Author Topic: FTP BASICS!  (Read 15932 times)

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  • Sami
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FTP BASICS!
« on: July 12, 2007, 09:54:48 AM »
AH.... let us start at the beginning.  Lets take the MAGIC out of it.....show the Trick so to speak. If I get too basic, sorry..
 
Some folks can't get their head around the idea of a server that hosts the website so that starts the mystery...
But it is nothing magical, just a computer.  Like the one you are using, fancier and more expensive granted, but the machine is still just a computer.

Open your My Documents folder on your own computer.
This folder was set up in windows FOR YOU to store your data files.
Windows does not want YOU to store your info on the root drive, C: where the Windows and other programs are. Windows expects you to keep your stuff in one place, in the My Documents folder.

OK. So you know that already.  Why bring it up?   It will become obvious in a moment.

YOU as the user of that computer can dump EVERYTHING into that one folder like my boss does.  No organization, just everything in that one folder.  OR you could make more folders inside your My Documents folder to hold specific stuff to make things faster and easier to find. Totally your choice how you want to store your stuff.

Your website server is designed the exact same way!!!
YOU have been assigned a folder on the server for your own use.
Inside YOUR folder are a few folders placed by your host.
Your list of folders is different than mine, but might include cgi-bin, mail, .trash, .cpanel, etc.
Some of those may be hidden from public view.
And ONE folder may be the LIVE one, viewable by the world, your website.
This folder is often called web, www, public, public_html, etc.  Each host has its own settings.
It is assigned as the "FTP directory" in CSB or known as the "Remote Site Folder".
This folder is basically your My Documents folder on your own computer!!!
You can lump everything into that folder or have several other folders inside to help organize your website.

Please look at this webpage.  
There's good info I won't repeat here but do recommend you read it.
For this exercise, please go to the bottom of that page and look at the screen print for the FTP software.  
Each software is a bit different but all FTP software has the same LOOK:  split screen view.
Once you connect to your host, you will see two windows with folders listed.
One side of the screen is YOUR COMPUTER AT HOME/WORK.
The other side of the screen is YOUR WEBSITE ON THE SERVER.
The two sides act independently of each other.
You can navigate up and down through your folders in your own computer and the website as you need.
You can even set the program to always bring you to the same place when you connect.

Ex:  when I used to connect to a friend's site with FTP, my side of the window (the LOCAL system/LOCAL computer) is set to always go to my C:\charts\weekly folder on my own computer.  I uploaded certain graphics weekly from that folder to the website so the program always started there for me when ever I connected to his site to save time. And on the server side (REMOTE system) it started in his public_html folder because that is where his public website folders are.

You can click through folders to get to where you want to be. Then you simply highlight files on YOUR computer and send them (transfer/upload) with a click of a button to your website folders!   SIMPLE   If you want to send files from your website to the home computer, you highlight them on the server window and send them (transfer/download) to your computer with a click of a button!  As easy as passing a sheet of paper from one person to another!

FTP software can do some lovely things beyond that but you now know the basics of FTP software!


Quote
Like what would this be...?
Quote
Each pdf file was uploaded to the appropriate folder on the site using an FTP software.
Would that be the subdirectory folder - for the subdirectory that will have the link in it? In this set of subdirectories, each subdirectory would have a link to one zip file.

The APPROPRIATE FOLDER is what you determine is the folder where you want to store the files.  This depends on YOUR style.  Do you separate into many folders or dump it all into your one big folder?

Some people put all their downloadables into one catch-all folder, calling it downloads or something similar.

Other people set up different folders for different types of files so they can organize and find things better.  Like all music into a folder called music, pdf inside a folder called pdf, vacation 2007 pictures in vac2007, etc.  

On this site, I have a folder hierarchy like in my My Documents folder.
I have a public_html folder that holds the website files. (some hosts use www, web, etc)
Inside that I have tons of folders. Each is a subdirectory.  Many of these are made by CSB during publishing:
- publish  becomes this address:  http://www.samisite.com/publish
- photo  becomes this address:  http://www.samisite.com/photo
- color  becomes this address:  http://www.samisite.com/color

The publish folder contains MORE folders that I have set up for samples.  
When you click on that folder in my FTP software, it opens to show several other folders.

You could also do this for downloadables!
You could put the type of file you have into the folder that best describes what you are downloading.
If you have maps in pdf or jpg form, you could make a maps folder then put your maps into folders for each state or city, etc.
h**p://www.yoursite.com/maps/georgia/atlanta.jpg
would have this configuration:
Folder: maps
    Folder:  georgia
         File:  atlanta.jpg
         File:  atlanta.pdf

So as you can see, downloadables can be treated just like the rest of your website....put all in one folder (building a site in a single tlx file) or in subdirectories (using many tlx files to build).  YOUR CHOICE.  You can decide HOW you want to organize materials, by date, type, or some other sorting factor like color, band, customer, etc. that makes sense in YOUR situation, hence my wording "the appropriate folder".

How's that???  Clearer or muddier?





As I said, each software is a bit different but all FTP software has the same LOOK:  split screen view.
The shot below comes from a different FTP software but still maintains the same look and feel.


CSB/TRELLIX SPECIFIC: Things you will see in the FTP window that CSB has done.
I mention these because though you are an experienced CSB user (and Trellix before that) you will not be the only one reading this response!

CSB creates specific files and folders inside your folders and they SHOULD NOT BE REMOVED OR MOVED unless you know WHAT YOU ARE DOING or you could break your site.  :yes:
1) TlxTransfer.txt file is put on your website, one in each directory and subdirectory published to by CSB.  This file is VITAL, MAJOR IMPORTANT to publishing.  CSB checks the file on your website server and compares this table of contents to the current file and determines which page/pages need to be updated/published.  There are times it is necessary to remove that file to cause CSB to do a complete republish.  Otherwise, leave it alone!
2) HTML-obj folders.  (Ex: HTMLobj-1178)  Every time a piece of code is inserted into CSB using the INSERT HTML box that has "webcomponents", CSB creates a special folder on the website to hold it. (Ex: a slideshow script has webcomponents.  The images are uploaded to the website by CSB and stored in an HTMLobj folder.)   In CSB5, graphical button images are stored in HTML-obj folders too. Leave them alone.  If you want to remove the folder, do it by removing the item from your CSB design file.
3) Resource folders (Ex: Resource-1426)  Similar to HTML-obj folders, these are created by CSB to hold CONTAINER, captured resource contents.  Take a look at this page for explanation.  Basically you can use CSB to upload all kinds of files to your site (as if it is an FTP program) and store them in a container page.  YES....YOU CAN put all your zip or pdf, or other files into your website with this then use a URL style link to link. No FTP software is really needed. BUT putting a bunch of big files into your CSB file will bloat it and could in the long run cause problems with publishing....
4) Symbxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.png  files. (ex: Symb075c00b700c800000000.png)  These are BULLETS.
5) 1x1.gif   Spacer image.  Your site will break if this file is gone.  
6) yourfilename.cab   A CAB file is a highly compressed backup copy of your CSB tlx design file.  If you have checked the box to send a copy of your tlx file to the website, you will have a cab file stored on your website. Takes extra time to upload/make changes and extra space on the server, but does give piece of mind if your computer has problems.  You can bring that file back to your machine, import it using these instructions and get back to work.  Even if you don't want to do this for EVERY change, it is a great idea to do it after any MAJOR change to the site, or once monthly, etc...



And you are right!  It's a good idea to stay away from exe files.  zips are better for what you want to do.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2010, 11:57:40 AM by Samrc »
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

D.Unsup

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FTP BASICS
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2009, 12:11:32 AM »
I want to make a few FTP accounts so that they can help me work on a webpage.  Is it possible to configure an FTP account so that certain users have access to a shared folder?  It seems the CP can only make separate FTP accounts.

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Re: FTP BASICS!
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2010, 05:05:59 PM »
cPanel automatically creates a one-to-one relationship with FTP folders.
You can manually modify the .htaccess file to accomplish what you want.
ALWAYS make a backup of the file before editing.
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

rmorrison100

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Re: FTP BASICS!
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2011, 09:49:57 PM »
Thanks for the instructions. I am a beginner in using FTP.

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Re: FTP BASICS!
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2011, 11:54:24 PM »
 :welsign:
Welcome to the forum.   If you have any questions about the FTP process, let us know and we will help.
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Re: FTP BASICS!
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2011, 10:13:05 PM »
I'm doing fine so far but i'm having trouble finding the '.htaccess file'.
Help anyone
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« Last Edit: December 08, 2011, 11:13:40 PM by Samrc »

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Re: FTP BASICS!
« Reply #6 on: December 08, 2011, 11:16:49 PM »
Quote
I'm doing fine so far but i'm having trouble finding the '.htaccess file'.
Help anyone

.htacccess files are on Linux servers.  If you are using a Windows Server, you will not have that file.
If you are on Linux you may have more than one of them, holding passwords, and many other settings.
Learn more about them here:  http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess.shtml
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )

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Question on FTP
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2012, 12:30:04 PM »
I currently use CSB4 and have always published from the program - not FTP.  I have a flash game that I developed (Bravo - and they directions how to upload  http://www.c3softworks.com/videos/uploading-games-to-your-ftp-pt1/uploading-games-to-your-ftp-pt1.html ) Based on directions, I need to use FTP - I purchased CuteFTP and am totally confused. Once I use FTP I can no longer use the publish function on CSB4? I uploaded the csb files and added the game files but don't see a "root" directory? I am totally confused and need step by step for a dummy :)   

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Re: FTP BASICS!
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2012, 06:54:08 PM »
CSB will publish to the main directory of the site.
Your game folder will need to be uploaded to a folder within that main directory using FTP software.

Then link your CSB page to the new game folder like this:
Code: [Select]
http://www.yourdomain.com/gamefoldername/play.html
or
/gamefoldername/play.html
The second way tells the server to stay on the same website, change folders and go to the play.html page.

Publishing by CSB will NOT interfere with your FTP movements since the game folder will not replace the CSB files.  You can use both programs. 

I got your email and have already responded to that also.
 :)


You will need:
1)   Game folder on your computer.  Make sure the game folder has a name that has NO SPACES! This folder is created by the software you are using I expect so you can define that name using _underlines or – dash instead of spaces.   The folder they used in the example movie was quiz-coffee-university-online-game
2)   FTP software (can be a free or paid version makes no difference for this project)
3)   Your Website publishing setting information. Username, password, FTP address (also known as HOST address, FTP Directory).   These are the same items you currently use in CSB.  Check them out in CSB by going to FILE, Publish Website, OPTIONS, MODIFY.  You will see a popup box that says Enter FTP Site Information. 
4)   Instructions for FTP use is explained a bit on this page of the forum (above) and here too: http://www.samisite.com/publish/using_ftp.htm   
It looks complicated but it comes down to connecting to your host, finding the folder you need on YOUR computer in one window, finding the folder you need on your HOST and dragging the files.  Coaching is available of course. 
-Samantha
TNG: "Sometimes, you can make no mistakes, do everything right, and still lose" - Capt Picard to Data
(:turtle: In memory of Turtle: May 22, 1944 - Nov 24, 2007  GURU, mentor, and really nice guy! :turtleleft: )