How would you allow users to edit attachments in a web application?

Question

We have created a web application, using ASP.NET, that allows users to upload documents and attach them to business entities, like customers, contacts and so on.

The application runs on the intranet and all files are uploaded through the web application into a shared folder on the server.

I would like, right from the web page, for the user to open the actual file, edit it and then save the changes back to the original location. This is a piece of cake in a Windows environment, I'm just wondering what, if any, is the best way to handle this in a web environment?

The files are usually Word documents, Excel documents and images.

Clarification

We would display all the attachments in a list format. We would like it so that the user would click on an edit link and the file would be opened in the appropriate application, for example, Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel. I think the file associations in Windows would already handle this. We are just trying to save our user the time to download the original file, make their changes, delete the old file, and the upload the new file.

Answer 1

SharePoint does this by exposing FrontPage extensions which Word and Excel know how to deal with.

If you want to look at a commercial product for ASP.NET that allows you to edit images with AJAX (no need for installed software), I work for a company that has one (Atalasoft)

Answer 2

WebDAV is probably what you want. (Free)

Answer 3

I'm trying to do something with using file:// instead of http:// but it's real sporadic based on the browser. Seems to work fine in IE, okay in Firefox, and goes nowhere in Chrome.

Looks like I may just be stuck with downloading, editing, and re-uploading the document.

Answer 4

If all your client computers are Windows, map a shared folder on the server to the same drive letter on every client and use the file:// format.

Let's say you share \ServerName\ShareName to H: on every client's computer, the you can make the link as file://h:\pat_to_the_file_under_your_share\fileName.doc

If not every one of the client's computers are in Windows, then you might try to make your links as follows (not sure if ot works):

file://\ServerName\ShareName\pat_to_the_file_under_your_share\fileName.doc

Answer 5

It sounds like you want something similar t eRoom, where the browser works in conjunction with a component that intercepts a stream from http, stores it in a temp folder, then fires up Word or Excel and allows you to edit the stream.

You may have to create a component that will intervene and create a temporary local copy of the file.

Answer 6

This tool should do what you need.

http://www.dlitools.com/dlitools/dlitoolsHome.nsf/0FA6B8B31F831F468525736B0001C606/4BBD7E8684EA8DB78525754E006C63A3?OpenDocument