Re: Using a resource to return a mime (audio/image) document -- Netscape Windows Bug???

David Pepper wrote:
> 
> I use the following lines in a resource class to "package" a binary file
> that contains an audio/basic data file:
>         MimeType type = null ;
>         FileInputStream is = new FileInputStream (msg_location) ;
>         type = new MimeType ( "audio", "basic" ) ;
>         Reply reply = createDefaultReply (request, HTTP.OK) ;
>         reply.setContentType ( type ) ;
>         reply.setLocation ( "1456" + ".au" ) ;
>         String[] encodings = new String[1] ;
>         encodings[0] = "Binary" ;
>         reply.setContentEncoding ( encodings ) ;
>         reply.setStream ( is ) ;
>         return reply ;
> 
> Where msg_location is the name of the local data file.
> 
> This produces the correct (?) HTTP header information:
>         HTTP/1.0 200 OK
>         Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 22:22:11 GMT
>         Content-Encoding: Binary
>         Content-Type: audio/basic
>         Last-Modified: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 15:49:27 GMT
>         Location: 1456.au
>         Server: Jigsaw/1.0a3
> 
>         [binary audio data...]
> 
> And when I "view" this document on my UNIX version of Netscape everything
> works as expected (an audio player pops up and the audio is played out).
> However, when I view this document from a Windows version of Netscape
> (Gold 3.0 on 3.1, 95, and NT) I get an "unknown file extension" error.
> It seems that when the Windows version of Netscape saves this document
> in it's cache and calls the audio/basic plug-in on it, since the document
> has been saved without an extension, it cannot be recognized by the
> media player.
> 
> Does anyone know how to force Netscape (on Windows) to put the appropriate
> extension on a file that is returned in this manner?  By the way,
> when following a "hard link" to a document ending in *.au or when following
> a "re-direct" to such a document as generated by a CGI script, Netscape
> behaves properly and the file is saved in the cache with the appropriate
> extension.  Is there an IETF standard on this for Windows?
> 
>                         Thanks,
>                         David Pepper
>                         dpepper@bellcore.com

It isn't so much getting the right extension that you need ... instead,
you want to configure Netscape to handle the "audio/basic" media type. 
This is done on the Options -> General Preferences -> Helpers panel. 
You'll want to go down to the "audio/basic" entry (or create one if
needed).  Simply set the action to launch your appropriate audio
application, and this will occur automatically.

MS Explorer and other web browsers typically have a similar
configuratino mechanism.

Received on Friday, 13 December 1996 19:21:06 UTC