How to view document in asp.net

[visweswaran2830]

Hi,

I want to know, how to view documents(doc,d ocx,pdf) in asp.net (online itself)..

[Frinavale]

These document types are proprietary, which means that the companies that own these types have to create a component that lets the browser know how to read them.

Take PDF documents: the PDF document type format is owned by Adobe. This means that the user has to install an Adobe Reader plugin for the browser that they are using, otherwise the browser has no idea how to read the content in the PDF document. Adobe has been smart/kind enough to provide plugins for browser that give the browser a way to open and display these documents for the end user to read/view them.

The DOC and DOCX file type formats are owned by Microsoft as a part of their Word product. There are no plugins that can be installed in browsers to display these file types because Microsoft hasn't provided one (to my knowledge...)

This means that the browser cannot open/display the document (because it doesn't know how to), so the lets the user download the DOC/DOCX file. This way the user can take the appropriate action to open the document (using their installed copy of Word). If the user doesn't have Word installed then they cannot open the document.

-Frinny