Opening specific .xls file with javascript

Hi: I am attempting to open an Excel worksheet from within my HTML script. I was able to open it using vbscript, but am having trouble with the javascript version...

code I am using in the HEAD:
==================================
<script language=javascript>

function startExcel(strFile)
{
var myApp = new ActiveXObject("Excel.Application");
if (myApp != null)
{
myApp.Visible = true;
myApp.Workbooks.Open(strFile);
}
}

</script>

code I'm using in the BODY:
==============================================
<li id="toplevel"><a href="javascript: startExcel('http://myDirectory/test.xls')" style="cursor: pointer;">My Report</a></li>
===============

any ideas out there?

thanks ahead of time for your help,

Karen

Hi karen99, welcome to the forums,
You did not give the error message, but I'm guessing the problem has something to do with the path. You posted

If the files are on your computer, the path should be something like

Perhaps "myDirectory" would work too, but windows truncates names to 8 characters. Right-click - properties to see the "ms-dos" name.

Thx for the tip!

I'm pretty new to Javascript, and am now adding "try", "catch" statements to my code to narrow down the exact error....my actual directory is different than the one I included in my msg (but has some words that are more than 8 characters....)

karen