CKFinder integration.

[smileBeda]

I do not understand if elFinder allows CK Editor users to actually circumvent the purchase of a CKFinder license.

It seems that CKEditor makes it 100% impossible to actually pick from already uploaded files when inserting files into the editor.
This is a big drawback and I am looking for a free open source solution that allows to browse already uploaded files to insert those into the editor.
Just like simple upload of CKEditor does, but that one only allows you to upload new files. Of course no user is going to re-upload each image over and over again. They will want to choose from already uploaded files.

Does elFinder integration make this possible?

[nao-pon]

I'm not familiar with CKFinder, so I'm not sure if elFinder will replace it.

However, you can integrate elFinder with CKEditor to insert existing images and files and upload images and files.

Live demo

• With CKEditor4
• With CKEditor5

[smileBeda]

Now I’m confused 😆
The very wiki of elFinder says to build on top of CKFinder: https://github.com/Studio-42/elFinder/wiki/Integration-with-CKEditor-5

anyway, I’m supper happy to not use ckfinder
Do you have a guide or so on how you integrated that in that demo?
Otherwise I’ll just look at the page source, should be ok too to get me started.

thanks!

[smileBeda]

The sample for CK5 shared above, is clearly using ckfinder.

That, is a paid tool of creditor. It's not free - thus, you cannot use it for free.
It is officially a paid plugin: https://ckeditor.com/docs/ckeditor5/latest/features/images/image-upload/ckfinder.html:

CKFinder is a commercial solution. This feature is enabled by default in all predefined builds for convenience, but the editor will still work properly without activating it.

Also from the build:

Is this somehow another plugin with the precise same name?
(I can clearly see it working locally too, after using your source example, but... they say it will stop at some point on their doc, unless you subscribe.)

[nao-pon]

The online demo sample does not use CKFinder, but uses ckeditor5-adapter-ckfinder included in CKEditor and is integrated with elFinder.

[smileBeda]

This is not what I see.
When you build CKFinder with https://ckeditor.com/ckeditor-5/online-builder/, and exclude CKFinder, you will get JS errors saying CKFinder was not found, because the integration JS Code from the demo explicitly requires that command: ckfinder:
const ckf = editor.commands.get('ckfinder'),

This Wiki additionally states the same: https://github.com/Studio-42/elFinder/wiki/Integration-with-CKEditor-5

It works in your test site because you use the default build, in which case ckFinder is always included, it however is not free.

[nao-pon]

I made a mistake in the pointer. The correct name is ckeditor5-ckfinder.

In the demo sample, it uses the ckfinder plugin only to display the toolbar icon, and clicking it does not create instance of CKFinder and does not run CKFinder.

I couldn't find a clear document as to whether this usage would be a licensing issue.

My wishful thinking is that CKFinder is paid, but the ckfinder plugin that launches it is not. Therefore, if you do not enable CKFinder, you may have no problem using the ckfinder plugin. Well, this is my selfish speculation.

Please ask the CKFinder side about using the ckfinder plugin in such a way that you never enable CKFinder. And if you have any problems with such usage, please let us know.

[smileBeda]

I’ve reached out to them and am expecting reply soon.
I’ll then update here with findings.

How old is that demo? If it’s older than 30 days it means it’s still working and thus should be ok.

thanks!

[nao-pon]

The wiki page was created in 17 Jan 2019, so it's been working with similar code since then. It doesn't access the CKFinder cloud, so I don't think there's anything wrong with the expiration date.