I have a question related to the use of .pac scripts for automatic proxy configuration in Internet Explorer:
We are frequently testing stuff in our local subnet with servers whose names are not registerd in our company's DNS (we thus have these server names and IP addresses listed in our local .../etc/hosts file).
At the same time our company uses a proxy setup to reach the internet, i.e. in our browsers' connection settings we have to tick "Use automatic configuration script" and have to specify a "http://<domain>/<path>.pac" file to be able to browse external websites.
The annoying part with these two use cases is, that in order to switch between the two, one always has to open the IE's Internet Options and tick/untick IE's connections settings to switch the use of the proxy on/off.
Since I found no decent proxy switching add-on (as there are available for Firefox or Chrome) I had a look at the .pac file and I was able to circumvent the need for this constant manual switching by copying our company's .pac file to a local file, directing the browser's config script setting to it and to preceed the local file essentially just with the following condition:
if (isInNet(hostIP,"x.y.z.0", "255.255.255.0"))
return "DIRECT";
i.e. for addresses in our local subnet the browser should go directly and NOT use a proxy.
With this simple "trick" I can now browse our intranet, the external web, as well as access our local servers without having to fiddle with any connection settings at all.
However, that solution is not quite satisfying, because our company's config script is likely to change from time to time. What I would thus prefer is the possibility to specify a local script containing the above snippet and then redirecting to (or including) our company's standard config script to accomodate for such possible changes (and not having to copy and edit the .pac script regularly).
I searched for descriptions on these .pac files and their syntax but found nothing regarding redirecting from one script to another.
Is that possible at all? If so, HOW does one specify in a script to essentially continue elsewhere with the script execution?
Hope, I could make myself clear!
M.