I have a client with a challenging problem. They have a product that is a USB drive that can contain medical records, so the patient can carry them when they travel. On first use, the patient enters some information (name, age, contact info, etc), so that for future uses, the start-up page is customized to the patient.
As the patient's MD(s) load the USB drive with lab results, treatment records, etc, the start up screen also shows a list of files available.
All of this is done with a mix of Javascript and ActiveX. The problem is that they are getting a growing number of complaints that it won't work in Firefox, on Macs, etc, and now even in IE8 running on Windows 7.
I would like suggestions towards finding a stand-alone method, preferably one that works across operating systems, etc, that will accomplish their goals:
On first use, store identifying information, on subsequent uses, list files stored in a certain directory.
Java has occurred to me, but it's not stand-alone. If Java isn't installed in the machine, a java applet or stand-alone application won't run.
Flash may be an option, I'm not sure if it has the capability to read and list out the contents of a directory, although I understand with Flash 10 there is a capability to read/write to a local file such as an XML file, so the storage of the identifying information may be possible. I wouldn't want to have to resort to something like Zinc to achieve this.
Any thoughts on either of these or on other alternatives?
Thanks!
