Network, security, ftp... How to approach writing file to network from LV?

Question

Sorry, but I don't know if this is more a LabVIEW question or a networking or ftp quesiton - how do I approach this need?
We have a machine programmed in LabVIEW and we need it to write a text file of process run data to a folder on our network. I thought we were going to be able to see the folder as mapped to a drive on the PC that is running LV. That is, I thought we'd be able to have LV create a file called Q:\Data\ThursdayAM.txt and write into it.
But the IT folks are telling me we can't do this because of security issues, something about what account the LV computer is running under. They have set something up so that Internet Explorer (not Windows Explorer) can navigate to the folder (with dialog boxes that ask for username and password), and they think they may be able to set up something using ftp. So, while a person standing there at the PC would be able to gain access to the folder, it wouldn't feel like accessing a disk drive feels.
How can LabVIEW programmatically write a file under such circumstances? LV can't interact with Internet Explorer like a user, and type passwords into a dialog, can it? I see things in the help system about ftp but am not experienced with it and don't know whether to start down that path; for one thing I haven't found anything about authenticating to a network under program control with ftp.
If there is a LabVIEW-centric approach to things like this, please point me in the right direction! Or, if this is really more a question about networking and security, please give me some tips about what to ask the IT group, as I'm not very up on networking.
Thanks!!

Answer 1

Thanks, all.
As far as things like browser controls on the Front Panel, I think that would be solving the wrong problem. I don't want users of the machine to be able to browse folders or in any other way feel like they are using Internet Explorer. From my user's point of view, the machine will say "Your data are now available at Q:\Data\ThursdayTest.txt", and they will leave, and return to their own desktop machine, and will go grab the file and use it with whatever tools they would use to grab and read any text file on the fileserver. I think I want to programmatically get the file written to the correct folder, and am trying to understand how to do that, but the way I do it will never be visible to users. So, maybe there is something to do here, but not exactly browser controls.
I will find out if I have the toolkits mentioned - thanks for pointing me at that.
What they have me do with Internet Explorer to gain access to network folders is as follows: I'm already logged into the PC as a Windows user with a general purpose Guest account, and no password, and from the point of view of our network without any security credentials. I start Internet Explorer, and type an IP address 123.123.123.123 into the address bar. I get a dialog asking me for my username and password, and I enter the username and password that I would use for my desktop w/ network access or any of the other PCs on which I am already configured as a user. Now Internet Explorer shows folders for the different network locations that the network thinks I personally have rights to, and I can read, write, copy, paste, open and so forth. When I quit Internet Explorer this PC goes back to looking to me like a PC without any network features.
The purpose of network access for this system has also been a bit confusing, but there are two main points. The big and, perhaps, only necessary thing is that my LV program can write files to a network folder, however it is that this works. It's one of the goals of this entire project to start giving users the ability to get their data without burning CDs or other sneakernet methods. As a secondary point, while I am programming and otherwise maintaining this system, I am backing up my VIs to the network, and passing things like manual docs from web sites in to the system computer for reference (its subnet does not allow internet access so I'm using my desktop machine to grab manuals and put them in the network folder), and miscellaneous other things like that. I'll probably copy this conversation into a text file when I think I have something to try, as another example. But these things are secondary conveniences - the only thing that is strictly necessary is the ability of my LV program to push data files into a network folder.