Is it possible to use PrinceXML at a hosting provider in an ASP.NET project, without having to install it? I can't ask my provider to install Prince for me, so I'd like for prince to work without being installed.

Plus I don't know whether an ASP.NET application is allowed to call native code on a shared hosting server by default.

Can anyone answer these two questions? Thanks

I'm afraid that you can't really use Prince on a server without installing it on that server, unless you installed it on another server and tried to access it remotely, but then you would still have to install it on a server somewhere.

If you can only install ASP.NET pages on your server then that would only be possible if Prince was written purely in ASP.NET, which it isn't. Sorry!

I guess I'll have to convince them, then. I'll see what I can do. Then the next question, which isn't so much PrinceXML-related, but I still need to know this before I begin anything. Would a shared hosting server allow an ASP.NET application to call prince's native code even if it were installed correctly? Or would the hoster have to configure something for that too?

To be honest I'm really not sure what the default configuration would be in that case, you would probably need to check with your hosting provider.

Yes. ASP.Net servers may have COM objects permanently registered. This kind of ability is usually used to bind other servers into the ASP.Net system (for example, one commonly sees this with special-use databases and device drivers for streaming hardware, like webcams for a multicast system or what have you.) Given that PrinceXML apparently has a COM implementation, you should be able to register the object using the same mechanism.

That said, if you need to install new server software, an option you might consider looking into is a virtual private server (starts around $10/mo) or a dedicated box (starts around $30/mo). In either case, you'd have root, and could install what you want. Running either of those with Windows is usually a price spike, but if all you need is a Prince server, it may still be the best option.

Because I sell hosting, I will not provide hosting links; it would be unethical. However, there are a bujillion hosts out there (most sell as VPS rather than the full phrase.) Just make sure they're telling you what your minimum bandwidth and minimum CPU time are, and you'll have weeded out 90% of the unsafe places on the spot.

John Haugeland is http://fullof.bs/