open external programs from browser?

[Arrrghmatey]

Hello,

I have a program that reads information from a file, and dumps it into a HTML table, then opens the file in IE. I want to be able to have the name of the file a click-able link, where it opens that file in a specific program. Because this is not the default program to open this file type, I cannot figure out how to open it with the specific client side program. Is this possible at all?

Thanks!

[therks]

Have a look at this page. Specifically the Run Protocol. It might help you out.

[Arrrghmatey]

This is what I'm using right now:

<script>
function LaunchApp() {
 if (!document.all) {
  alert ("Available only with Internet Explorer.");
  return;
 }
 var ws = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
 ws.Exec("C:\\Program Files\\ezdicom\\StandAlone\\ezDicom.exe");
}
</script>
<a href="javascript:LaunchApp()">Launch the executable</a>

But it launches the program. I can't seem to figure out how to launch a FILE in the program... Ideally I won't have to install anything, as this will be ported around to other computers here.

[AutoChris]

What I did when I had to launch an app from IE was to have the link pop up a specific message box and then when AutoIt saw the message box, it would launch the app and the file using the Run() command. A pop-up like "Please wait while Word loads" or something similar works nicely. However, I am pretty low-tech in my scripts so I am sure there are better ideas out there.

[Arrrghmatey]

I figured out a solution. I was using " where I should have been using '.

in case anyone else wants it, here's my code:

<script
  LANGUAGE="javascript"
  TYPE="text/javascript"
>
function PROCTest(imgPath) {
var path = '\"C:\\Program Files\\example\\example.exe\" ' + '\"' + imgPath + '\"';
 var myshell = new ActiveXObject( "WScript.shell" );
 myshell.run( path, 1, true );
}
</SCRIPT>
<!------------------------------------------------------------------->
<a href="javascript:PROCTest('C:\\5H3QM0AC')">Launch the executable</a>

Thanks!