[thelist] error control activeX

Kevin Raleigh krr at ix.netcom.com
Fri Jul 6 01:40:48 CDT 2001


Listed below is the script that Alex Vincent was good enough to help me
with.

function openFile(name) {
 if (document.all){
 obj = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
 obj.Run(name,1);
 }
 }


It works great except I found a way to add a small wrinkle into it.

If the user decides not to play the slideShow.exe file. They  choose no when
the activeX warning is displayed, It will throw an additional warning that I
am sure you have seen a million times.
[*]Automation server can't create object
[*]C:\\my file path...
[*]And then It asks if I want to continue running scripts
[*]Yes --- No

So the user has two ways to cripple the Web App.

The activeX warning does a good job of getting your attention and scaring
you off, Even when you are computer literate.

So now I have a Web App that can't be used until the page is refreshed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So here lies the quandry!

If they choose no to the slide shows, And then no again to the scripts
warning, I have to find a way to handle the error control so that they can
continue to use the rest of the Web App.

The Web App. consists primarily of a couple of slide shows using an .exe
file which are embeded into the web page and not your standard javascript
slide show. Then several pages of image maps that are viewed using mouse
over tool tips and an onClick event for the full size images.

This is a client side application running off a CD. So download is not an
issue. The entire refresh cycle would take a fraction of a second.  So what
comes to mind is a simple page refresh. I am not entirely sure on the stage
of events here, But I was thinking that I might be able to capture the end
result of either event. The Yes / No question on Active X and the event
launched to ask the user if they want to continue running scripts.

Once again security is not an issue here as all of these materials will be
developed for a targeted audience and delivered on CD.

So can you advise on how I would approach this problem?

If I were guessing I would say at least 1/3 of the viewers that I send these
CD's to will choose no the first time. At least they will before they have a
chance to view the help files
http://home.netcom.com/~krr/helpDemo/index.html that I am currently working
on.

I needn't say that I have my phone and email on all these CD's for my users
and I would prefer not to spend to much time explaining how to work with
them. ;-)

Any insight would be greatly appreciated

Thank You
Kevin



















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