[opencms-dev] Ftpd module: my usage and proposed improvements

[ruben malchow]

hello allesandro,

sorry for the inconvenience with the server - i don't know when it will 
be online again, because we will have to set it up from scratch, and 
don't have much time right now. still, i will send the module to anyone 
who asks, and also i would appreciate it if someone could put it on 
their webserver for the time being.

anyway. now for the other stuff. i have looked into webdav, and my 
impression was that - apart from the locking bit - it has no real 
advantages over ftp. what client would you use? and ftp client is 
available for every freaking platform in the world, even for my mobile 
(which is >3 years old). and also, the one real bonus i can imagine 
would be proper file creation (with types and whatnot), proper handling 
of siblings and properties.

actually, i am working on a more generic way of accessing the vfs: a 
webservice, which could then be integrated with eclipse, which would be 
my absolute favorite. but i am not good when it comes to gui stuff, and 
really got a bit scared when i had a glance at the eclipse plugin 
structure. it really is quite complex, and i would need a week or two to 
really get into it.

there is, however, an eclipse plugin written by some guy from finland (i 
think) that does not use ftp, but launches an entire opencms instance 
within eclipse, and then connects directly to the db. i think this 
approach has a few major drawbacks, especially when it comes to working 
with more than one developer. however, you might want to check it out:

OpenCmsVFS - http://www.laughingpanda.org/mediawiki/index.php/OpenCmsVFS
Jira - http://www.laughingpanda.org/jira/browse/OPENCMSVFS

i think it might be great to combine the eclipse plugin and a webservice 
into one thing. the thing with the eclipse ftp plugin is that has a few 
major bugs (at least in 3.1, haven't work with it since 3.2 came out), 
especially the fact that it keeps forgetting its authentication, but i 
found it quite possible to work around this without much hassle. but 
it's also true that saving directly to the server without having to 
press the sync button would be nice. although there are some text 
editors out there that have a "save to ftp" function (i think ultraedit 
has it).

how many of you would find webdav an improvement? and: has anyone ever 
worked with it? i never did, and i wonder if there are clients that 
support browsing opening and saving directly through webdav. it think 
the protocol itself shouldn't be a problem, there are libraries out 
there to handle that - one would only need to write the part between 
webdav and the vfs.

ruben








Alessandro Magnolo schrieb:
> Hi Ruben (developer of ftpd module),
>
> I hadn't had a chance to thank you for the module yet, so I thought
> that my previous reply was a good opportunity to do it. :)
>
> I use your module in conjunction with an ftp client that constantly
> monitor the currently open file for changes, and uploads it
> automatically when it detects a change. This way I can edit jsp pages
> much quicker and in my favourite editor, while instantaneously see
> them in action.
>
> I find that the native "synchronization" feature of opencms is
> cumbersome and unreliable.
>
> Lastly, I think that a webdav module would be even more practical. I
> don't know the webdav protocol details, but if it made it possible to
> open more than one file at once (and monitor the changes for automatic
> upload), that would be perfect. :)
>
> Best regards,
> Alessandro Magnolo
>
> p.s.: I was sending this privately to Ruben, but I think the
> discussion could prove useful in the list
>
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