how to HTML link with command-line argument?

[FredThompson]

I"m looking for a way to launch the VideoLAN client for windows from HTML.

FWIW, VLC doesn't need to be "hooked" into the operating system so you can bundle it with anything you're producing.

In my case, a CD with video showing machinery I'm (attempting) to sell has been forced to MPEG1 because there is no reliable way to know the capability of the prospects' computers. That means...Windows Media Player (and probably version 6.4, blech!)

kwag suggested the VideoLAN player but I can't seem to figure out how to pass it command-line arguments.

Would someone tell me how to do this?

[Atamido]

You might look into specifying an internet protocol for it. For example, for me "HTTP://" will bring up IE, "IRC://" will bring up trillian, and "ED2K://" will bring up edonkey. In each of these cases, the application is openned and passed the URL. Its just a matter of registering a protocol on somebodies machine.

[FredThompson]

That's a little different than the problem that's got me scratching my head.

For example:

area href="../vlc/vlc.exe somevideo.mpg"

The problem is the browser wants to link to "vlc.exe somvideo.mpg" which is understandable but incorrect. It should link to "vlc.exe" but there needs to be a way to pass the video file name.

[Atamido]

From that it looks like you are trying to load VLC from off of the server, and have it play the video off of the server, is that correct? I'm not sure that is possible without making a custom control. For instance, have an ActiveX control that is embedded in the page that could launch VLC and tell it to play the video.

If you are planning to have VLC already installed on the client machine and tell it to play the file, you would want to use what I suggested above.

[FredThompson]

No, not at all. HTML on a CD linking to the player application. There is no server at all, just a computer reading from a CD.

The last thing I want to do is ask people to install software. The idea is to create a seamless use of a media player but not be limited by the lowest common denominator which can be expected on an office computer.

VideoLAN is client/server set but the client does not require the server.