Is there a way.. (other then the obvious using the actualy plug in as a detector) to detect if someone has lets say the java plut in installed using coldfusion code? If so, how would I do that, what variables do I go after?
I can't think of anything since ColdFusion runs on the server and the plugins you describe run on the client. And since the client and server are completely different computers sometimes seperated by hundreds, maybe even thousands, of miles, I have no idea how anything on the server will ever know what is installed on the client.
Now if the client kindly tells the server what it has installed that is a different matter. But I have never heard of any standard protocol where a client will tell the server what plugins it has installed.
I agree with Ian, a browser should NEVER give up that kind of information willingly - security and all.
so to detect a particular plugin from the clients original request, I would say is unpossible.
So I think you would be stuck with the "try it and see if it works" method, try to load a small applet that returns something on success and grab it's response with CF
That's what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. I just have a video stream that runs on a java viewer and if you don't have it installed, it doesn't work. So I was thinking of a way to test for the plug-in on my own, and not when the app fails on the client.I like your idea, test a small applet and if you see it, you can move on, if you can't, then install the plug in.
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