Project Freewheel: Viewing Local Files

One of our Project Freewheel Viewer users, a Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey, inquired:

I am getting and invalid DWF file message when I try to do view a local file with the following code:

<iframe scrolling="no" width="800" height="600"
src="http://freewheel.labs.autodesk.com/dwf.aspx?dwf=C:\Usr\afp\im11.dwf">
</iframe>

When I use the folder option on the "Try It" web page the dwf views with no issues. What is the correct syntax to view a local file?

Software Development Engineer, John Schmier, responded:

The reason you receive an error message when you the dwf.aspx in the iframe and don't when using the file open button is because

1. When you use the "Try it" web page, the file open uses client side code (JavaScript) to perform a file upload from the local system. The Project Freewheel server then performs a file open on the uploaded file.
2. When you embed the iFrame in your HTML, dwf.aspx uses Project Freewheel server side code for the upload.Whereas your local system has access to and can find a file using a path like C:\Usr\afp\im11.dwf, the external Project Freewheel server does not have access and cannot find this file. For the iFrame to work, the Project Freewheel server needs to be able to communicate with a system it can gain access to for the file upload. To correct this situation, place your DWF files on a external server with http access, and then point the dwf= to that server.

The Project Freewheel server has been wildly popular with our customers. The ability to share design data immediately through an electronic process is one of the ways DWF goes beyond the paper. The ability to do so without installing any software is helping make DWF files increasingly more popular.

For the latest information on Project Freewheel, see Scott Sheppard's It's Alive in the Lab blog.