File link and Universal: open files directly

Hi Patrick,

In most Web applications, any reference to a file will typically result in a download, or previewed if possible like a PDF. After downloading however, you can open the file with the program of your choice.

Some alternatives could be a Copy to clipboard where the user can copy the path to the file to then paste it in their file manager program to find/open it. This is what we do in the Software Factory, for example, when you write the synchronization file to storage.

Perhaps an open link may also work as file://server/folder as this has the potential to open that folder on the given server, but I haven't tried this out. I too am curious about other Community members their solutions to this.

Hi ​@PatrickW 

Could you please let me know whether Mark’s suggestions are sufficient?

Thank you in advance!

No, your last suggestion doesn't work. Copy to clipboard is also not an efficient solution.
Clicking on a icon that directly opens the preferred application or clicking on a Copy button; open File explorer; paste the link.. A lot more actions for the user.

For our company this could be a dealbreaker when considering a move to the Universal GUI, because we are using this in multiple applications.

Hopefully there will be a solution for this.

​@Mark Jongeling Maybe we could come up with a way to use the new Workspace listener in conjunction with the file control? 

Sounds good to me 😄

​@PatrickW I will convert this Question to an Idea!

Hi all, 

Be aware that this requires an additional dependency to be installed on the client computer!

As an ISV with no access to the client computers, this is not the best solution. One way or the other, we have to instruct a (perhaps non technical user with no admin rights ) to install an additional application. 

​@PatrickW What’s the User flow that they go through after clicking on a File link, do they edit it in an external Application or do they simply consult/print the file?

To what extend would the Previewer component help to have most files displayed in the browser?

We have concluded that quite a few customers are still using the Folder link, File link, and Image link controls. Since we intend to make the transition to Universal as smooth as possible, we intend to offer limited support for the Folder link, File link, and Image link controls in Universal.

It’s good to be aware that the behavior of these controls differed between the Windows GUI and the Web GUI.

Web GUI: the File link and Image link controls effectively behaved like the File upload and Image upload controls respectively, allowing you to Upload a file/image to a File storage location, while clicking the link effectively triggered a Download to your local device. If this is the desired behavior, make sure to change the File link and Image link to File upload and Image upload controls respectively.

Windows GUI: the Folder link, File link, and Image link controls allow you to select a specific path in Edit mode, which is stored in the Thinkwise application upon saving. Clicking the link triggers the opening of the path on your device.

Recommendation:

We strongly recommend migrating to File upload and Image upload Controls as much as possible, for the following reasons:

Security: Since it is considered a real (and valid!) security threat that websites directly invoke the opening of any file type on your device, we are not eager to support this kind of behavior the same way it worked in the Windows GUI. 

Availability: Another disadvantage of the link controls is the fact that it is not guaranteed that the user in the Thinkwise application with access to the link, is in fact allowed to access the specific path (usually a network drive). Examples: if the network drive is behind a VPN but an employee can access Universal without VPN, opening the file will not work. The same goes for external users who would have no access to the VPN at all.

Local client: As mentioned bij ​@André Romijn, to get a solution working it will be required to register a Custom URL protocol and install an Application that knows what to do with links that include the Custom URL protocol. 

As a result, using the Folder / File / Image link controls to open a file directly from a disk (rather than downloading and opening it) will only work if the user has:

1. Access to the file location (usually a network drive)
2. A Custom URL protocol registered on their device
3. An Application installed on their device that processes the links

Alternative:

In terms of Thinkwise support, the following can be expected:

• The controls will allow you to store a Folder/File path. Note that picking a path doesn’t work in the browser, so you’ll have to copy/paste the path from your File explorer to the Thinkwise application.
• The controls will listen to a Custom URL protocol and automatically prefix the File path with a Custom URL protocol (e.g. something like ‘tw_link_control://open?file=...’).
• We will offer a small client Application that will listen to the Custom URL protocol and open the File explorer on the configured location. We will explicitly not open the file automatically, as a security precaution. The file will be selected in the File explorer and the user can press Enter or double-click to open the file.
  • You could opt to create your own Application that listens to the Custom URL protocol and does open the files directly (at your own risk!).