Viewing PDF's

[Larry Gordon]

I am trying to view PDF's from a grid. I have a field in my grid which contains the path and file name, and a button next to it. This works fine on my desktop, but I cannot get the code right to get it working on my web app. I have also tried adding a hyperlink to my grid but cannot get the right code to open the pdf. I have watched the video on opening PDF reports, but I don't think I can apply that to general PDF's. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Larry Gordon

[christappan]

Re: Viewing PDF's

If the path is D:\A5Webroot\Images\pic.jpg, the link/url is Images/pic.jpg.

[Larry Gordon]

Re: Viewing PDF's

Thanks Chris. Typically my path is:

\\Server\AlphaData\Invoices\LS7014.pdf

The file name is all that changes.

Can you please advise on the link/URL for the above?

[frankbicknell]

Re: Viewing PDF's

To open a pdf from an Alpha grid the pdf has to be located under the web root.

Alternately you could use the file upload / download feature pak to view files located in any directory.

[Larry Gordon]

Re: Viewing PDF's

Thanks for the input guys - guess I'm going to be placing another order...

[Steve Wood]

Re: Viewing PDF's

The PDF or any file you want to open does not need to be in the document root, and life did not begin with the Feature Packs. For sure, most documents would be at risk sitting in the document root, subject to being opened by anyone on the web. When you download some software that you purchased, that file was not sitting in the document root yet you only clicked a link to download.

To get at files that are not in the document root, you have to write a little bit of code that either copies the file from its secret location to the user's session folder (in the document root), or code that just gets the file from where it is, and opens it in the browser or presents a dialog for download.

One thing to keep in mind, xbasic has control over the ENTIRE SERVER and any drives connected to it. If you ran an A5W page with xbasic to zip up and FTP the root drive, it would do that. This is why no one offers shared hosting for Alpha Five applications any more.

Here are two examples of that code:

The first is an A5W page that takes a parameter in the URL named ID. The ID is used to lookup the real filename from a table named web_logs. fname makes the assumption the file ends in "txt", but that is not normally a necessary step. It looks for the file in the physical location and if there sets MIME and some other headers and uses file.to_blob(filename) as the key step to download. That function will present the user with a download dialog.

<%a5
filename = lookupc("F",id,"Location","[PathAlias.ADB_Path]\web_logs","Id")
fname = file.filename_parse(filename,"n") + ".txt"
if file.exists(filename)
	response.mime_type = "application/text"
	RESPONSE.ADD_HEADER("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" + Fname)
	?file.to_blob(filename)
else
	?"File was not found. Press the Back button to return."
end if
%>

The second example is specific for PDF's. This code has been running on a web app for five years. It takes a parameter in the URL named pdf. If the parameter is missing or blank it sends the user to an error page named no_pdf.a5w. It looks in a folder by Alias named [PathAlias.DOC_Path], which could be pointing to anywhere on the entire LAN, not even the same machine. It has a complex folder structure composed partially of a session variable. The session var's value is determined by on who is logged in, so in this case, the PDF location is specific by CompanyID.

If the alias was "\\Server\AlphaData\Invoices\", and the url parameter named pdf was "LS7014.pdf" and the session var for company was 1001, the file it looks for is:

\\Server\AlphaData\Invoices\1001_LS7014.pdf

<%a5 
dim pdf as c
dim pdf_folder as c = "[PathAlias.DOC_Path]\\" 
dim pdf_file as c
dim session.error_msg as c = ""
dim error_msg as c
dim session.__protected__companyid as c

if PDF = "" then
	error_msg = "Error, missing filename."
end if
if error_msg <> "" then 
	response.redirect("no_pdf.a5w")
	end
end if 
'''no errors
pdf_file = pdf_folder + "\\" + session.__protected__companyid + "\\" + session.__protected__companyid + "_" + pdf
if file.exists(pdf_file) then
	response.mime_type = "application/pdf"
	?file.to_blob(pdf_file)
    else
	response.redirect("no_pdf.a5w")
end if
%>

[frankbicknell]

Re: Viewing PDF's

To open a pdf from an Alpha grid the pdf has to be located under the web root.

Alternately you could use the file upload / download feature pak to view files located in any directory.

Let me rephrase by starting off with 'The easiest way I have found'

[Steve Wood]

Re: Viewing PDF's

Pardon my frustration, and picking on this particular post, but the FP's are making people forget what they can do with a little code.

[NoeticCC]

Re: Viewing PDF's

Pardon my frustration, and picking on this particular post, but the FP's are making people forget what they can do with a little code.

Hear, hear!

[Larry Gordon]

Re: Viewing PDF's

Thanks Steve for the very detailed response - I will give it a go later this evening. Meanwhile, I have to admit I was surprised at the initial 'no-can-do' response, which is not what my simple queries normally receive. Also, my PDF's are located elsewhere for the very reason you mention.

Many thanks
Larry Gordon

[Clipper87]

Re: Viewing PDF's

>>One thing to keep in mind, xbasic has control over the ENTIRE SERVER and any drives connected to it. If you ran an A5W page with xbasic to zip up and FTP the root drive, it would do that.

This is why no one offers shared hosting for Alpha Five applications any more --> what exactly do you mean with this Steve?

[Steve Wood]

Re: Viewing PDF's

This is why no one offers shared hosting for Alpha Five applications any more --> what exactly do you mean with this Steve

Back when WAS was young, the only existing commercial hosting provider (not ZebraHost) put everyone on a single server and used Apache to logically isolate each customer. But the separation was only logical, not physical. Any one of those hosting customers could have written an xbasic script to access any part of that shared server, including other customer's data.

I made it a point to prove that back in the day.

Now, if you want to use a commercial host, e.g. ZebraHost.net, the only option is VPS or dedicated server (that's as far as I know, but maybe someone still offers shared hosting). I have a server with a couple clients running on it - but I am the only person that can post to that server, so in that case, I am safe.

[Zradene]

Re: Viewing PDF's

The PDF or any file you want to open does not need to be in the document root, and life did not begin with the Feature Packs. For sure, most documents would be at risk sitting in the document root, subject to being opened by anyone on the web. When you download some software that you purchased, that file was not sitting in the document root yet you only clicked a link to download.

To get at files that are not in the document root, you have to write a little bit of code that either copies the file from its secret location to the user's session folder (in the document root), or code that just gets the file from where it is, and opens it in the browser or presents a dialog for download.

One thing to keep in mind, xbasic has control over the ENTIRE SERVER and any drives connected to it. If you ran an A5W page with xbasic to zip up and FTP the root drive, it would do that. This is why no one offers shared hosting for Alpha Five applications any more.

Here are two examples of that code:

The first is an A5W page that takes a parameter in the URL named ID. The ID is used to lookup the real filename from a table named web_logs. fname makes the assumption the file ends in "txt", but that is not normally a necessary step. It looks for the file in the physical location and if there sets MIME and some other headers and uses file.to_blob(filename) as the key step to download. That function will present the user with a download dialog.

<%a5
filename = lookupc("F",id,"Location","[PathAlias.ADB_Path]\web_logs","Id")
fname = file.filename_parse(filename,"n") + ".txt"
if file.exists(filename)
	response.mime_type = "application/text"
	RESPONSE.ADD_HEADER("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" + Fname)
	?file.to_blob(filename)
else
	?"File was not found. Press the Back button to return."
end if
%>

The second example is specific for PDF's. This code has been running on a web app for five years. It takes a parameter in the URL named pdf. If the parameter is missing or blank it sends the user to an error page named no_pdf.a5w. It looks in a folder by Alias named [PathAlias.DOC_Path], which could be pointing to anywhere on the entire LAN, not even the same machine. It has a complex folder structure composed partially of a session variable. The session var's value is determined by on who is logged in, so in this case, the PDF location is specific by CompanyID.

If the alias was "\\Server\AlphaData\Invoices\", and the url parameter named pdf was "LS7014.pdf" and the session var for company was 1001, the file it looks for is:

\\Server\AlphaData\Invoices\1001_LS7014.pdf

<%a5 
dim pdf as c
dim pdf_folder as c = "[PathAlias.DOC_Path]\\" 
dim pdf_file as c
dim session.error_msg as c = ""
dim error_msg as c
dim session.__protected__companyid as c

if PDF = "" then
	error_msg = "Error, missing filename."
end if
if error_msg <> "" then 
	response.redirect("no_pdf.a5w")
	end
end if 
'''no errors
pdf_file = pdf_folder + "\\" + session.__protected__companyid + "\\" + session.__protected__companyid + "_" + pdf
if file.exists(pdf_file) then
	response.mime_type = "application/pdf"
	?file.to_blob(pdf_file)
    else
	response.redirect("no_pdf.a5w")
end if
%>

Hi Steve, this appears to be exactly what I am looking for. The relevent pdf's associated to the client (CompanyID) after they have logged in.
Have you got a working sample of this?
I just need a simple grid with an option to view/download the linked pdf's related to the CompanyID.

Many thanks