Going to FTP from Web page

[Ryan8720]

Will a normal link to an FTP site automatically open up the FTP client?

If not, how would I do this?

[BarkerJr]

It *should*. All of the browsers I've tried do.

[Ryan8720]

Is there a way to ensure that it does?

[trillianjedi]

That depends on whether the Windows namespace has been set so as to automatically fire up the FTP client or not.

That itself depends on the Windows install I think, and whether or not the client app has set it, if required.

There's no way you can check that from webserver side, so the answer to your question is no, you can't force it.

I would imagine with Windows that IE is set by default on install in the namespace for "ftp://".

It's possible that a rogue client app could overwrite that.

TJ

[Herenvardo]

Many web browsers act also as ftp clients (for example: IE and Netscape). In this cases, is obvious that no other client will be launched. When the web and ftp clients are different applications, what will happen depends on the system configuration. The most usual is that the system will launch an application able to manage a "ftp://..." link, but it's never sure.
I suggest you to put a text note next to the link telling users that it is not a web link. The text of such a note could vary alot depending on the people the site is oriented to.

Hoping be usefull,
Herenvardö

[Ryan8720]

Ok, thanks guys.