Known File-types Previewer

30 Oct 2006 2:52 PM

Andrea Anastasescu

Hi there,

I have to integrate a previewer into a desktop application, that retains
some links to resources (local files, internet-links, personal mails - this
is not of certain concern).
This window should be able to give a preview of the document: be it an
office (word, excel), an image file etc.
Is there a convenient mode for this in .NET applications?
The preview should be done in the application's window, it is not acceptable
to open the file outside the process (like:
System.Diagnostics.Process.Start( file_path ); that is based on shell
associations)
I am trying to use a webbrowser control, but i wanted to know your opinion
on this, and wether there may be another solution than trying to show all
documents inside a web-browser.
(There is still a problem like that in the attached image - certainly I
can not modify settings on the users's computer - but I will try to find a
workaround).

Thanks,
Andrea

30 Oct 2006 5:43 PM

Andy

Your application can host the ActiveX control which will display the
preview. This is what the webbrowser does anyway.. loads an ActiveX
viewer control. your applciation though will have to know a head of
time what applications it can use to preview, and those apps will have
to be installed already.

HTH
Andy

Andrea Anastasescu wrote:
Show quoteHide quote

> Hi there,
>
> I have to integrate a previewer into a desktop application, that retains
> some links to resources (local files, internet-links, personal mails - this
> is not of certain concern).
> This window should be able to give a preview of the document: be it an
> office (word, excel), an image file etc.
> Is there a convenient mode for this in .NET applications?
> The preview should be done in the application's window, it is not acceptable
> to open the file outside the process (like:
> System.Diagnostics.Process.Start( file_path ); that is based on shell
> associations)
> I am trying to use a webbrowser control, but i wanted to know your opinion
> on this, and wether there may be another solution than trying to show all
> documents inside a web-browser.
> (There is still a problem like that in the attached image - certainly I
> can not modify settings on the users's computer - but I will try to find a
> workaround).
>
> Thanks,
> Andrea

31 Oct 2006 7:04 AM

Andrea Anastasescu

Hi,

Well, I presume that the user has a version of Office, for example, but I
actually don't know which version.
I would be interested to know how is the webbrowser handling this.
I think that I can use the file-type associations to learn the type of
aplication that is tied to a file type but what to do next? How to use that
application, or what ActiveX to use to show the content of the file.
For the first step, let just look at Office files

Thanks,
Andrea
Show quoteHide quote

"Andy" <an***@med-associates.com> wrote in message
news:1162230193.351534.153710@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Your application can host the ActiveX control which will display the
> preview. This is what the webbrowser does anyway.. loads an ActiveX
> viewer control. your applciation though will have to know a head of
> time what applications it can use to preview, and those apps will have
> to be installed already.
>
> HTH
> Andy
>
> Andrea Anastasescu wrote:
>> Hi there,
>>
>> I have to integrate a previewer into a desktop application, that retains
>> some links to resources (local files, internet-links, personal mails -
>> this
>> is not of certain concern).
>> This window should be able to give a preview of the document: be it an
>> office (word, excel), an image file etc.
>> Is there a convenient mode for this in .NET applications?
>> The preview should be done in the application's window, it is not
>> acceptable
>> to open the file outside the process (like:
>> System.Diagnostics.Process.Start( file_path ); that is based on shell
>> associations)
>> I am trying to use a webbrowser control, but i wanted to know your
>> opinion
>> on this, and wether there may be another solution than trying to show all
>> documents inside a web-browser.
>> (There is still a problem like that in the attached image - certainly I
>> can not modify settings on the users's computer - but I will try to find
>> a
>> workaround).
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Andrea
>