Web ShowURL does not open downloaded file

Targets Web
1

Hello All,

The following snippet of codes is from the Action event of a web button “Open File” on a modal dialog (to deal with downloading, viewing and uploading of attachments).
The intention of the web button action is to download a database blob into a file on the client computer, and to open it with the default program associated with the file on the same client computer.

In this example, I hard-coded the folder and file names.

TargetFolder = “c:\users\shusin”
tStr = “a test file.xlsm”
FileName = TargetFolder + tStr
fTarget = new FolderItem(FileName, FolderItem.PathTypeShell)

dim bs as BinaryStream = BinaryStream.Create(fTarget, true)
If bs <> nil then
bs.write(blob)
bs.close

  Dim ff As new Folderitem(FileName, FolderItem.PathTypeShell)
  If ff <> nil and ff.Exists Then
    Dim DownloadFile As WebFile
    DownloadFile = new WebFile
    DownloadFile = WebFile.Open(ff)
    DownloadFile.ForceDownload = True
    Call DownloadFile.Download
    MsgBox(fTarget.URLPath)  //#1
    Me.ShowURL(fTarget.URLPath, True)  //#2
  End If

End If

When executed, #1 (from Msgbox above) shows: file:///c:/Users/shusin/a%20test%20file.xlsm, as expected.

Also, by the time this message popped up, I could see the file had been downloaded successfully in the target folder, and I could open it (in Excel) when I double-clicked on it in Windows explorer.

However, #2 (from ShowURL) was not successful. Firstly, it did not launch in a new window (as specified w/ True in the second parameter), and secondly, it failed with HTTP 404 Not Found.
The URL of this launched page was: http://127.0.0.1:2222/9E776B75A04049BF39DB6FF0D6D96DD3510CB6FD/files/2947-3757-0851-1744-1518/a%20test%20file.xlsm

What do I do wrong here? Any guidance and suggestions are welcome. FYI, I am still using version 2018 release 2, for company policy reasons.

-Simon

2

You must call the file with the http url. You can use WebFile for that (and perhaps set forcedownload)

Atleast i think that you might want a remote user to view the file right?

3

The problem is that the web file variable is going out of scope at the end of the method and then isn’t available when the browser requests it.

4

Thanks for the responses, Derk, Greg.

As soon as I saw you mentioning “going out of scope at the end of the method”, I remember having the same issue 3+ years ago. :frowning:
It’s working now by using a session property As WebFile, see the use of Session.propDownloadFile in the snippet of codes below.

…
fTarget = new FolderItem(FileName, FolderItem.PathTypeShell)

dim bs as BinaryStream = BinaryStream.Create(fTarget, true)
If bs <> nil then
bs.write(blob)
bs.close

  Dim ff As new Folderitem(FileName, FolderItem.PathTypeShell)
  If ff <> nil and ff.Exists Then
    Session.propDownloadFile = new WebFile
    Session.propDownloadFile = WebFile.Open(ff)
    Session.propDownloadFile.ForceDownload = True
    Call Session.propDownloadFile.Download
    'MsgBox(fTarget.URLPath)
    ShowURL(Session.propDownloadFile.URL, True)

End If
…

Thank you very much for the explanation, Greg!

-Simon