple test page that uses XHR requests with jQuery's $.getJSON and $.ajax methods. The same page works in some situations and not in others. Specificially, it doesn't work in Chrome on Ubuntu.

I'm testing on Ubuntu 9.10 with Chrome 5.0.342.7 beta and Mac OSX 10.6.2 with Chrome 5.0.307.9 beta.

• It works correctly when files are installed on a web server from both Ubuntu/Chrome and Mac/Chrome (try it out here).
• It works correctly when files are installed on local hard drive in Mac/Chrome (accessed with file:///...).
• It FAILS when files are installed on local hard drive in Ubuntu/Chrome (access with file:///...).

The small set of 3 files can be downloaded in a tar/gzip file from here: http://issues.tauren.com/testjson/testjson.tgz

When it works, the Chrome console will say:

XHR finished loading: "http://issues.tauren.com/testjson/data.json".
index.html:16Using getJSON
index.html:21
Object
result: "success"
__proto__: Object
index.html:22success
XHR finished loading: "http://issues.tauren.com/testjson/data.json".
index.html:29Using ajax with json dataType
index.html:34
Object
result: "success"
__proto__: Object
index.html:35success
XHR finished loading: "http://issues.tauren.com/testjson/data.json".
index.html:46Using ajax with text dataType
index.html:51{"result":"success"}
index.html:52undefined

When it doesn't work, the Chrome console will show this:

index.html:16Using getJSON
index.html:21null
index.html:22Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'result' of null
index.html:29Using ajax with json dataType
index.html:34null
index.html:35Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'result' of null
index.html:46Using ajax with text dataType
index.html:51
index.html:52undefined

Notice that it doesn't even show the XHR requests, although the success handler is run. I swear this was working previously in Ubuntu/Chrome, and am worried something got messed up. I already uninstalled and reinstalled Chrome, but that didn't help.

Can someone try it out locally on your Ubuntu system and tell me if you have any troubles? Note that it seems to be working fine in Firefox.

Solution 1

This is a known issue with Chrome.

Here's the link in the bug tracker:

Issue 40787: Local files doesn't load with Ajax

Solution 2

Another way to do it is to start a local HTTP server on your directory. On Ubuntu and MacOs with Python installed, it's a one-liner.

Go to the directory containing your web files, and :

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

Then connect to http://localhost:8000/index.html with any web browser to test your page.

Solution 3

On Windows, Chrome might be installed in your AppData folder:

"C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\Application"

Before you execute the command, make sure all of your Chrome windows are closed and not otherwise running. Or, the command line param would not be effective.

chrome.exe --allow-file-access-from-files

Solution 4

You can place your json to js file and save it to global variable. It is not asynchronous, but it can help.

Solution 5

@Mike On Mac, type this in Terminal:

open -b com.google.chrome --args --disable-web-security

View more solutions

Comments

[Nick Craver]

My guess would be Chrome in inappropriately applying the same-origin policy and not issuing requests thinking it's a different domain. Try launching chrome via command line using --disable-web-security and see if it works?

[Tauren]

@Nick: thanks, I'll give that a try and see if it helps.

[Joey Adams]

I ran into the same situation, and --disable-web-security worked, thanks!

[Tauren]

Issue 40787 as located by @Daniel Furrer suggests using --allow-file-access-from-files as a "safer" workaround.

[Ehsan Akbar]

disable-web-security sounds like a terrible workaround ... i wouldn't recommend that due to security risks.

[Sakie]

merged and further beaten^H^H^H^discussed at: code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=47416 .

[donohoe]

Use this for OSX instead: open /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app --args --allow-file-access-from-files

[edt]

This worked form me (on Windows 7). First, I went to the directory listed above, then shift+right click on the Google Chrome icon, select "Open Command Line Here" from context menu and finally paste in the command line code given above. Chrome started and displayed content from ajax request to my local machine as desired.

[edt]

And... You have to do this every time you open Chrome :(((

[stackoverflowuser2010]

michael's command didn't work for me. Instead, I used this command-line: /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --allow-file-access-from-files &

[Joel Anair]

That is awesome! Thanks, Sébastien!

[bafromca]

I still receive XMLHttpRequest cannot load _url_. Origin http://localhost:8000 is not allowed by Access-Control-Allow-Origin.

[Damien Del Russo]

Saved my butt after many seconds of frustration. Thank you sir.

[Tamlyn]

There's also Mongoose: a multiplatform web server in a single file.

[S. Kirby]

On Python 3 it's python -m http.server. Also, it works fine in Windows too.

[rluks]

this "all of your Chrome window is closed" is very important!