Question

How to display a filesystem dialog which will work on Macs and PCs

Asked by: doubledrat

Hi
we have an interface to a fileshare which runs in an asp page.  Running windows and IE, it's easy to display the folder for people to add files with drag and drop, but using firefox or Mac we're not getting a good result (for obvious reasons).  For compatibility we'd rather steer clear of activex and we'd rather not use Java because that has a requirement for java to be installed on the client.

Does anyone know how we can get the OS to display a window to a NAS fileshare that will work for both Mac and PC?

thanks

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-05-19 at 08:33:37ID24421211
Topics

JavaScript

,

Scripting Languages

,

WebApplications

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
6

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. NAS
    I am looking for detailed paper, links and information on clients that manage NAS devices like filers, gfilers, EMC NAS devices etc. I already have white papers from NetAPP regarding their filer. I DO NOT need that. I want information on NAS devices and software that manag...
  2. NAS
    one of my customer has a graphic design department in his own company they are using MAC system ,he asked me to give him a solution to store his growing data ,about 5 GB daily ,and the solution will be only for this department ,i thought to give him NAS solution (windows 200...
  3. permission on fileshare
    hi we have a win 2003 server with no AD, the pc box has a few internal hard drives filesharing out for the day to day work, i am looking at a spare hdd already located to file share out for another dept to work with which i have managed to make a folder on it and make it fil...
  4. What is NAS and SAN?
    What is NAS and SAN? please give detail explain and how to choose and implement! Thanks!
  5. Suggestions for NAS
    I am looking to setup a NAS for my church multimedia to share video clips, pics, music, etc. between all of the media personnel. We have alot of video backgrounds, pics of events & other artistic content that's royalty free that we could share. This is mainly internal sh...
  6. NAS with Online Backup?
    A client of mine has a Snap Server 4200 configured as Raid5 with 4 160gb drives. It has suffered a loss of 2 of the drives, and we're currently sending out the remaining setup for data recovery. We're looking to replace or reconfigure this NAS with another solution that pro...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: alien109Posted on 2009-05-19 at 08:41:18ID: 24423274

If you simply need to allow the user to select a file for upload, you can use the form element input with the type of file

<input type="file" name="upload" />

It isn't drag and drop, but would be supported on all platforms. Keep in mind, you'd need to handle the file upload server side however.

 

by: doubledratPosted on 2009-05-19 at 08:42:37ID: 24423284

Hi

thanks, but we want people to be dropped into the share at a certain point so they can upload, download, search etc.

 

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-05-19 at 13:54:51ID: 24426582

doubledrat,

A Java applet is going to be your best (and probably only) option.  Although you might be hesitant to pursue it because it does required JRE that isn't that uncommon of a requirement.  It is also the only cross browser and OS option that I can think of for this.  Browsers on their own won't let client scripts like Javascript do this.  An exception might be if the page is run locally or an HTA file but then you run into many of the same cross browser limitations (i.e. security can be different for local "web" pages and HTA files are IE only).  A Java applet will be your best option.  It will work on both Mac and PC and in various browsers.

Let me know if you have any questions or need more information.

b0lsc0tt

 

by: doubledratPosted on 2009-06-01 at 09:05:21ID: 24518970

hi b0lsc0tt

I don't suppose you know of any code that's partially what we want that we could hack do you?  We're not Java experts and having a starting point would be invaluable.

 

by: b0lsc0ttPosted on 2009-06-13 at 00:47:04ID: 24618145

doubledrat,

I don't have any code to recommend or provide to you.  You could try posting a new question on that in the Java zone but it might not be something easy to provide in a generic code.  Sorry for the delay in responding but hopefully this still helps.  Let me know if you have a question.

bol

 

by: doubledratPosted on 2009-08-12 at 01:20:46ID: 31583056

not really the answer I wanted, but perhaps because what I wanted is not possible!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...