Obtaining Client-Specific Information with a Web Application

Introduction

An Editor friend and some of my co-workers have taken
occasion to remind me that some people don’t like Internet
Explorer or don’t see why anyone would ever develop Web
applications just for Internet Explorer. Some of these same
smart people have expressed the opinion that they don’t like
ActiveX in Web applications much either. I respect their
opinions. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

I understand. I have read the Cathedral and the Bazaar by
Eric Raymond. I have even exchanged a couple of emails with
him. I understand that some people think open source
software and uniform standards is the way to go. However, I
think about these kinds of issues-open source versus
proprietary solutions and IE-only development versus multi-
browser platform development-differently, from my own
perspective.

First, IE is the most popular browser and is the most
widely used. Second, I have actually worked on applications
that were Web-based intranet applications and the customer
requested IE only. The latest two applications had multi-
million dollar budgets. If you are targeting the World Wide
Web then IE only development may be short sighted. And, when
it comes to ActiveX I think of all available code and
solutions as possibilities. Most code has pluses and
minuses. My criteria for using something are really just a
matter of does it solve the issue expediently, efficiently,
and cost effectively and are the risks manageable. Other
than that I don’t care where the code comes from, which
language it is in, or what coding standard was applied.

This article is limited to IE web-based development and
just a few odds and bobs that let your JavaScript code
obtain some client/user specific information.

Enabling and Disabling Script Debugging in IE8

Visual Studio 2008 automatically enables script debugging
for Internet Explorer 8 sessions started from Visual Studio.
You know longer have to uncheck this option (Disable script
debugging (Internet Explorer)) in the IE Tools|Options in
the Advanced tab. In fact, regardless of the debugging
settings script debugging will be enabled for IE8 sessions
started from Visual Studio.

There exists a potential for performance problems
associated with script debugging always being on. For a
registry hack that disables script debugging refer to my
DevExpress blog entry here.

Enabling ActiveX in IE8

Internet Explorer security is established by zone. There
are five zones: Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites,
Restricted Sites, and My Computer. The Internet zone is
represented by Web sites on your computer that haven’t been
assigned to another zone. The Local Intranet zone is
represented by network connections established using a UNC
path, Web sites that by-pass the proxy server, or sites that
have not been assigned to the Restricted or Trusted zone.
Also, if you use a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP
address then the site is considered part of the Internet
zone. The Trusted Sites zone is for adding web sites that
you trust, like FedEx.com, Dell.com, Amazon.com, and the
Restricted Sites zone is for web sites that you don’t trust.
My Computer is exactly what it sounds like.

If you want to enable ActiveX support for desktop
development then you want to adjust the Local Intranet zone.
If you add ActiveX controls to your public web site then
your users will need to adjust the Internet zone.

If you write some JavaScript that uses an ActiveX object
and your browser isn’t configured to permit ActiveX objects
then you will get an error dialog like the one shown in
Figure 1. To configure support for ActiveX controls on your
workstation or laptop, the machine you are developing on,
follow these steps (using Figure 2 as a guide):

1. In Internet Explorer 8 select Tools|Options


2. Change to the Security tab and click Local intranet in
   the zones section


3. Click Custom level


4. In the Security Settings dialog scroll to the ActiveX
   controls and plug-ins


5. Change the “Initialize and script ActiveX controls not
   marked as safe for scripting” from Disable to Enable or
   Prompt. (If you want to remember that you have turned on
   ActiveX support then select Prompt)


6. Click OK to close the Security Settings dialog


7. Click OK to close the Internet options dialog

Click here for larger image

Figure 1: If you see this dialog then you need to enable
ActiveX objects for the Local Intranet zone.

Figure 2: To let ActiveX objects that you create in script
run on your workstation’s browser set “Initialize and script
ActiveX controls not marked as safe…” to Enable or Prompt.

Creating an ActiveX Object

ActiveX objects for ascertaining client information
include WScript.Network and WScript.Shell. WScript.Network
can be used to determine the active user, for example, and
WScript.Shell can be used to query information like the path
to the MyDocuments folder. For a complete reference for
these ActiveX libraries refer to the MSDN help
documentation.

Tip: You can use script languages to run JavaScript at
a command prompt by running the .js script file in the
WScript.exe host.

To create an instance of the desired ActiveXObject you
can invoke new ActiveXObject passing in the name of the
library as a string that you want to create. The following
code demonstrates how to use the debugger; statement to
break into the code and create an instance of
WScript.Network and WScript.Shell. With these two objects
the UserName and the path to the special folder MyDocuments
is obtained (refer to Listing 1).

Listing 1: Some JavaScript in a Web page that obtains client-specific information using ActiveX.

          <script type=”text/javascript”>

            debugger;

            var o = new ActiveXObject(“WScript.Network”);

            //UserDomain

            //ComputerName

            //UserName

            alert(o.UserName);

            var w = new ActiveXObject(“WScript.Shell”);

            alert(w.SpecialFolders(“MyDocuments”));

            //CreateShortcut

            //SpecialFolders

            var jsonObject = { “UserName”: o.UserName,

              “MyDocuments”: w.SpecialFolders(“MyDocuments”)

            };
          </script>

The end of the listing contains a statement that starts
with var jsonObject. Programmers used to create objects by
writing new Object() and referring to the
desired properties. The revised syntax above is part of JSON
(pronounced Jason), or JavaScript Object Notation. JSON is a
lightweight data-interchange format that is a subset of
JavaScript. JSON is used in objects and arrays in a highly
readable form, and the technology plays in the same space as
XML. The statement above creates an object with two
properties: UserName and MyDocuments.

Summary

Now that you have the tools to configure a browser for
ActiveX features and obtain client-specific information, it
is up to you to figure out how you are going to use it. To
recap JavaScript debugging is enabled automatically when
Visual Studio starts an instance of IE8. Security settings
like ActiveX support are managed by zone. For local
workstation ActiveX support modify the Local Intranet zone.
You can choose between enabling ActiveX support or prompting
for permission. (I choose the latter, so I turn it off when
not needed.) Finally, two of the objects that support
discovering client-side information are WScript.Shell and
WScript.Network. You can explore the integrated MSDN help
for more information.

As a final note JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) was
briefly introduced. JSON is subset of JavaScript and is a
lightweight data-interchange format. JSON is picking up
steam and becoming more popular, so I wedged it into the
sample.

Biography

Paul Kimmel is the VB Today columnist for
www.codeguru.com and has written several books on object-
oriented programming and .NET. Check out his upcoming book
Professional DevExpress ASP.NET Controls (from Wiley) now
available on Amazon.com and fine bookstores everywhere. Look
for his upcoming book Teach Yourself the ADO.NET Entity
Framework in 24 Hours (from Sams). You may contact him for
technology questions at pkimmel@softconcepts
.com. Paul Kimmel is a Technical Evangelist for
Developer Express, Inc, and you can ask him about Developer
Express at paulk@devexpress.com
and read his DX blog at http://
community.devexpress.com/blogs/paulk.