Develop Reference

Opening files locally from web application

I recently added a way for my web application (ASP.NET written in C#) to go to a folder which contains a bunch of spreadsheets and import them into SQL server tables. I set the folders and file names using an admin table so it knows how to handle each file and which table they should go to etc. It even keeps track of the file dates and times so it ignores anything that isn't new since the last time it imported them. Very cool but it only works on my development machine, most likely because the path is easily recognized there.
I'd like others to be able to do this but I can't seem get the web application to access a pre-arranged path on the users local machine. Now I'm assuming this is normal (we shouldn't be able to have a web application reach into someone's machine and grab files!) but is there some way to either do it using a known path or by having a user select the local folder? Is it possibly done more easily if I put the files in a folder within the site?
Dana

If I understand your question correctly, the approach is that you want a user to type in a local file path and you process it.
This will not work through a website. And from a security perspective this is very wise as you point out. So unless you install some client application on the local machine it is not possible.
You will need a file-upload dialog and have the user explicity locate the files for you, click upload and process them on the server.
Some other strategies here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Using_files_from_web_applications
but it still requires the user to select them manually.

Access Database on server, installing an applicaiton that uses access database

1) I am developing a desktop application that connects to a access database to store some information. This access database is on a server. I can get to that server using FTP sequence. The server also has the capability to establish connection to access database. Right now, my application downloads the database file into a folder on the computer edits it and puts it back on the server. I would really love to know if its possible to connect to the access database, make changes to it all without downloading it so that I can save time.
2) If its not possible to do what I was asking for in question 1. Say, I share my application with my colleges and I want them to be able to do the same with the database editing. after I make an .exe file out of my project and send it to them. Do they need to install ACE.oledb.12 on every computer that I want to run it on?

As Access is a file based system rather than a dedicated database server, "remote connections" don't exactly exist as all data processing has to be done locally. However as long as you are able to setup either a VPN to the server where the Access file is stored, or even better map the path as a network drive then you should be able to access it without having to download the file first. If you only have FTP access though then it wouldn't be possible.

If all you are using is Jet/ACE, the database that Access normally uses, the other users will at least have to have the drivers, which are free, or if you are working within Access itself, you will need the runtime, also free.

Actually, your terminology you using is wrong. You don't connect to a word file. You don't connect to a power point file.
So you have to keep in mind here you are not really connecting to some text file or mdb file that just happens to be sitting on a hard drive.
You are thus simply opening a file.
I mean it is silly to say we connect to a word file, or we connect to a Power point file. So in the case of the office suite and those basic simple files that resides on the disk drive?
We are talking about plane Jane windows file.
A horse is a horse is a horse.
A file is a file is a file.
So you don't connect to the jpg file sitting on the hard drive, you OPEN the jpg file. So if you talking about your current setup it best to use the correct terminology here. You are not connecting to that Access accDB file, but are in fact opening a PLANE JANE windows file. If you look close at your connection string, it will ALWAYS have a fully qualified windows path name in it that resolves to a file sitting on a folder.
So if you place that file on some server, say web server, then then you still faced with having to open that windows file. This is NOT ANY different than wanting to open a power point file. That means if you going to connect over the internet then you need to EXTEND the windows file system (this means you will need some kind of VPN). At the end of the day, if you cannot use windows networking to browse and open the folder where that file resides, then you cannot open that file with Access (or more specific in your case the JET data engine).
So for example, if the server where the file resides is a non windows box, say Linux, then you need to "add or use" or "install" the windows file and networking system on that box. A common choice in Linux is to install and run Samba on that computer.
Keep in mind that in the case of using SQL server, then you are connecting to a SERVICE running ON THAT server. In this case then you not opening a file on the remote box, but are simply are using a socket (TCP/IP) connection to some service. So you not just opening a silly old windows file that happens to be an accdb file on that system in this case.
So as such when you use FTP or http, these are not real "windows" networking systems that allow you to open + use a plane Jane windows file.
FTP will require the WHOLE FILE to be downloaded local.
PROBLEM!
If the web site or web server has the accDB file open, then how are you going to have the web server CLOSE the file BEFORE you upload and OVERWRITE the file? In other words, if that file is open by the web server, then you should NOT be making a copy and even downloading a copy via FTP until the SERVER AND WEB SITE CLOSES THE FILE! This means you NEED permission to STOP the web server while you do this!
So as such, just keep in mind the concept here that you are NOT connecting to some file, but you are just going to OPEN the file. You need to be able to OPEN the file, and you need to be using the windows networking system to do this open file in the case of Access. I mean, you don't have to install Access(JET) on the target computer. You don't have to install Power Point on the target computer to open a power point file.
You don't have to install word on that system to open a word file.
You don't have to install Excel on that system to open an Excel file.
So you are ONLY opening a file that just happens to be on some other computer.
So the Access database engine and software MUST be installed on your computer (no .exe possible here). You can most certainly package up your application as an installable windows application that then can be installed on each computer. So a free edition of the Access runtime is available, but you still going to have to install that free version of Access on computers that use Access, even if it is the free runtime edition. However, these days, I not really aware of any popular development system that produces just .exe files without requiring a runtime of some kind, be it .net, VB6, Java, or in this case Access – so some kind of support and runtime files are quite much a common requirement in most systems in use today.
So, just keep in mind you are opening a plane Jane windows file.
As such, your path name of http, or FTP is not a allowed windows path name and is not a windows file/networking system. As such a path name has nothing to do with windows networking and opening of a simple file sitting on the hard disk. So HTTP or FTP etc. are not based on windows networking and file system.
I don’t think this basic concept is too hard to grasp, but at the end of the day the concept you need to grasp and learn is that when you open a windows file sitting in a folder on the hard drive, then then will you need the windows file system to open such files. The idea and concept of opening a file in a folder might be new to you, but it is a basic requirement and understanding you need to solve this issue.
As noted, you can consider a VPN, but I explain why such a setup is not going to work in this article:
Using a wan with ms-access? How fast, how far?
http://www.kallal.ca/Wan/Wans.html
(do read the above – as it explains that you CAN open such files over the internet, but ALSO explains that such connections are WAY TOO SLOW! – remember high speed internet is WAY TOO SLOW here for this use!).
I suppose another possibility would be to consider the new web publishing ability that Access has. In the following video note how I switch to running the Access application 100% in the browser. The resulting application does not need any ActiveX or Silverlight. So the web pages run + work fine on my smartphone and even my iPad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4mH0jPntI
So you can use the new web publishing feature, and that would allow one to use http: to use the application

automating regular windows functions using c sharp

I am trying to build a windows application that will automate a regular routine steps that I have to do for taking a backup.
The flow goes like this...
1.open a folder
2.run an exe there
3.open jumpbox server at which point we have to enter a username and password
4.create a folder
5.then open a network folder using the ip such as //ip.ip.ip.ip/folder (i do this from run)
6.copy a file from this folder to the created folder and rename it
and some other stuff like this.
I handle some of the stuff like open a folder, creating a folder and stuff like that but how to connect to a network folder and give the username and password to it when its asking from within the application.

All these things that can be controlled with a .Net application.
You can use System.Diagnotics.Process to launch other executables in a process.
Both System.IO.Directory and System.IO.DirectoryInfo can be used to do all sorts of folder manipulation.
As for connecting to a network drive which, I think is the actual question, you'll have to excuse my ignorance on jumpboxes. If a user on your domain has access you will need to impersonate that user as suggested here, or if it is a seperate domain, as I suspect is the case, you can use the API as suggested here.

I see you run external commands, so you could use "NET USE...".
Run NET HELP USE to see syntax...

In C#, how can I access a fileshare on a domain from outside a domain?

I've got a webserver where people upload files. What I need to do is take those files and write them to a file share on the Active Directory domain. The problem -- the webserver is not on the domain.
So, how is the best way to do this? I would have thought this would be easy, something along the lines of create a connection with some credentials and do it. But apparently not. The closest I've found is Impersonation with WindowsIdentity.Impersonate, but everything I've read says that is a bad idea in a production environment.
Any ideas? I'm working on a solution that FTPs the files, but that's unsatisfying too, and a fallback plan.
I'm using c# and .net 4.0 in (obviously) a windows environment.
Edit: I should point out that I can't run servers (or services) that access the outside on that domain. The FTPing is a temporary workaround.

I would have another program probably a Windows service pick the files from the web service file location and move them to the active directory directory. I would probably have this process execute from the location where they are being copied to. Make them available in a share on the web server visible only to the process's user and admins.

I think that an FTP solution is better than using a Windows Share; however, I would think a web service of some type would be the best option for an inter-domain file exchange. That said, if you've got it working with WindowsIdentity.Impersonate -- why not use it? What context did you read that it was a bad idea?

Is there any way that you can map this file share as Network Driver. If you can do that, you don't need to manager Security and will be super easy to access these files as if they are local.

Building, and Publishing, and User-Data (oh my!)

What is the best way to update a "Web-Application" ("re-publish" from dev server to live server) while preserving user-data (such as images, videos, and audio stored in the filesystem) in a VS 2010 build/publish setup?
Additionally, what is the best way to minimize site downtime during these updates?
My backstory:
Usually I "build/publish" the site to a folder on my dev machine, ftp:// into the live server, then drag-and-drop the new "published" files and folders to the live site while making sure not to overwrite any user-generated directories.
Obviously this method comes from my static-html days where it didn't matter. And obviously this is dangerous, flawed, and counter-productive for any Web Application with user-generated data in the FS.

The easiest way is to have a directory that's outside of your code folder where you store the user data. You can even map this folder as a virtual folder in IIS when you need this folder to be available from the internet. Like:
C:\Inetpub
\ProjectWebsite
\ProjectFiles