Launching DOS apps under Netscape

Bill Crosbie crosbie at AESOP.RUTGERS.EDU
Wed Dec 6 08:42:47 EST 1995


At 04:14 PM 12/4/95 -0800, Dave Binkley wrote:
>Hi, we would like to find as painless a way as we can to launch DOS
>applications (CD-ROM programs in this case) from within a Netscape session.
>Plain CGI doesn't work, as it only returns html.  
>


Dave,

Are you _sure_ about that?  I reasonably certain that you can return any
valid MIME type by sending the appropriate message header.  You would just
need to set document type to Content Type:  application/octet-stream.  This
would let you return the executable file via the link.

You might not need CGI at all...  for example, it is possible to launch a
windows app just by setting the right helpers in the Netscape prefs.  Maybe
you could create a pif that would return a dos shell session (command) with
a command line parameter...although I must confess that I have never tried it.

Let me know if you have any luck.
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+
 "For my purpose holds to sail		Bill Crosbie
   beyond the sunset, and the baths	Microcomputer/Network Analyst
   of all the western stars,	  	Rutgers University-Chang Library
   until I die."    ~ Tennyson		crosbie at aesop.rutgers.edu
    					(908) 932-0305 x114
+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+



More information about the Web4lib mailing list