Question

ASP script to open PDFs with client's Acrobat Reader not Browser plugin?

Asked by: Dan_JB

How do you override the default behaviour of the browser so PDFs always open with Adobe Acrobat instead of in the browser with the plugin? I'm looking for a way to code this for web pages on our Intranet.

Staples is doing this with their rebate site: http://staples.rebatestatus.ca/search.aspx (enter a manufactuer such as HP and search).

Thanks.

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Asked On
2005-04-01 at 06:12:11ID21372856
Tags

open

,

asp

,

script

,

acrobat

,

pdfs

Topics

Active Server Pages (ASP)

,

Plug Ins

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: anthonywjones66Posted on 2005-04-01 at 06:17:31ID: 13680986

Doesn't open the standalone reader on my Machine.  It does open a new window but that's easiy done with target="_blank" on the anchor.

Anthony.

 

by: Dan_JBPosted on 2005-04-01 at 06:22:00ID: 13681005

Hmmmm... you are right. I had tried Staples on my home PC last night and assumed it was at their end. Now that I try it on my PC it is the default using the plugin.

So... is there any way to do this?

 

by: anthonywjones66Posted on 2005-04-01 at 06:54:10ID: 13681296

This has to be client configuration thing.  After all you wouldn't want a website to have the power to start applications outside of the browser at least not without some user consent.

Usually if an app hasn't configured something on a PC in conjunction with IE to enable the contents of the files assoctiated with it to be displayed in the browser then you get the Open/Save dialog to which the user can consent to always open in the future.

For this to work for PDFs whatever is configured in IE for a PDF to be displayed in IE needs to be disabled.  I guess the same is true of other browsers (although I bet those make it more obvious what is needed).

If you don't get a response from someone with the knowledge here you might try the Browser Issue forum instead.

Anthony.

 

by: tirandaganPosted on 2005-04-01 at 11:51:29ID: 13683822

The answer is that you will have to write a dynamic streaming routine that manipulates the contenttype headers:

<%
vBinaryPDF = loadFile ("this.asp")
Response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=PressRelease.pdf"
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf"
Response.WriteBinary vBinaryPDF
%>

If you need more help in writing an ASP based file streamer you should open a new question (i.e. how to implement loadFile function)

Tiran

 

by: anthonywjones66Posted on 2005-04-01 at 12:43:17ID: 13684249

Tiran,

I tried that.  Seems to work first time (although the checkbox in the IE open or save dialog is greyed). I can click open and it starts in a standalone Acrobat.  However subsequent attempts to navigate to the same url (this putting the address directly in the address bar) the PDF loads in the browser.  It would seem that if the document is in the cache the original content-disposition is ignored.

Perhaps this won't happen from a link (but I doubt it).  I guess we could add something unique to the URL each time but that means the PDF is downloaded everytime that may or may not be a problem.

Anthony.

 

by: tirandaganPosted on 2005-04-02 at 01:23:50ID: 13687164

That issue with the cache ignoring the disposition is weird, I agree. Adding a random number to the URL via ASP will definitely solve that. Good luck!

 

by: kiddangerPosted on 2005-04-04 at 00:58:41ID: 13695690

Tiran..

That's amazing since it's BinaryWrite.  (O:=

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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