Running .exe file from browser (in any way)

Question

I have a page that allows me to control some devices on the local network. However, some advanced settings can only be set using the .exe file that is on the computer where I launch the configuration page. I would like to have all the configuration tools "in one place", so it would be nice to have some kind of link / block / button / flash animation / regardless of the fact that after clicking the user will launch the specified .exe file, I think it perhaps because I saw MMO games that run using a web page. I also suspect that html / javascript will not let me do something like this, so maybe the answer is Flash? I hope you get some ideas.

Thanks for any tips, Michael.

Answer 1

Do you have the opportunity to install the software on the computer on which you want to run the executable file?

If so, you can create an Adobe AIR application that will run your file. Ask the user to install this AIR application on their computer. Then create a small Flash widget to sit on your web page. Ask the Flash widget to enable the AIR application.

Some API information: http://www.rogue-development.com/blog2/2008/03/interacting-with-an-air-app-from-a-browser-based-app/

Answer 2

Linking with a file URI can do the trick. Have you tried this?

Answer 3

There are ways to do this, but this is a security risk, so you cannot do this without the express permission of the user. If in IE you can do it with activeX, if in another browser it is more complicated - you may need to install a special add-on or dll.

One simple option is to register your program as a handler for a specific type of URI. If you have ever seen itunes:// links on the Internet, if itunes is installed on your computer, which will launch itunes directly. For instance. here is an explanation of how itunes does it . This is actually an explanation of how to stop it, but you can use it to set up your own system to do the same.

Another place to do this is on the Google Chrome download page. If you have ever installed any google product on your (Windows) computer, Google also installs a DLL that allows it to execute any signed Google product by simply clicking on the link. Go to the google chrome download page and you can cancel javascript to see how they do it (in the end theres an initially compiled dll, although this allows them to do this), but installing this additional software makes it pretty seamless, albeit a bit disturbing.

So you can see that there are many methods.

Answer 4

Running local files will require embedding the object on a page with access to the local machine. This is achieved by creating an ActiveX control or Java applet. This is generally frowned upon for public websites, etc., but is great for a local network or controlled environment.

Answer 5

It is not possible to run exe on the client, otherwise it will be a security hole.
However, you can run exe on a Windows server through CGI.

Answer 6

I do this by linking to a .bat file that runs .exe itself.