launching files locally

[briansmccabe]

Hello -

I have PHP and Apache installed on a windows box that is attached to
my home theater. I wrote some code that indexes the contents of a
directory that has some video clips etc in it, and the outputted HMTL
is nothing more than a series of hyperlinks to these files, with some
CSS to liven it up a bit.

The problem is this: when I click on one of the links, rather than
launch the file, it attempts to "download" it (even though the file
resides right there on the machine anyway). In my hyperlinks, I
specified to use the "file:" protocol instead of HTTP. I really just
want it to launch the file.

Any suggestions??

Thanks -

Brian Mccabe

[Michael B. Trausch]

br**********@gmail.com wrote in
<11**********************@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups .com> on Tue April 25
2006 23:01:

Hello -

I have PHP and Apache installed on a windows box that is attached to
my home theater. I wrote some code that indexes the contents of a
directory that has some video clips etc in it, and the outputted HMTL
is nothing more than a series of hyperlinks to these files, with some
CSS to liven it up a bit.

The problem is this: when I click on one of the links, rather than
launch the file, it attempts to "download" it (even though the file
resides right there on the machine anyway). In my hyperlinks, I
specified to use the "file:" protocol instead of HTTP. I really just
want it to launch the file.

Any suggestions??

This is definitely a browser configuration issue. Even with file:// URLs,
the browser acts as a browser, not a file manager, where it will either
save the file somewhere or attempt to open it if that is what you instruct
it to do. Some things won't work with certain browsers, either. For
example, under Firefox, you have to save a .exe file, and open it with
Windows Explorer, for security reasons (this is to prevent you from
unwittingly opening an EXE file and planting a virus on your system).

- Mike

[Colin McKinnon]

Michael B. Trausch wrote:

br**********@gmail.com wrote in
<11**********************@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups .com> on Tue April 25
2006 23:01:

The problem is this: when I click on one of the links, rather than
launch the file, it attempts to "download" it (even though the file
resides right there on the machine anyway). In my hyperlinks, I
specified to use the "file:" protocol instead of HTTP. I really just
want it to launch the file.

This is definitely a browser configuration issue.

No....Brian's just confused about the relationship between client and
server. Since they are both running on the same box, its a lot neater to
run the target from the server rather than copy it to the client and play
it there. RTFM for program execution functions. You should see the online
copy and notes elsewhere on long running processes (since it's MS-Windows
you should prefix the command line of the player app with 'start').

HTH

C.

[briansmccabe]

Ok, looks like I am getting somewhere here. Thanks a lot for the help!

Please tell me RTFM means. I have no idea.

FYI, the files I am attempting to launch are quite large. Some of them
are upwards of a gigabyte or more. I don't know if this plays into it
or not.

I will try to determine what RTFM means and go from there, and post
other questions in this thread.

Thanks alot for the help!!

Brian Mc

[briansmccabe]

Well....didn't take long to figure out what RTFM means.

Touche. Thanks for the suggestion!