word document files

[drybones]

This situation can be described like so.

1 user uploads a file, that file is a word document file (2003). The user could have otherwise uploaded a pdf or a plain text file and image, any file really, but for this problem its a MS Word Document file. 15 other people are going to need to view that file, but i want them to view it through the web page.

I cannot gaurentee everyone uses word so i cannot just load the file within the browser. So i need to convert it.

How would you guys go about doing this?

Like i can easily use word api to resave the document as an .htm file, but i would need word installed on the server and the server would have to be windows.

Im just looking for some options on how to go about implementing this situation.

[KDLA]

Ewwww --- MS Word docs converted into HTML make for really crummy coding.

Is the Word doc. going to retain its file type, or, once edited, is it going to be converted into a webpage?

If it is going to be a webpage, I suggest you look into some sort of wiki software.

KDLA

[drybones]

What i mean is, i want to embed a word document into my website, however i cannot assume that every user has word installed. So i want some ideas on ways to handle that.

Process 1:
- User uploads a file, that file happens to be a MS Word Document.
- After the upload, the code reacts to that file extension and runs the .net code to run Words internal convert to html
- Now when a user visits a section that would display that users docuemnt, the document is embedded into one side of the page.

A perfect example of what i want it www.DocuFarm.com, do you know of any thing like a web applet that can provide a service like that?

[felgall]

The simplest solution is to convert it to a PDF in Word before uploading it.

[ray326]

What are you running on the server side? An applet won't do it unless the applet is a doc viewer.

[Major Payne]

Use the KISS method. Convert to PDF type document and put a link to the free Adobe PDF reader if someone doesn't have one. Then they can read it online. If a large pdf file, dial-uppers may have to wait somewhat for it to load into browser. Price you pay for not having broadband.

Ron