After a delay, I finally got back to my client's server to try your suggestions, and they worked perfectly. Security was the whole problem, and it was solved simply by going to Control Panel > Admin Tools > Services and giving Cold Fusion an id with privileges to the shared network discs I wanted to connect to. It turned out that my website's much earlier problem of not being able to read FoxPro data via ODBC (circumvented by making nightly copies of the relevant data to a directory I could reach) was solved in the same way: once ColdFusion had an id with the correct privileges, it could get to the FoxPro data with no problem.
Interestingly, in both cases the error message I had received was 'File not found'. Could that be somebody's idea of an extra layer of security? To confuse people about what the real problem is? Many thanks to all! Peyton -----Original Message----- >From: Mike Staver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Apr 25, 2008 1:55 AM >To: discussion@acfug.org >Subject: Re: [ACFUG Discuss] How Load Files from Outside the Web Directory? > >Good point Shawn. I suppose as long as you have the proper security in >the first place, it isn't much of an issue. > >shawn gorrell wrote: >> Mike, >> >> There are usage scenarios when you might want to serve content from >> outside of the webroot. For example, let's say you have an application >> that serves PDF files, but you want to ensure that only authenticated >> users can get at the file. If you put it in a /pdf directory under the >> webroot and then provide a link to it directly, then someone can copy >> that link and send to another user who can get it without authentication >> (assuming you aren't using integrated authentication). For times like >> that, I'll put a directory outside of the webroot and have CF present it >> via CFCONTENT (file.cfm?fn=mypdf.pdf). That makes CF the intermediary so >> that you can ensure only authenticated users get it. >> >> ----- Original Message ---- >> From: Mike Staver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: discussion@acfug.org >> Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 4:18:46 PM >> Subject: Re: [ACFUG Discuss] How Load Files from Outside the Web Directory? >> >> In windows land, you access network shares like so: >> >> \\servername\sharename >> >> Or in dos with the \'s as well, like "cd C:\" >> >> I can't remember what CF will do that off the top of my head. Working >> with file systems in linux, it's a forward slash. Web URL's are also >> forward slashes. So, I would think if I was on a windows box working with >> the file system, such as with cffile, I would use the native OS >> preference. If I was doing something with cflocation or cfcontent, I >> would use forward slashes since it will be displayed through a web >> browser. >> >> I think as others have said though, you can serve up content from outside >> the wwwroot directory - but it's my personal preference not to just based >> on a security stand point. I get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that any >> content being served up is coming from inside the web directory and >> nowhere else, but it's a personal preference. >> >> > Thanks Mike, I'll try that next time I'm at the client's place of >> > business, after making sure I can get it working localhost. I do have a >> > question about it though: I'm never clear when to use forward slashes vs. >> > backslashes, but I do know that in writing web apps I've had much better >> > luck with forward slashes. So by \\servername\sharename did you mean >> > //servername/sharename? >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------- >> Annual Sponsor FigLeaf Software - http://www.figleaf.com >> >> To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ >> http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform >> >> For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists >> Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ >> List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com >> ------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------- >> Annual Sponsor - Figleaf Software <http://www.figleaf.com> >> >> To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ >> http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform >> >> For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists >> Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ >> List hosted by FusionLink <http://www.fusionlink.com> >> ------------------------------------------------------------- > >-- > > -Mike Staver > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >------------------------------------------------------------- >Annual Sponsor FigLeaf Software - http://www.figleaf.com > >To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ >http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform > >For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists >Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ >List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com >------------------------------------------------------------- > > > ------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, manage your profile @ http://www.acfug.org?fa=login.edituserform For more info, see http://www.acfug.org/mailinglists Archive @ http://www.mail-archive.com/discussion%40acfug.org/ List hosted by http://www.fusionlink.com -------------------------------------------------------------
