Question about listing directories from client machine

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  13 years ago

  by othuon

  Danish Owidi

  , Kenya

  Joined 13 years ago

   
  Hi to all. I've been trying to find a way of resolving a problem I have and I can't quite figure it out how to do it.
  
  I would like to achieve the following: I want to be able to list the directories (and subdirectories) of the hard drive of an user local machine, when he access a web page, displayed in a treeview, like a kind of XP File Explorer.
  
  Is this possible, at all? If it is, how can I achieve this? Can I make this using "regular" asp.net, or "hell no!"? I'm asking this because I really can't seem to understand how I could list the folders of the client hardrive. For example, I can't run a command like this
  
  Dim drives As String() = Directory.GetLogicalDrives()
  
  in a way that it lists the drives of the PC of the client that is accessing the webpage, can I?
  
  If this can't be done by "regular" code, how could I do it? ActiveX? Ajax? I haven't worked with any of these technologies so I'm really just wondering here...
  
  At this point I don't even care if I can already put the directories in a treeview or not... I would just be happy to know a way to just print the list of directories.
  
  I would appreciate if somebody could please direct me to a direction, an article or something that would enlighten me on what and how to do this.
  Thanks in advance.
  
  TechnoSpike
  
  

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  13 years ago

  by m8mbl

  Man-Bun Lee

  , United Kingdom

  Joined 13 years ago

  I can only give a generic solution that works for me, and I think you are on the right lines already. The following code will list all files in the MyPictures folder, but not the subdirectories. Change the second parameter in the GetFiles method to search all subdirectories also. I think you can create a general routine that will list all directories on the client machine, although this is highly inadvisable. It is best to be specific with the directory being accessed on a webclient or let the client browse to the necessary directory.

  It might be better if you limit your online directories to the SpecialDirctories used with the My keyword.

  Private path As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.SpecialDirectories.MyPictures & "\Wedding"
  
      Protected Sub btnFillList_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnFillList.Click
          For Each foundFile As String In My.Computer.FileSystem.GetFiles(path, FileIO.SearchOption.SearchTopLevelOnly)
              lbPictureList.Items.Add(foundFile)
  
          Next
      End Sub
  

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  13 years ago

  by Mulish Mehdi

  Tehran, Iran

  Joined 16 years ago

  Hi there,

   I think D'Scouser's code shows existing files on the server. You must create an ActiveX for that.
  

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  13 years ago

  by m8mbl

  Man-Bun Lee

  , United Kingdom

  Joined 13 years ago

  You're right Mehdi, but the kid's on the right tracks using the Directory object, and just change the GetFiles method for GetDirectories

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