Download manager via JS?

[dan mcgraw]

We want to offer a 100 Mb file for download but are concerned over modem
users who cannot finish the download. Is there any way to implement a
download manager in JS? Looking for something simple that can handle
resuming downloads.

Any ideas?

-djm

[Vincent van Beveren]

To my knowledge that is quite impossible. JavaScript has no client-side-
file access, and no way to control sockets.

* You might need to use Java (with additional security rights).
* You could (maybe) also write a .js/.vbs file that they can download
and execute as a stand-alone script. That should give you ability to
access the windows scripting host.. maybe that has some sort of
socket/download support.
* Write your own client-side app in your favorite programming language
* Use mozilla XPI

[Andrew Urquhart]

*dan mcgraw* wrote:

We want to offer a 100 Mb file for download but are concerned over
modem users who cannot finish the download. Is there any way to
implement a download manager in JS? Looking for something simple
that can handle resuming downloads.

This can't be done with javascript. If you have JScript experience then
I guess it might be possible in a non-standard browsing environment to
do something with HTTP 206s, but it would certainly be non-trivial.

The user may already have a download manager built into their browser,
others may be using 3rd part adware/spyware download managers. It's
probably best not to make any assumptions as to what the user has. You
could advise your users to install a download manager if they need one,
an "I'm feeling lucky" google search returns an open-source download
manager http://francis.dupont.free.fr/downloadplus/ that probably won't
snoop on your users browsing habits as there's no commerical gain to do
so, I haven't tried it though to see if it's any good.

Best,
--
Andrew Urquhart
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