Insert desktop shortcut into a HTML page

Hi ~ how would I go about entering a desktop shortcut into a HTML page
as a link?
For example if I had a shortcut to a program on my desktop that I
wanted to include on a Intranet page how would this be coded in html?
I've tried creating the shortcut Target path as a hyperlink but this
doesnt work.

On 2/1/2008 6:20 PM, hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

Hi ~ how would I go about entering a desktop shortcut into a HTML page
as a link?
For example if I had a shortcut to a program on my desktop that I
wanted to include on a Intranet page how would this be coded in html?
I've tried creating the shortcut Target path as a hyperlink but this
doesnt work.

For reasons of security, I think you should place the file (in your
case, the program) on a network file server within your LAN and not have
other users accessing your own desktop.

In a Mozilla-type browser, go to your menu bar and select [File > Open
File]. In IE, it's [File > Open]. Navigate to the directory on the
file server where the file is found. Copy the file's URI from the list
of files in your browser window. Use that to create the link.

--
David Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Have you been using Netscape and now feel abandoned by AOL?
Then use SeaMonkey. Go to <http://www.seamonkey-project.org/>.

Thanks Ross, yep the programs on a network file. Actually my real goal
is to create a hyperlink to a folder/file in a windows explorer based
document management system (linking directly to the path doesnt work
we've tried). So this is just one of many alternate strategies.
I've followed the instructions and used this path C:\Documents and
Settings\xxxxxx\Desktop\App.lnk as my link
<a href="file:///C:/Documents and Settings/xxxxxx/Desktop/
App.lnk">Link to App
</a></p> Nothing happens when I click the link though.



On Feb 2, 11:53*am, "David E. Ross" <nob... (AT) nowhere (DOT) not> wrote:

On 2/1/2008 6:20 PM, hermith... (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

Hi ~ how would I go about entering a desktop shortcut into a HTML page
as a link?
For example if I had a shortcut to a program on my desktop that I
wanted to include on a Intranet page how would this be coded in html?
I've tried creating the shortcut Target path as a hyperlink but this
doesnt work.

For reasons of security, I think you should place the file (in your
case, the program) on a network file server within your LAN and not have
other users accessing your own desktop.

In a Mozilla-type browser, go to your menu bar and select [File > Open
File]. *In IE, it's [File > Open]. *Navigate to the directory on the
file server where the file is found. *Copy the file's URI from the list
of files in your browser window. *Use that to create the link.

--
David Ross
http://www.rossde.com/

Have you been using Netscape and now feel abandoned by AOL?
Then use SeaMonkey. *Go to <http://www.seamonkey-project.org/>.

On 02/02/2008 in message
<9d4539f6-db65-4ac6-a639-a058713d7ad2 (AT) c4g2000hsg (DOT) googlegroups.com>
hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

I've followed the instructions and used this path C:\Documents and
Settings\xxxxxx\Desktop\App.lnk as my link
a href="file:///C:/Documents and Settings/xxxxxx/Desktop/
App.lnk">Link to App
/a></p> Nothing happens when I click the link though.

I think that should work if your are viewing the HTML page in a browser on
that PC (i.e. you have opened the HTML page as a file in the browser). It
won't work if your are viewing the HTML page from a server where the link
should be in the form http://localhost/etc. - and it would be a bit odd
for localhost to map to C:/Documents and Settings/etc.

--
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
By the time you can make ends meet they move the ends

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 19:46:53 -0800 (PST), /hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com/:

Thanks Ross, yep the programs on a network file. Actually my real goal
is to create a hyperlink to a folder/file in a windows explorer based
document management system (linking directly to the path doesnt work
we've tried). So this is just one of many alternate strategies.
I've followed the instructions and used this path C:\Documents and
Settings\xxxxxx\Desktop\App.lnk as my link
a href="file:///C:/Documents and Settings/xxxxxx/Desktop/
App.lnk">Link to App
/a></p> Nothing happens when I click the link though.

You cannot reliably use Windows shortcuts across browsers and
operating systems. Mozilla browsers have problem interpreting
Windows shortcuts even on Windows. On other operating systems the
shortcut would mean nothing. You better link directly to the file
pointed to by the shortcut.

Next, how do you access / what is the URL of the page containing the
link to the other file?

You cannot access local "file:" resources if you load the page as
"http:" resource, for example:

http://myserver/page.html

containing link to:

file://myserver/path/to/file

You should be able to configure your server to access the necessary
resources through the same scheme.

--
Stanimir

On Feb 2, 6:21 pm, Stanimir Stamenkov <s7a... (AT) netscape (DOT) net> wrote:

Fri, 1 Feb 2008 19:46:53 -0800 (PST), /hermith... (AT) gmail (DOT) com/:

Thanks Ross, yep the programs on a network file. Actually my real goal
is to create a hyperlink to a folder/file in a windows explorer based
document management system (linking directly to the path doesnt work
we've tried). So this is just one of many alternate strategies.
I've followed the instructions and used this path C:\Documents and
Settings\xxxxxx\Desktop\App.lnk as my link
a href="file:///C:/Documents and Settings/xxxxxx/Desktop/
App.lnk">Link to App
/a></p> Nothing happens when I click the link though.

You cannot reliably use Windows shortcuts across browsers and
operating systems. Mozilla browsers have problem interpreting
Windows shortcuts even on Windows. On other operating systems theshortcutwould mean nothing. You better link directly to the file
pointed to by theshortcut.

Next, how do you access / what is the URL of thepagecontaining the
link to the other file?

You cannot access local "file:" resources if you load thepageas
"http:" resource, for example:

http://myserver/page.html

containing link to:

file://myserver/path/to/file

You should be able to configure your server to access the necessary
resources through the same scheme.

--
Stanimir

So what your saying is I have to have the link pointing to the
shortcut's Target. For example on my PC Mozilla's shorcut Target is "G:
\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
I've created this as a Hyperlink but it doesnt work.

On 02/02/2008 in message
<6c0dc320-0927-4c37-ba89-4bde448d456a (AT) u10g2000prn (DOT) googlegroups.com>
hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

So what your saying is I have to have the link pointing to the
shortcut's Target. For example on my PC Mozilla's shorcut Target is "G:
\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
I've created this as a Hyperlink but it doesnt work.

I think it would help if we knew if you open the original HTML file
directly in a browser or if you view it from a local server running
Apache/IIS.

In the first case the linked file would need to be in a location that is
accessible using the same link from any PC in the organisation. That can
be done provided everybody has a standard setup e.g. they all have the
server mapped to, say, their "Z" drive.

In the second case you would either need to place the files in your
wwwroot/htaccess directory or put some type of link to them in that
directory. A web server is unlikely to (probably shouldn't) allow users to
browse through the filing system.

Since you referred to this an Intranet I would think we are looking at the
second case but the answer depends on knowing which it is.

--
Jeff Gaines Damerham Hampshire UK
There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation

"hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com" <hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote in news:cbd48eea-162d-
4984-8db2-d5115957c8b4 (AT) i29g2000...oglegroups.com:

Hi ~ how would I go about entering a desktop shortcut into a HTML page
as a link?
For example if I had a shortcut to a program on my desktop that I
wanted to include on a Intranet page how would this be coded in html?
I've tried creating the shortcut Target path as a hyperlink but this
doesnt work.

You can usually find a way to make a link in an HTML page to another local
HTML page either as file:/// if you're not running a webserver locally, or
as http:// if you are. The other messages in this thread address various
parts of that solution.

I don't think you can put a link in an HTML page that executes a local
program. The browser is designed not to do this for security reasons.

--
###### |\^/| Timothy C. Green, CD, PEng, MEng
###### _|\| |/|_ info (AT) TrainsCan (DOT) com
###### > < TrainsCan
###### >_./|\._< http://www.TrainsCan.com

Sat, 2 Feb 2008 02:18:32 -0800 (PST), /hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com/:

So what your saying is I have to have the link pointing to the
shortcut's Target. For example on my PC Mozilla's shorcut Target is "G:
\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
I've created this as a Hyperlink but it doesnt work.

Please define what you expect to happen - to have Firefox (or
another application) started? Even if the executable is downloaded
and started automatically it would miss many dependencies (like
dynamically loaded libraries, etc.). If I get your intentions
right, you simply cannot start an application from following a link,
or specific solutions to achieve it will be far from applicable in
the context of the Web, so I'm not sure how appropriate this group
is to discuss that matter.

--
Stanimir

On 2/1/2008 6:20 PM, hermithead (AT) gmail (DOT) com wrote:

Hi ~ how would I go about entering a desktop shortcut into a HTML page
as a link?
For example if I had a shortcut to a program on my desktop that I
wanted to include on a Intranet page how would this be coded in html?
I've tried creating the shortcut Target path as a hyperlink but this
doesnt work.

Now that I understand what you are trying to do, here is some advice.

First of all, what I wrote earlier in this thread is valid. However,
you must base the URI on the location of the actual file, not on a
Windows shortcut. I'm not even sure if a UNIX link (ln command) will
work.

It is not sufficient merely to copy the program's executable file to the
server. Instead, the program must be installed to execute from the
server.

Firefox has a profile for each user. This profile is in the form of a
directory containing a number of files. If the directory is also on the
file server, a user will conflict with all other users. Concurrent
users might be impossible. If the directory is on each user's computer,
however, this might work.

I suggest installing Firefox with a default profile on the server. Also
place a shortcut on the server to Firefox with the switch (parameter
setting) "-ProfileManager". (It would look something like the following:
Z:/Mozilla/firefox.exe -ProfileManager
Instruct each user to start by selecting that shortcut. The users can
then create their own profiles, using the option in Profile Manager to
place their own profiles on their own computers instead of on the file
server. This will preserve some of the security of passwords saved by
Firefox and used for logging into some Web sites.

Note that each user can then install their own preferred Firefox
extensions since extensions are generally installed in the profile
directory and not in the application directory.

I'm not really sure all this will work since I've never tried to deploy
an application in a LAN with only a single, central executable.
However, I recall using such a central executable.

--
David Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Have you been using Netscape and now feel abandoned by AOL?
Then use SeaMonkey. Go to <http://www.seamonkey-project.org/>.