T
torbjorn.maro
I'm the developer of an enterprise level web application that among
other things handles documents. The documents are stored in a
database. There is now simple functionality to check out and download
the document. This is done my a normal response to the browser,
streaming the document. The user then gets the normal option to
'open', 'save' or 'cancel' til downloaded file.
Normal usage would be to save the file to a known location, open and
edit it, and finally use the check-in feature of my site to upload the
edited document.
For an experienced web dude like me this is pretty strait forward, but
for the normal users out there this is not exactly user friendly..,
more like rocket science. They will typically choose 'open' in the
download dialog, edit the file, save and then close. The smartest of
them would then realize that they have to upload the changed document,
but would not know how to locate it, as it is stored in the browsers
temp folder.
And when they click save they usually are not allowed to save over the
temp file, and then they get very afraid..., "this does not work".
What I would like is functionality that allows the user to check out
and download the document, where the document would then be opened
directly in the appropriate editing application. When the user is
finished editing the document it should be uploaded back to the
database through the web site automagically. Different dialogs for the
users are ok, but the possibility to make mistakes should be minimal.
I know of two Norwegian companies that has this kind of solution.., as
far as I know they have both created their own ActiveX controls that
does the work. I know one of them considered using a Java applet
instead, but concluded that this was not possible.
Do you guys know:
* if there are any third party components for this (I have search
extensively, but can't find anything very useful)? It would be really
nice not having to support this part of the project ourselves.
* what techniques one could apply in order to get this to work?
By the way, it's an ASP.NET 2.0 web site with MS AJAX Extension. IE
only solutions would work for me, but a cross-browser one would be
nice.
other things handles documents. The documents are stored in a
database. There is now simple functionality to check out and download
the document. This is done my a normal response to the browser,
streaming the document. The user then gets the normal option to
'open', 'save' or 'cancel' til downloaded file.
Normal usage would be to save the file to a known location, open and
edit it, and finally use the check-in feature of my site to upload the
edited document.
For an experienced web dude like me this is pretty strait forward, but
for the normal users out there this is not exactly user friendly..,
more like rocket science. They will typically choose 'open' in the
download dialog, edit the file, save and then close. The smartest of
them would then realize that they have to upload the changed document,
but would not know how to locate it, as it is stored in the browsers
temp folder.
And when they click save they usually are not allowed to save over the
temp file, and then they get very afraid..., "this does not work".
What I would like is functionality that allows the user to check out
and download the document, where the document would then be opened
directly in the appropriate editing application. When the user is
finished editing the document it should be uploaded back to the
database through the web site automagically. Different dialogs for the
users are ok, but the possibility to make mistakes should be minimal.
I know of two Norwegian companies that has this kind of solution.., as
far as I know they have both created their own ActiveX controls that
does the work. I know one of them considered using a Java applet
instead, but concluded that this was not possible.
Do you guys know:
* if there are any third party components for this (I have search
extensively, but can't find anything very useful)? It would be really
nice not having to support this part of the project ourselves.
* what techniques one could apply in order to get this to work?
By the way, it's an ASP.NET 2.0 web site with MS AJAX Extension. IE
only solutions would work for me, but a cross-browser one would be
nice.