Create a link in FrameMaker8 to download a zip file ?

[_Sean_Samuel_]

Hello everyone

I am trying to create a hyperlink from a FrameMaker 8 file to download a zip file.

Can anyone tell me what command/structure I am supposed to use ?

cheers

[FieryPantone]

Half an answer seems to be "message openfile {filename}".

Only half an answer, unfortunately, since (at least on my XP box at the office) this then throws up an alert about opening the app associated with .zip files - no "download" option. I'll watch the thread with interest!

[R__VanDyke]

Sean:

Assuming that the link will open in a Web browser, I suspect a "Go to URL" Hypertext link will work just fine.

The browser receives the link, automatically arbitrates the URL as a file to be downloaded rather than a Web page, and responds with the "Save As" dialog box...(?)

That is to say that the URL behaves no differently than if you were to click on a link to a downloadable ZIP file from within a Web browser...(?)

Cheer

[FieryPantone]

Hm - good point, Riley. Hadn't tried Go to URL, though I realise now this is simply because I forgot to ignore the dire warnings about "not a FrameMaker file" :-}

However, now I have made the experiment:
* opening the .pdf directly in Acrobat and clicking on the link opens the .zip application immediately - still no "download/open" option

* opening the .pdf through a browser puzzlingly netts me "The file ///C:/tempo/mup55lin.tgz cannot be found. Please check the location and try again." Needless to say, the file in question is right there where it should be ...

[_Sean_Samuel_]

Thank you for all your help.

I have just tried selecting the Special > Hypertext and using the 'Go to URL' command, then typing in the zip filename (shellSFC.zip).

I get a message saying this is not a 'recognised hypertext command'.

What am I forgetting to do ?

I did continue to create the pdf but the link didn't work !

[_Thomas_Michanek_]

You must provide a valid URL, that is, an Internet-style path to your file:
http://somewhere.com/some/path/file.zip
or
file://some/path/file.zip where "some/path" could include a drive letter
on a Windows system, but you may have to replace colon with "|".

[_Sean_Samuel_]

Many thanks everyone, but I still can't open the zip file that is local to the pdf, what am I doing wrong ?

Special > Hypertext, use 'Go to URL', type

message URL file:ShellSFC.zip

[R__VanDyke]

Sean:

How about file:///path/to/filename.zip?

Spaces in the pathname may be a problem, possibly resolvable with quotation marks(?)

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley

[_Sean_Samuel_]

Everyone
just tried

message URL file:///path/to/ShellSFC.zip

as a link from a source framemaker file to create a link in a pdf file to ShellSFC.zip file but it didn't work.

It opened a internet explorer window a displayed a message saying it couldn't find that URL

[_Sean_Samuel_]

Many thanks to everyone who tried helping but I think I have resolved this to everyones satisfaction.

I used the Message Client command and the following syntax
'b' message openfile ShellSFC.zip

This opens the required zip file

once again many thanks