ASP.Net a list of files in a directory + link to file

I am creating a web form which will display a list of exception files from a directory. The files display properly, however, the link doesn't work. I've done some quick searches for a solution, only issue is most solutions request I setup a virtual directory, however the server these files are located on is not a开发者_开发问答 web server. Here is the code which lists the files:

var exDir = @"\\Server\folder\Exception";
        exLabel.Text = "";
        foreach (string exFile in Directory.GetFiles(exDir))
        {
            exLabel.Text += @"<a href='file:"+exFile+"'> "+exFile+" </a><br/>";
        }

The issue lies within my "href". Is there some way to setup this link without having to setup a virtual directory? Or if I have to setup one, do so via IIS Express?

You cannot do this without a virtual directory if the files do not reside on the same server as the web server. The files need to be served to clients via a web server.

While you can use IIS Express to create virtual directories - have a look at this discussion thread. You may also need to enable external access to IIS Express (this post on WebMatrix should be helpful in this regard). Note: when using a virtual directory, your URLs will need to use the http: or https: scheme instead of file:.

Another approach would be to upload the files you want to share to a location on the web server and serve them from web server.

If referencing the local file system, you need to format hyperlinks as follows:

file:///c:/myfile.txt

I think you can achieve this using a downloader server side, that can access the files for you then serve them through http.

An httphandler, which ProcessRequest method could be (very semplified) like this:

public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
{
    if (context.Request.Params["file"] != null)
    {   
            string filename = context.Request.Params["file"].ToString();

        context.Response.Clear();
        context.Response.ClearContent();
        context.Response.ClearHeaders();
        context.Response.Buffer = true;

        FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(filename);

        if (fileInfo.Exists)
        {
            context.Response.ContentType = /* your mime type */;
            context.Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment;filename={0}", fileInfo.Name));
            context.Response.WriteFile(filename);
        }

        context.Response.End();
    }   
}

then you'll build the link to point you handler with the file as param:

var exDir = @"\\Server\folder\Exception";
DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(exDir);

foreach (FileInfo exFile in dir.GetFiles())
{
    exLabel.Text += @"<a href='downloader.ashx?file="+ exFile.Name + "'> "+exFile.FullName+" </a><br/>";
}

Remember to setup the handler in the web.config:

<system.web>
    <httpHandlers>
        ...
        <add verb="*" path="downloader.ashx" type="YourNamespace.downloader"/>
    </httpHandlers>
</system.web>

(Of course this sample is very simple and I think full of errors, but is just to clarify the way)