ActiveX, Silverlight, Client-side application

[Bradley Plett]

Is ActiveX still the only technology to allow for a full-featured
application hosted in a browser? Specifically, I need an application,
hosted in a browser (i.e. on a web page), that is capable of launching
applications on the client machine. I had hopes that I could do this
with Silverlight, but it appears the sandbox is too limiting.

As far as I can tell, if I want to launch an application, I have two
alternatives:
1) ActiveX
2) Custom MIME type registered on the client machine
Are there other options?

If Silverlight is capable of doing this, can someone point me to some
documentation or samples?

Thanks!
Brad.

 

[Bradley Plett]

I think I found what I was looking for:
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/maxim/archive/2008/03/05/wpf-xbap-as-full-trust-application.aspx

Brad.

 

[Michael J. Ryan]

i would suggest having your app register a custom mime, or url handler...
since ActiveX is ie only, and has issues with safety concerns, and may be
blocked...