title: getting full absolute path of a directory or file on a user's local system in chrome extension or app
body: <p>I'm trying to get the full path of a chrome <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/apps/fileSystem" rel="nofollow noreferrer">fileSystem</a> fileEntry.</p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to use <code>getDisplayPath</code> to get the "full path of the file or directory on the local file system," but all that get's returned is <code>~/Documents/current_directory</code></p>
  
  <p>What I was hoping it would be is: <code>/home/user/Documents/current_directory</code>, or in other words, it's missing the home directory, and using <code>~</code> instead. </p>
  
  <p>I want to get the absolute path of a file so that I can view it via url in the chrome browser. </p>
  
  <p>I can use the chrome tabs api to do this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>var url = "file:///home/user/Documents/folder/file";
  chrome.tabs.create({url: url}, function(tab) {
  });
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I need to give it an exact url.</p>
  
  <p>According to this:
  <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23361959/display-full-path-instead-of-prefixed-path-in-linux-chrome-apps">Display full path instead of ~ prefixed path in linux chrome apps</a>, a solution to my question may not exist. </p>
  
  <p>I will accept any answer that helps me get the absolute path of a file or folder that exists in an arbitrary directory that a user selected using chrome's <code>chrome.fileSystem.chooseEntry</code> function. Since a true solution may not exist, I will also accept clever/workaround answers (for example, the very least I can do is use a text input to ask a user for a string representing their home directory).  </p>