Web Dialog box used to capture a full file path / UNC
I had to resort to this.
The application's user interface is posting to methods back on the site's controllers.
Then code executing on the site's server (Python) is providing the user's interface lists of folders and files on the file server's shares.
With some effort I will be able to provide the user with a rich and comprehensive UX that will effectively be the same originally desired.  Or at least enough so.
What I will not be able to provide is a folder-file lists of the user's local hard drive.  And any drives mapped between the user's workstation and the file server will not be represented from the web server to the file server.  Meaning the user will have to learn to live without the mapped drive letters which they have become accustomed to.
I'm building a browser application in web2py (Python based CMS).  One requirement this application has is to enable is the user to browse to a folder within the local network or local drive.  The user selects a folder, that selection becomes a string that I record in the application's database.  File selection is entirely off the table.  I don't care at all about file selection.  I only need to select one and only one folder.  And get the one folder's fullpath/UNC as a string, collection is strings, object, or whatever that I can then assemble the fullpath as a string.
How can I develop a browser user interface screen object of some sort that enables the user to browser to and select a folder ( c:\folder\folder -or- \\server\share\folder ...) Then capture that string in a variable I can write to a databases?
I'm finding there are a lot of impediments to just such use of a browser application (didn't used to be that way).  I get the security concerns but I also can't believe all similar enterprise uses of a browser are being torn down and made impossible (again, because it didn't used to be that way).
I don't want to dictate implementation.  So spitball ideas if you like.  Get out of the box of this tech stack if you like. But browser based is HIGHLY compelling (if I were to do this as a desktop app or something else I wouldn't even need to post this question).
The current tech stack of the application is: browser (open to suggestions but Chrome is the preference), JavaScript, jQuery, JQWidgets, Python, MSSQL (server hosted, not CE/local).  But none of these elements are hard limitations.  Except IE/Edge.  We'll never use that.
If you can point me to fiddle, GitHub, ... examples that would be greatly appreciated.
Is there a particular JavaScript library, browser addin, Python import, ... I should research?
Would .Net be better suited to champion this challenge?
Is there a better forum you know of where I should post this question?
Thanks