How to access the client system in asp.net mvc

Question

In my application i am downloading a file for the user when he click on the download button and i am able to download it in the users browser.

But what i want is i want to download the file in the specific location in the user system which should we have the access. when user do the changes and closes and click on upload button then the changes file should be saved to the server disk. How can i do this in asp.net mvc.

Is there any access to any folder in the client machine, so that we can access that folder and we can save that folder content in the server machine

Regards,

Answer 1

When browser is about to download the file, it will ask user to specify the location and default location will be set to the downloads folder.

One suggestion is to download file in downloads folder.

Below is the code to get the path of the downloads folder :

string pathUser = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile);
string pathDownload = Path.Combine(pathUser, "Downloads");

Answer 2

Accessing user machine means hacking !!! you can only access it if you are making web based application installed on the user machine. in another way it means access server side only not the client side.

but you can access some function using javascript like altering user browser behaving. so let me know if its website or application installed on users pc.

u can access it only if 1) the server and computer are on the same network

or 1) the server knows the name of the computer 2) the server knows which folder to look for in the computer 3)the folder is shared with the user account running the ASP.NET code on the server with enough privileges to change a file

otherway u can ask user to download a small software to install it on his pc and you can communicate between the software and your website. like downloads website do these days

Answer 3

The user will need to initiate a upload to your Server in order for you to access the modified file - for security reasons the website has no access to the local file system at all, including temporary internet files.

Imagine the damage that could be done if websites could root around arbitrary locations on your local file system, grabbing copies of documents and anything else that the developer might find interesting.

The download/modify/upload modified paradigm is not uncommon and is how the majority of websites approach this problem - the only exceptions that I am aware of are those that allow you to modify the file in the browser, mainly online image editors and office suites like Google Docs or Office 365. In this case the "file" isn't stored on the user's local file system, and is usually being persisted back to the server using regular Ajax calls.

One thing you could do to make life easier for your users is implement so-called "Drag and Drop Upload" (I'd suggest in addition to a more traditional upload form) to allow them to drag the document (after saving) back onto the page when their changes have been made.