How to create a directory and add files to ipfs using js-ipfs with pure javascript only

The only answers I can find in my research cover uploading multiple files from a directory on a PC. That is not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to create a directory in ipfs and then add new files to that directory using js-ipfs with pure javascript only, generally one file at a time.

I conceptually understand that a directory in ipfs is simply another file. But I don't understand how to create that directory (file) and add other files to it for later retrieval, particularly with js-ipfs and pure javascript code.

I am implicitly not using node.js, therefore neither react, angular or vue either.

This works for a single file with no directory on ipfs:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ipfs/dist/index.min.js"></script>
</head>
<script>
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', async () => {
        const nodeId = 'ipfs-' + Math.random()
        const node = await Ipfs.create({ repo: nodeId })
        console.log("Your node: " + nodeId)
        window.node = node
        const status = node.isOnline() ? 'online' : 'offline'
        console.log(`Node status: ${status}`)
        async function addFile () {
            for await (const { cid } of node.add('Some file content!')) {
                console.log('successfully stored', cid)
                cidhash=cid.toBaseEncodedString()
                console.log(cidhash)
            }
        }
        addFile()
    })
</script>
<body>
</body>
</html>

How to make this work to create a directory and add a file to it initially, then add another file to the created directory later (pseudocode-ish)?

  async function addFile () {
    for await (const { directory, filename } of node.add('/someDirectory/someFilename','Some file content!')) {
      console.log('successfully stored', directory, filename)             
      console.log(directory, filename)
    }
  }

Solution

Reading through the js-ipfs documentation, I finally found the answer.

To only create a directory:

await ipfs.files.mkdir('/my/beautiful/directory')

Full working example to create a directory path and add a file to it at the same time:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/ipfs/dist/index.min.js"></script>
</head>
<script>
    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', async () => {
        const nodeId = 'ipfs-' + Math.random()
        const node = await Ipfs.create({ repo: nodeId })
        console.log("Your node: " + nodeId)
        window.node = node
        const status = node.isOnline() ? 'online' : 'offline'
        console.log(`Node status: ${status}`)

        //create a variable with the directory path '/my/beautiful/directory' 
        // and a file 'awesomesause.txt' with the content 'ABC' 
        var files = [{
            path: '/my/beautiful/directory/firstfile.txt',
            content: 'ABC'
        }]

        addFile(files) //add the first file       

        //update the 'files' variable to add another file to the directory path '/mybeautiful/directory' in ipfs
        files = [{
            path: '/my/beautiful/directory/secondfile.txt',
            content: 'DEF'
        }]
        
        addFile(files) //add the sectond file

        //function to add the files
        async function addFile (files) {
            for await (const result of node.add(files)) {
                console.log(result)
            }
        }
    })
</script>
<body>
</body>
</html>

Results:

generating 2048-bit RSA keypair...
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:10 Your node: ipfs-[my random node ID]
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:13 Node status: online
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 420
mtime: undefined
path: "my/beautiful/directory/firstfile.txt"
size: 11
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 420
mtime: undefined
path: "my/beautiful/directory/secondfile.txt"
size: 11
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 493
mtime: undefined
path: "my/beautiful/directory"
size: 70
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 493
mtime: undefined
path: "my/beautiful/directory"
size: 71
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 493
mtime: undefined
path: "my/beautiful"
size: 125
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 493
mtime: undefined
path: "my/beautiful"
size: 126
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 493
mtime: undefined
path: "my"
size: 180
__proto__: Object
js-ipfs_dirs_and_files.html:35 
Object
cid: i {version: 0, codec: "dag-pb", multihash: Uint8Array(34), multibaseName: "base58btc", _buffer: Uint8Array(34), …}
mode: 493
mtime: undefined
path: "my"
size: 181
__proto__: Object