Allow user to save a case file.

[jakedurell]

Given that I have assembled a client's list of docket entries

When I click "Save case"

Then I will download a .exp file which I can later reload in the extension to view the case again--should I need to work on other clients before that matter is finished.

Saving file includes:
-Save client specific cover letter text

[alexch]

TODO: R&D on encryption -- how much is actually needed? Will something simple like ROT13 encoding work or does it need to be stronger?

[jakedurell]

@alexch @doub1ejack - The only thing I am looking to accomplish with encryption is to make it so the file wouldn't come up on a hard drive search.

Maybe we can have the user put in an option pin on the file before saving?

[alexch]

also, it's not clear to me that it's even possible to save and load arbitrary files via the Chrome Extension API. It's possible using https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/fileSystem/ but that API was part of Chrome Apps (which are now deprecated), so we'd need to test if it works in Chrome Extensions anymore

[doub1ejack]

That's a great point about file I/O @alexch. Ultimately, the "file" could just be a relatively small json object too - it could very happily be living in a database column. I've been wondering if it would make sense to save encrypted files to our own remote store. I've been assuming that we could easily POST the info to whatever little api we wanted to build to receive it - though I haven't looked into the chrome api myself.

Doing something like this would be more effort than saving the file locally, but I think it would also be possible to make a cleaner experience for the users. (I'm sure the folks who would be saving & sending unfinished petitions around are going to be doing it quite a bit.) I'm pretty sure we could write a simple express server that lives on a Firebase function (basically a lambda) and saves to Firestore without ever hitting a paid usage tier. I think that would actually be pretty straightforward relative to figuring out the UI for saving/sending/receiving/loading these things. 🤔

[jakedurell]

@doub1ejack that would for sure require a modification of our judiciary MOU. Let's rule out local options first. Ideally we can get a file that can be passed among attorneys and staff.

[alexch]

@jakedurell , I seem to recall you also suggested just showing a block of encrypted text that the user could copy and paste into an email or chat or whatever. Essentially, legalese copypasta :-)
Hmmm... IANAL but it seems that way we wouldn't be responsible for potential liability for retaining that info under our Firebase account or whatever...

[jakedurell]

@alexch i think I introduced that as a bad idea. It is the idea of aggregating data that is expressly prohibited under our MOU.

[jakedurell]

So one idea @alexch @doub1ejack is that we save an html. The loading user just opens the html file in chrome which says “this page a client case file for the attorney listed below, but it will replace your current client file if loaded into ExpungeVT”. The user clicks a "load" button in pop up to scrape which maybe follows with another warning.

Not sure if chrome has a way to trigger "open file" from extension but maybe that's more feasible than loading the file into the extension. It's not a necessary feauture.

When we figure out what rough approach is feasible and desirable, we can wireframe it.

[alexch]

• "encrypted" is inaccurate; should be "obfuscated"
• todo: improve instructions for "Load File"

[jakedurell]

Per @alexch - need to have a response for user when clicking load case file and no case file is on the screen. , e.g.:

Please open a case file to load it into ExpungeVT. Case files typically end in ".expunge.html"

[alexch]

or

Please double-click your ".expunge.html" file to start loading it into ExpungeVT.