HTML file open?

Ok this might sound a little complicated but I want to know if it's at all possible to open a file location via a link on a HTML, eg when you right click on a folder and click open it opens up a new Explorer window, I want to be able to trigger this function via an HTML line.

So on a webpage, you click on a link and wham the file on your computer opens? Easy/ is it possible or do I need to go into Java?

html open file

asked Jan 15 '11 at 07:20

Alty
286●8●10●17

edited Jan 15 '11 at 08:42

catchatyou
20.7k●89●165●383

catchatyou why did you edit this message? the last line wasn't written (for as far as I know) by Alty.

(Jan 15 '11 at 08:38) nitrocrime

I don't change what the person who asks the question says, I just fix capitalization and punctuation.

If you look under the edits made, you can see that everything was there...letter for letter (Well, except for words like a and an. I believe you can understand why I would change them).

(Jan 15 '11 at 08:40) catchatyou

Ok I understand. I just didn't see the last line when I posted my answer to his question.

(Jan 15 '11 at 09:05) nitrocrime

4 Answers:

oldest newest most voted

Well.. If the file is just on your computer (not a file that has to be downloaded) then you can just link it using;

< a href='file://directory/location/here'>Click here!< /a>

(Remove spaces in front of 'a' in < a href and < /a>.

answered Jan 15 '11 at 09:41

Hugo
1.7k●24●31●51

I certainly hope this goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway: Obviously this link won't work on any computer which does not have a copy of that file in exactly the same place.

(Jan 16 '11 at 07:04) tsilb

http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_a.asp

look at the target section.

answered Jan 15 '11 at 07:29

nitrocrime
3.6k●62●77●125

edited Jan 15 '11 at 07:30

That's just telling the link whether you want it to open in a new tab, a new window, etc. Not telling it to open in Windows Explorer..

(Jan 15 '11 at 09:44) Hugo

Years ago I asked myself the same question ... the thing is that if you make a link (with <a> tag) to a file it will always popup and ask you what you want to do with it (so, it wont auto start), if you link a folder, then it will open that folder in your browser and not in Explorer !

answered Jan 15 '11 at 08:23

UniverseMorpher
236●4●6●14

0	I don't think you can do exactly what you want because I have never seen such a thing on a webpage. answered Jan 15 '11 at 09:44 ryebread761 7.5k●214●241●322

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