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I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

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    I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

    I know about sys_shell and sys_open, but the documentation says it is limited to desktop, and I tried them and they do not work.

    So, IS there any way to run an external program from a web application (i.e., via the WAS)? I have searched the forum but cannot find any clue for use on the WAS.

    Any help would be appreciated.
    Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.


    #2
    Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

    What do you need to do Gary?
    -Steve
    sigpic

    Comment


      #3
      Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

      Hi Steve,

      I have some PDF files that reside in a folder on a drive that are all encrypted. I want to be able to view the PDF file in my app but that would require using an external program that decrypts it
      Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

        Yeah, I don't know. I wonder if there's something made especially for installation on web servers that will pick up a specified PDF, decrypt it and send it along.
        -Steve
        sigpic

        Comment


          #5
          Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

          Originally posted by drgarytraub View Post
          Hi Steve,

          I have some PDF files that reside in a folder on a drive that are all encrypted. I want to be able to view the PDF file in my app but that would require using an external program that decrypts it
          The option to send the crypted pdf to a node process and then returm the decrypted document might work but not tested.
          It is not a difficult task to send the request from the was to the node server and back i.a. the node server is available from inside the was by a xbasic call.

          Here is a url by example http://lollyrock.com/articles/nodejs-encryption/

          Use npm to install

          Comment


            #6
            Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

            Hi Eric,

            I have no experience with node at all, but I will look in to that.

            Thanks for the suggestion.
            Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

              Originally posted by drgarytraub View Post
              Hi Eric,

              I have no experience with node at all, but I will look in to that.

              Thanks for the suggestion.

              if you send me a dummy [test] pdf with test key decrypt i see what i can do to help you
              you know where to find me.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

                Gary, I run the following from a a5w page everyday.
                sys_shell_wait("i:\programToRun.exe h:\Temp\SetupfileFiles1.dt /R",.f.)

                Now the program allows scripting and the /R is a command internal to the exe
                The sys_shell_wait() allows this command to finish before the code continues. Maybe it's something you can use.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

                  Thanks Jim. I just got the word on that from Selwyn this AM and was going to post it. Good to know you have been using it successfully. I will be giving it a try later today. Thanks for posting!
                  Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

                    Just to confirm, I too use sys_shell_wait for a number of things. In the below snippet I'm using a some java to stamp a pdf file with some information before giving having the server send it on.

                    Code:
                    if file.exists(openfile) = .f.
                    	e.Action = "Display Message"
                    	e.Message = "File: "+e.Filename+" not found.  Please check with Engineering."
                    	e.fileToDownload = openfile 
                    else
                    	'outfile = "C:\A5Webroot\DBW_Downloads"+chr(92)+remspecial(dnum)+".pdf"
                    	outfile = outfolder+chr(92)+requester+"-"+e.Filename
                    
                    	if fext = "pdf" then
                    		sys_shell_wait("C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\javaw.exe -jar c:\A5Webroot\wfstamp.jar "+fileloc+" "+quote(outfile)+" "+requester+" "+quote(status),.f.)
                    	else
                    		file.copy(fileloc,outfile)
                    	end if
                    	
                    e.fileToDownload = outfile
                    
                    end if	
                    
                    e.ajaxCallBackType = "FileDownload"
                    I've been using this and one that concatenates pdfs for years. IIRC the program I use to concatenate also can decrypt and it's free.

                    Here's an example of the concatenation, and it has the program name in it too.

                    Code:
                    function CombinePDFs as c (e as p)
                    debug(1)
                    dim vjscmd as c
                    dim cnt as n = e.repeatingSectionInfo[1].rowCount
                    if cnt > 1 then
                    	dim infiles as c = quote(e.dataSubmitted.location[1])
                    	dim inst as n = 2
                    		while cnt > 1
                    			if file.exists(e.dataSubmitted.location[inst]) then
                    				infiles = infiles +" "+ quote(e.dataSubmitted.location[inst])
                    				inst = inst + 1
                    				cnt = cnt - 1
                    			else
                    				vjscmd = "alert('File: "+js_escape(e.dataSubmitted.location[inst])+" not found! Please use the test buttons to make sure your files are in the proper location before running combine operation.');"
                    				goto funend
                    			end if
                    		end while
                    
                    	'Commence with combining the PDFs
                    	dim outfile as c = e.dataSubmitted.newname
                    	outfile = "C:\A5Webroot\DBW_Downloads"+chr(92)+remspecial(outfile)+".pdf"
                    
                    	sys_shell_wait("C:\Program Files (x86)\PDF Labs\PDFtk Server\bin\pdftk "+infiles+" cat output "+quote(outfile),.f.)
                    
                    else
                    	vjscmd = "alert('At least two files are needed to run a combine operation.');"
                    end if
                    
                    'Set the new location that was created by the sysshell command into the hidden newlocation field. This field has a file download in the onchange event.
                    vjscmd = "{dialog.object}.setValue('NEWLOCATION','"+js_escape(outfile)+"');"
                    
                    
                    
                    
                    funend:
                    
                    CombinePDFs = vjscmd
                    
                    end function

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: I there any way to run an external program from the WAS?

                      Wow. That is very interesting. I will have to study that. Thanks very much for sharing this.
                      Gary S. Traub, Ph.D.

                      Comment

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