open html xls link into EXCEL application (not in IE browser)

Question

Is it possible (using html / javascript) to ensure that the .xls file behind a html link opens up into EXCEL rather than within the (reduced-functionality) browser alternative?

<a target='_blank' href='http://etc/etc/Myfile.xls'&gt;  Mylink </a>

Answer 1

It's more a function of the server supplying the file with a header defining a mime type which tells Excel to open it.

Content-Type: application/excel
Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel

although, I must admit, I'm not sure what the difference is between those two.

I know I've been able to serve HTML tables as text files with names like something.xls and Excel opens them. This is not what you're doing, but Excel wouldn't realise the difference until it opened the file.

I'm also unfamiliar with what you called a '(reduced-functionality) browser alternative'. The browsers I use at work (IE7 and FF3.5) open directly with Excel.

I don't use the target='_blank' attribute. What happens if you omit it?