Copying Files

[Jim in Arizona]

Is it possible to copy a file from one location to the desktop of the
user on the local lan? The webserver is IIS6, and all users are active
directory accounts. I realize that its a security risk to do such
things, but it would be ok in our given environment. I can't think of a
simple way to do it.

I was thinking of something similar to this:

Protected Sub btnPlaceIcon_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnPlaceIcon.Click

IO.File.Copy("\\server1\share\Finance.mdb",
"%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\DataTest.mdb", True)

End Sub

This doesn't work because of the %userprofile%, but if I make it the C
drive, like this

IO.File.Copy("\\server1\share\Finance.mdb", "c:\DataTest.mdb", True)

then it just copies the file to the web server's C drive, of course.


The other option would be for them to click a link, which is anchored to
a batch file or vb script file, which they can then run. I have several
links that do that already so I was hoping to do this a little
differently, with less 'clicks'.

Any ideas, anyone?

TIA,
Jim

 

[Jim in Arizona]

Is it possible to copy a file from one location to the desktop of the
user on the local lan? The webserver is IIS6, and all users are active
directory accounts. I realize that its a security risk to do such
things, but it would be ok in our given environment. I can't think of a
simple way to do it.

I was thinking of something similar to this:

Protected Sub btnPlaceIcon_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnPlaceIcon.Click

IO.File.Copy("\\server1\share\Finance.mdb",
"%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\DataTest.mdb", True)

End Sub

This doesn't work because of the %userprofile%, but if I make it the C
drive, like this

IO.File.Copy("\\server1\share\Finance.mdb", "c:\DataTest.mdb", True)

then it just copies the file to the web server's C drive, of course.


The other option would be for them to click a link, which is anchored to
a batch file or vb script file, which they can then run. I have several
links that do that already so I was hoping to do this a little
differently, with less 'clicks'.

Any ideas, anyone?

TIA,
Jim

I tried this:

Protected Sub btnPlaceIcon_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles btnPlaceIcon.Click

Dim pcname As String
pcname = Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_HOST")

IO.File.Copy("\\server1\share\P8200811.jpg",
"\\pcname\%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\testimage.jpg", True)

End Sub

And it would have probably worked if it weren't for a permissions issue.
I'm assuming this is because the ASP.NET account doesn't have read/write
permissions on the server/client.

Would there be a way to specify credentials when doing this file copy
method, or could the credentials of the person accessing the webpage be
used since everyone is logged on via Active Directory?

 

[Brendan Green]

Maybe impersonation would work in this instance (along with Integrated
Windows Authentication on the web server)?

I don't think %USERPROFILE% is going to work in this instance either.

What is the reasoning behind this? Maybe there's a better way to solve your
problem?

 

[Jim in Arizona]

Maybe impersonation would work in this instance (along with Integrated
Windows Authentication on the web server)?

I don't think %USERPROFILE% is going to work in this instance either.

What is the reasoning behind this? Maybe there's a better way to solve your
problem?

The main reason is app (in this case, access database front end)
deployment. On our internal website, we have a page that employees can
go to with links that, when clicked, run a batch file that copies down a
front end of an access database from a server to their desktop. All they
do is click 'run' when prompted after they click the link.

In this case I was trying to create a little security on who could get
the front end of this database (easily) with a simple passcode .. ie:

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

If Page.IsPostBack Then
If txtAccessCode.Text = "456" Then
lblInvalidCode.Visible = False
pnlAccess.Visible = False
pnlAuthorized.Visible = True

Else
lblInvalidCode.Visible = True
End If
Else
pnlAccess.Visible = True
lblInvalidCode.Visible = False
pnlAuthorized.Visible = False

End If
End Sub

Just something simple but effective enough for our purposes. Within the
pnlAuthorized panel is a button, that when clicked, would run the code
to copy the access database file from server to their desktop.