Hyper link that opens the newest file in a dir?

Posted by Glenn Mulno on March 25, 2005, 1:43 pm

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Off the wall question:

Is there a way to set a hyperlink so that it opens the newest file in a
directory?

Why: I have a page that is a link to a daily set of reports. A new report
gets output every single night with a new unique name like this:
applicationperformance032520050100.doc

Which is the Application performance report for March 25 2005 out put at
1:00 AM. Tomorrow, a newer report will be there titled:
applicationperformance032620050100.doc

I want to provide a link the "Yesterdays Report" without needing to go in
and edit the link every morning.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

--
Glenn

Posted by kaeli on March 25, 2005, 1:55 pm

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enlightened us with...
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Perl, PHP, JSP, Cold Fusion, ASP...
Javascript if you're REALLY stuck for a server-side solution. A bit easier to
do server-side, IMO, but it could be done client-side, assuming the browser
supported it (most do).

Added advantage to server-side: it can tell you if the file is missing. JS
will only write the link.

--
--
~kaeli~
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

Posted by Stan Brown on March 25, 2005, 10:59 pm

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"Glenn Mulno" wrote in comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html:
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Yes, certainly. Remember that href="..." doesn't necessarily
identify a particular static file, or even a file at all. It's
interpreted by the server. Use some special URL and set up the
server to recognize it as a command to find and serve up the newest
file in the directory. Sounds like a job for CGI or similar.

If you're asking can you do it client side, the answer is No: the
client doesn't have the necessary information.

--

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Posted by Blinky the Shark on March 26, 2005, 6:02 am

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Glenn Mulno wrote:

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Why not generate applicationperformancecurrent, and have a script
rename it with the appropriate date when the next
applicationperformancecurrent is generated, 24 hours later? Might not
this be more logically handled at the file system level than at the web
access level? Sure, this is an HTML newsgroup (even though this is a
scripting question) -- but that doesn't mean that a more basic approach
isn't indicated.

--
Blinky Linux Registered User 297263
Who has implemented Usenet Solution #45933:
Now killing all posts originating at Google Groups