Right. I have realised some possible confusion.

 

Database will be on my XP server in the attic.

 

The NMR data is on both my personal server at home and the fileserver at uni.

 

Computers at home have this data accessible via a mapped Z drive.
Computers at uni have this data accessible via \\vol5\vol3\NMR................\2008-10-21-AB-26\10\fid

 

Hope this clears that up.

I think I'm getting an inkling of what you're trying to do, but still a little confused. If I'm understanding right, then the following should work.

Pick a few letters, to use as the extension.

Then, in a directory associate that extension with SpinWorks (Tools>Folder Options>File Types) by setting the default open action to the SW application.

Then, you can simply do stuff like this:

<a href="Z:\Docs\Uni\MPhil\NMR\2008-10-21-AB-26\10\fid.my_sw_ext">blah</a>

...and the browser will open the local copy of the file, rather than saving a temporary copy.

Actually, you might need "file://z:/Docs/Uni/.../10/fid.my_sw_ext" instead... can't remember if the first will work or not.

Also, for uni you'll need to use SUBST to map the network path to drive Z - assuming you want to use the same links for both locations.
Otherwise you'll have to do:

<a href="file://fdgdfg/dfg/fid.my_sw_ext">home</a> <a href="\\dsmfkdsm\dsfsd\dsf\fid.my_sw_ext">uni</a>

for everything, which may or not be desirable?

(I just edited my post a bit after you read it.)

Right, ok.

 

I was hoping that giving the files an extension then just associating Spinworks with that extension might help.

 

Also, having two different links for home and uni is absolutely fine.

 

I've just opened Z:\Docs\Uni\MPhil\NMR\2008-10-21-AB-26\10\fid.fid (after renaming it) from the Firefox address bar, it gives me the option to open the file with Spinworks and it works as I want it to. So that's good news. As does doing the \\server\d$\Docs\... version.

 

BUT...Another stumbling block will be that renaming the uni copy and giving it a file extension could be a problem and something I'd like to avoid doing

Hmmm, well I don't know if you can associate no-file-extension with an application.
You could give it a try if you really wanted, but personally I'd be paranoid about it having unintended consequences.

If you don't have an extension and just link to the file, you'll get the dialog asking you what application to use... so it should still work, it'll just be an irritating extra step.

I'll give it a go without the file extension for the uni link and see if it even offers to open it.

 

If it works then the extra step isn't really a problem since it'll be the lesser of two evils whilst being part of a huge benefit.

 

With the database I'll be giving myself a far better way to see what data I have available and it also means not clicking through a directory structure which is about 10 folders deep on a slow network.

Right.

 

Setup the DB, pushing and pulling data to and from it easy enough.

 

One problem. I can generate a link which is correct

 

"file:///Z:/Docs/Uni/MPhil/NMR/2008-10-09-AB-49/10/fid"

 

But when I click it nothing happens, whereas if I copy and paste it to the address bar and press enter it gives me the open file dialog as I want.

 

Why does the link refuse to work?

If I give it an extension it makes no difference.

 

I've just tried it in IE7 and without an extension it opens the dialog box asking to either save or go online to find an app that can do it, but not to pick an app of my own. With an extension you can choose the app, then tell it not to ask again so it just opens any .fid file in Spinworks straight away. For once IE wants to work properly instead of Firefox :(

try setting the link's target="_blank"?

It is probably a security thing.

It is a security thing.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Links_to_local_pages_don't_work#Disabling_the_Security_Check

Read there to turn it off x

Although it's looking like you might need to enter individual paths into the prefs which would make you go mad :(

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/281

That seems to be an addon that does what you need to Firefox. Although I read somewhere that you still need to use the context menu as opposed to just clicking :C

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}}}}}}}}}} Anyone who points out Firefox is open source {{{{{{{{{{{

{{{ Sandwich Toasters }}}

I've looked further into things and I think the PHP command "exec" is what I might need to use, but, I can't figure out how to get it to work as a link :C

WIthout reading the thread much (on mobile) exec lets you run a command on the server (as opposed to the client).

 

To do it as a link just pass a variable through. sanitise it though, to stop people running anything on your server.

Ah, not what I want then. Command needs to be run client side.

PC Format coverdisks used to use some form of magic to make the browser run an .exe installer without complaining. It was discussed on the first Delphi PCF forum.

HTH :$

Oooh - investigate HTA - that lets you execute shell commands and also connect to servers.

Assuming uni machines don't block it.

Write a tiny program (c, vb, whatever) that can open a certain file extension, say .ant and which then simply runs

c:\Program Files\SpinWorks\SpinWorks.exe Z:\Docs\Uni\MPhil\NMR\2008-10-21-AB-26\10\fid

or whatever. You could either have the .ant file contain the correct directory to use in the call. Then associate .ant files with the application on the client computer, and get your web app to produce the appropriate .ant files. Bit of effort involved but at least it will work seamlessly.

But add a crapload of security to check what it's trying to do. Otherwise you're leaving a huge security hole on the computer... not one that's likely to be exploited but still bad practise.

I gave up on the getting things to open in Spinworks idea since it seems way more hassle than it's worth right now, but with what I've decided to do I've come across a problem.

 

When I open a full entry to show the full set of data I want to click a link to show any of the spectra as a PNG or JPEG. I want this image to load underneath the main content area, in an extra DIV. Is this possible easily? Or is the alternative an iframe? (which I was trying to avoid)

 

Also, are there are any batch converters for PDF to PNG/JPEG? I tried irfanview but it was being an arse not being able to recognise PDFs properly even after installing the relevant plugins.