Open File behaviour with Internet Explorer 6 and 8

Question

Is there a different behaviour between IE6 and IE8 how they open a file? I've a file on a network drive or local drive which I'd like to open with (standard) JavaScript.

However, IE6 does open (eg) a text file within a browser and IE8 does open the text file in notepad. I do need IE8's behaviour in both browser versions. Any ideas?

Answer 1

As far as I know you can't control the default behavior for other users, it depends on their settings.

For instance in IE8, I can go to:

Tools > Internet Settings > Internet Programs > Set Programs

Which opens up a Windows dialog that allows me to control default behavior.

When you say:

I do need IE8's behaviour in both browser versions.

Is this for you, or your users? If it's for your users, you can forget about it - there's no way you hijack their settings, or even tell if they even have notepad installed. If it's for you, then just edit your settings.