How to setup a .prc file for download

  • Thread starter Thread starter John O
  • Start date Start date
J

John O

I have a couple .prc files that are intended for a Palm, sitting on my
server and available for download on the page in the usual manner
(right-click, Save Target As...). For some reason I don't understand, when I
click the link and download the file---the extension is changed to .htm.

Is there a way to prevent Windows/IE from changing the file extension when
they save the file? Obviously this extension must mean something special to
something other than the Palm OS.

I could zip the files, but they are only 18k and that's adding more steps
for my users than I prefer to add. I could tell the recipients to change the
extension when they save the file, but again, do I *have* to?
 
John O said:
I have a couple .prc files that are intended for a Palm, sitting on my
server and available for download on the page in the usual manner
(right-click, Save Target As...). For some reason I don't understand, when I
click the link and download the file---the extension is changed to .htm.

Is there a way to prevent Windows/IE from changing the file extension when
they save the file? Obviously this extension must mean something special to
something other than the Palm OS.

I could zip the files, but they are only 18k and that's adding more steps
for my users than I prefer to add. I could tell the recipients to change the
extension when they save the file, but again, do I *have* to?
Click to expand...

John,

Have you checked other sites providing .prc files to see what they are
doing?

You may want to check the mime types on your server (or check with your
host). It could be that for some reason, your server is sending a type of
text or html (not _really_ familiar with the innards of how this works) and
the browser is using that to determine that .htm should be added to the
file.
 
Have you checked other sites providing .prc files to see what they are
doing?
Click to expand...


Palmgear.com has everything zipped. Maybe this is why?


You may want to check the mime types on your server (or check with your
host). It could be that for some reason, your server is sending a type of
text or html (not _really_ familiar with the innards of how this works) and
the browser is using that to determine that .htm should be added to the
file.
Click to expand...

Yikes, I'm not sure I should mess with that...my portion of the site is
small potatoes. But you might be right.

FWIW, I tried IE, Mozilla, and Avant, they all act the same. On OSX running
IE the .prc is retained. Obviously, this extension means something special
to Windows.

Rats. :-)

-John O
 
I just created a 0KB .prc file on my computer (Win XP SP1) and tried to open
it. Windows prompted me saying it couldn't open the file and asked if I
wanted to "Use the Web service to find the appropriate program" or "Select
from list".

I chose "Web service" and got this page:
http://shell.windows.com/fileassoc/0409/xml/redir.asp?Ext=prc

Basically, it says that it doesn't know what to do with it and provided a
link to here:
http://filext.com/detaillist.php?extdetail=prc

which is handy because it shows lots of different apps use it. The
interesting one is the third which discusses Palm. It provides the MIME
Types in case you do want to give that a try.

On a whim, I uploaded a fake (0KB) file to my site:
http://www.maxgeek.com/test.prc

When I save it, it's saved as a .prc file, not .htm. This is a shared
server and I don't have any control over the MIME types. The only thing I
can think is that your web server is sending some odd MIME type info, or
your particular workstation configuration is causing problems. Try it from
a different computer and see if you still get the .htm file.

Good luck!
 
It provides the MIME
Types in case you do want to give that a try.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what to do with that info.
On a whim, I uploaded a fake (0KB) file to my site:
http://www.maxgeek.com/test.prc
When I save it, it's saved as a .prc file, not .htm.
Click to expand...

Same here.
This is a shared
server and I don't have any control over the MIME types. The only thing I
can think is that your web server is sending some odd MIME type info, or
your particular workstation configuration is causing problems. Try it from
a different computer and see if you still get the .htm file.
Click to expand...

I tried two other PCs (that was the first thing I did).

I'm not going to get too worried at this point, but just for grins here's an
example. I'm curious how it works on the other end.
http://www.heathkit.com/alberta/ Look at the status bar in IE, then watch
what happens when the dialog box opens.
 
John O said:
I'm not sure what to do with that info.
Click to expand...

More about this below.

I'm not going to get too worried at this point, but just for grins here's an
example. I'm curious how it works on the other end.
http://www.heathkit.com/alberta/ Look at the status bar in IE, then watch
what happens when the dialog box opens.
Click to expand...

The MIME types are instructions on the server side that say "this file is X
type so you should do Y with it." Seems to me the server is telling the
browser that the .prc is a text or html file. The browser responds with
"Oh, I know what to do with that." and displays the text in the browser.

It's kind of like having a .php or .asp file on your site. If you click on
a link to a .php file and there is nothing on the server side that says
"this file is PHP so you should pass it through the PHP interpreter before
delivering it to the browser" the visitor will end up seeing your PHP code
in all it's glory.

Although the MIME types aren't interpreters or parsers like the PHP, ASP,
Perl, JSP, etc. dll files, are, they still can determine how a file is
presented to the visitor's browser.

As a test, I uploaded your .prc file onto my own server and tried to
download it and I was still presented with the Save As dialog. The
resulting file was saved as a .prc, not a .htm. I wanted to test it to make
sure that my 'fake' one from earlier didn't accidentally work. I've taken
your file off of my server, but rest assured the behavior was exactly the
same as my fake one. When I clicked on the link on your server, the file
was opened up in the browser and when I tried to save it, it was saved with
an .htm extension.

I think I can say for sure that this is not a client side issue. It doesn't
matter how many computers you try this on, when you download from that web
server, it's going to be treated as an .htm. If you provide that MIME type
info to your web server admin, I expect you'll find that the problem can be
fixed. At least give it a try on a test server.
 
John,

Can you use ASP, if so you can force the MIME type for the download, if
there is one associated.

Also the same should be available with other server-side scripting
languages.

--

==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, Forums, WebCircle,
MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================
 
I appreciate the help, guys. I'll see if I can communicate this to the
server people and we'll see what happens. Thanks!
 
John,

If you can use a server-side script, then the MIME type can be set directly
on the page that would handle the download, without having to involve the
host in changing any type of settings on the server, etc.

--

==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, Forums, WebCircle,
MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================
 
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