<P>
Direct file links (file://path) can be used in ALP applications. Because file
protocol is specific and is well known as <I>local</I> it is fast and does not
need any caching or buffering. Generating a file link instead of normal ALP
url will give direct access to the file. If the file is to be opened by another 
application - for example an MS Office application, multimedia player - the file
itself will be accessed by the application and not a cached copy or stream 
generated by ALP.
</P>
<P>
<B>Why?</B> ASP pages running an a WEB server will not have such a chance but 
if your page runs under ALP your application is able to minimize the overhead
and system resource usage and also allow the user to edit the original file
(if needed). In other words this feature comes from the fact that ALP runs locally
and can be of great use if you need to give the user acces to huge files or if
you want to allow the user to start the associated application with a certain file.
</P>
<P>Another important usage of this technique is caused by the fact that not all the
external applications whta will work with HTTP will work correctly with ALP. For 
example media player will have problems sometimes if the resource is transferred to 
it through the ALP engine. Also even if this is ok it will involve absolutely 
unneeded work to be done by ALP. So passing to it a file protocol URL will not 
only solve potential prolems but will also allow the external application to 
access the resource in the most effective way - directly.
</P>
<P><B>How this works?</B> The ASP page uses <B>Server.MapPath</B> to obtain the
resource file path and puts a file:// prefix before it. This can be used in HREF
attributes and in any ActiveX parameters that require URL.
</P>
<P>The sample demonstrates sample functions that you can put in your application
for the purpose. The functions are implemented with ALP/IIS compatibility in mind
and check if the page runs under IIS or ALP. If you do not need IIS compatibility
you can omit any such tests.
</P>
