This page documents WS_FTP Pro for Windows. The program is $39.95, comes with a 30 day free trial, and can be downloaded at this location:
http://www.ipswitch.com/products/ws_ftp/index.html
Setting up a Connection Shortcut
Open the WS_FTP Pro Program by double-clicking on the application.
If the Connect to Remote Host dialog box does not open automatically, click on the Connect... button in the toolbar to open it.
Click the Create Site button.
The Site Wizard window opens asking you to specify the name of the profile or shortcut. This can be any name that will help you to remember which host you are connecting to.
Something like CTIS - losaltos and press the Next button to proceed.
You are now asked for the Host Address. This is the name of the UNIX computer in our lab that you want to connect to.
Type losaltos.fhda.edu and press the Next button to proceed.
If you are unable to connect to losaltos.fhda.edu, try one of the following:
losaltos.fhda.edu
kyoto.fhda.edu
paris.fhda.edu
london.fhda.eduThe Login Credentials window is displayed:
User ID: - Enter your the user name that you obtained from the accounts server... remember that this information is case-sensitive!
Password: - Enter your password you obtained from the accounts server... this is also case-sensitive!
If this is your home computer you probably want to check the Save Password button, otherwise ensure that it is not checked.
Account: - Leave this empty and un-check the Save Account button.
Click the Next button to proceed.
The Remote Server Type window is displayed asking you to specify the type of protocol that will be used when you connect to this host.
Depress the popup button and select SFTP/SSH and the port number will change to the standard number of 22.
Click the Finish button to define the new site shortcut.
Actually Making the Connection
As soon as you finish defining the shortcut, the Connect to Remote Host window is shown and your shortcut is now listed.
You can also click the Connect... button in the toolbar at any time to bring up this window.
Click on your shortcut name to select it.
Click the Connect button in the window to initiate the connection.
You can also double-click on a site to connect.
Assuming that you provided the correct username and password, the following example screen should appear.
The pane on the left displays the files on your local hard drive and the pane on the right lists the files in your home directory on our UNIX machine.
The first time that you connect you will only see one folder that has been named for you named public_html. All of your web published files should be placed into the public_html folder... that is your default web directory.
Transferring Files
If you are uploading web published files, remember that they should be uploaded to your public_html web directory.
In the pane on the right, double-click on the public_html folder to open it. After doing so the folder name above the file listing will then indicate public_html.
Click on a file/folder in the pane on the left to select it.
Click on the green arrow button to transfer the file/folder to the other pane.
Drag and Drop - WS_FTP Pro supports drag and drop. You can pick up a file and drag it to the other pane. You can also pick up a file from anywhere on your hard drive and drag it to a pane.
Deleting Files and Folders
To delete a file, select the file and click the Delete button in the pane. A confirmation dialog will be displayed.
WS_FTP Pro does not by default allow you delete a folder unless that folder is empty. This means that you must open the folder, select all the files, THEN click the Delete button. At this point you can then delete the folder.
You can allow the program to delete non-empty folders by doing this:
Click on the Options... button in the toolbar to open the Options Window.
Click on the General Tab
Check the button Allow deletion of non-empty Folders.
Folder/File Permissions
In our labs, we've found that any folder that you create or copy to our machines with WS_FTP Pro seems to have the permissions set such that anyone can write to or delete the folder. SO, you should ensure that the permissions are set correctly for your purpose.
The illustration below shows the permissions as being incorrect for both web and UNIX students.
Folders that you intend to publish to the web should be located in the public_html folder and must have the permissions set so that others (the server) can read and execute the directory, but not write to it!
Folders belonging to UNIX students, which are not being published, needed to be locked down so that only the owner can do anything to the folder!
To set the permissions of a file or folder:
Single-click on the folder.
Pull down the File/Properties... menu command.
Set the correct permissions.
Click the OK button in the window.
Accessing Your Web Files via a Web Browser
Either of the following should get you to your web files. The top example uses the tilde character which our web server assumes you mean you want the web directory (public_html) for the specified user. The lower example spells out the complete path to the user's web directory.
What can go Wrong?
Do the File Names Match the Links?
Remember all that harping we do in the lecture about file name conventions?? Not following that advice may be coming back to haunt you now. Here are some things to look for:
Space and Weird Characters - There should not be any spaces in the names of the files. Sure it worked at home or in the lab, but it won't work once you transfer your HTML files to the UNIX server!
Truth be told, UNIX does allow spaces in file names, but you don't know how to code your HTML files to tell the server there is a space in the name... so no spaces, ever!
Delete the files from the server using your FTP tool, change the file names, and change any links in the code to match the new file names, then re-FTP the files back to the server and test.
There should also be no special characters in the filename. The only acceptable characters are letters, numbers, and the underscore character. If you've got things like " & + = ... then you're going to have trouble because Browsers and Servers use those special characters!
Same solution as above!
Case Sensitivity - UNIX servers are case sensitive (where have you heard that before:) This means that if your code points to a file named foo.html and you upload a file named FOO.HTML... those are not the same to UNIX. Sure it worked on your Mac or PC, but...
Either change the name of the file to match the link, or change the code to match the filename and then re-FTP the files back and test.
Wrong Delimiters - Did you incorrectly use the IBM-PC delimiter of \ This will work on a PC using Internet Explorer, but not in Navigator and certainly not on the UNIX platform! Examples of wrong delimiters are:
PC Delimiter, a backward slash - images\logo.gif
Mac Delimiter, a colon - images:logo.gifWhen coding HTML you should always use the UNIX delimiter / (yes even on a PC or Mac), so that it looks like images/logo.gif
Fix the delimiters to / and re-FTP the files and test!