Detecting and accessing a usb device from within a webbrowser -i.e using a plugin

Question

Is it possible through a plugin - activeX, Java or Flex to write a brower plugin that is able to detect an read a data stream from a USB device channel.

I have done some research but have not found an answer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832678 http://www.vsj.co.uk/articles/display.asp?id=600

Detect USB drive and his name http://bytes.com/groups/net-vb/379899-detect-usb-drive-his-name

Can JAVA be leveraged within embedded Javascript to access the USB port? http://p2p.wrox.com/topic.asp?whichpage=1&TOPIC_ID=70470&#150792 http://www.sun.com/download/products.xml?id=43208d3d http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/USB_HID.aspx?fid=398968&df=90&mpp=25&noise=3&sort=Position&view=Quick&fr=76&select=1993811 http://www.icaste.com/jcommusb.htm

Detecting USB Drive Removal in a C# Program http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/DriveDetector.aspx

http://www.dotnet247.com/247referenc...32/164968.aspx http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread91049.html

Answer 1

Flash can do it. Your users should allow it first. Check this link: Flash documentation for Security

Answer 2

It's considered a security risk to expose local resources and the sandbox environments for the different plugins should deny access to these resources.

So I would say that the answer to your question is a No.

Answer 3

I believe it can at least be done with Flash. I use an EasyBloom, a USB gardening diagnostic device. The flash app on their website access the device on my local laptop.

Sadly, I have no idea how they do it since I don't do Flash. :-(