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How do I use the FTP upload feature?

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Allocator:
A couple of people have asked me how to use the new RadarBox 2009 FTP upload feature, so I though that I'd give a run-down of how I've set it up on my website:

http://www.ruyton.demon.co.uk/html/airnav_radarbox.html

I'm sure that this isn't the only way, or even the best way, but it works for me.  I'm sure that there will be others out there who can improve on this.  I'll use some fictional addresses and passwords here for obvious reasons, but you should get the idea.

OK, so the first thing you need is some web hosting space and I'll presume that you've already got this.  My domain is http://www.ruyton.demon.co.uk and I'm using this to host the RAFARS site at the moment, but I've got loads of free space to host the RB FTP picture.

So, first of all, we need to fill in the blanks in the RadarBox Preferences FTP upload window - fictional details here by the way :-)



My ISP has told me that my web hosting user name is Radarman and my password is VerySecret, so I enter these into the appropriate boxes.  The ISP also told me that to upload to the web space, I have to use webpages.demon.co.uk - easy so far.

However, I need to know where I'm going to send the FTP'ed picture, because if I just send it to the root directory, it's probably not going to be in the right place.  In fact, my ISP has told me that I should only upload to the /docroot directory as even though there are a whole load of other directories set up for me, this is the only one that will work and display web pages.  Different ISP's will have different directory structures, so you either need them to tell you what it is, or you can FTP to the site to take a look around.

Now, where you go from here depends on how familiar you are with the concept of FTP and what web authoring package you use.  I'd suggest that a simple FTP package - I use Ipswich FTP Pro - is the best thing to use.

Connect to your webspace via FTP and take a look at what you see in your directory structure.  When I connect, I see this:

/docroot
/systems
/database
/script

I know that I can only use the /docroot directory, so I use the FTP software to browse to the /docroot directory, then create a new directory called /radarbox in that directory.

So, now I can finish filling in the RadarBox FTP settings by entering /docroot/radarbox/ in the Folder section.  You can leave the Port setting at 21 as this seems to work in most cases.  Tick the Activate box, click apply and then OK.  Your FTP upload is now working, but go and make yourself a cup of tea as the actual upload won't start until 5 minutes from clicking the Apply box (this is for security reasons).

Now, as the /docroot directory is essentially "invisible" when it comes to looking at your webspace - as only files in this directory will be seen, all you need to do now is to navigate to your /radarbox directory. In this example, the web address is:

http://www.ruyton.demon.co.uk/radarbox/

and you will see something like this:



So, your FTP image, called RadarBoxScreenShot.gif is being uploaded every 60 seconds.  You can click on the file name to see the picture.  It's not very pretty yet, but we've proved that the FTP upload works.

That's all for now.  The next bit will be how to display this picture on a normal html web page that automatically reloads every 60 seconds just like my page.  Feel free to jump ahead here if you know how to do this already :-)

http://www.ruyton.demon.co.uk/html/airnav_radarbox.html

GlynH:
Hi Allocator,

Detailed description...thanks.

I have RB FTP'ing into a local folder here and I know you obviously don't have this problem (I'm 1 out of 1000 again) but after RB writes the RadarBoxScreenShot.gif every minute thereafter it writes a .tmp file (which is actually a .gif file in all but name because if you rename the file extension from .tmp to .gif it displays as expected).

I have posted about this before here;

http://www.airnavsystems.com/forum/index.php?topic=1361.0

RB seems unable to overwrite the original .gif file for some reason...

A snip of a Debug trace reveals this;

12:58:22: + Timer_AutoFTPTimer
12:58:24: Timer_AutoFTPTimer - error: RadarBoxScreenShot.gif: Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

I am still awaiting a response from AirNav but I am guessing you never saw this type of error even during the Beta phase?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

AirNav Support:
Check your permissions for that folder on-line. This is not bug on RB side as its doing what it should which is overwrite the file but it seems your web server has either denied permission to delete files, overwrite them hence it creates another temp one instead.

Allocator:
Glyn,

You could test this by using an FTP program to manually upload a file of the same name as one already on the server and see what happens.  As Support says, it will be a server side problem, not a RadarBox problem.

GlynH:
Yeah I realise it might well be a server side problem I was just looking for inspiration and hoping someone might say something like;

"Are you using the FTP Service from Microsoft IIS v5/6 and/or Server 2003? If you are did you know that it will not allow an overwrite of an existing file? If you download a full-strength FTP Server like Serv-U and install it on your server it will work OK."

Which is what I suspect might be happening and exactly what I did!

Glad to report that it is working as expected now! :-)

I am guessing that belgianguy might be using the FTP Service in IIS also?

See the following KB Article that 'almost' describes the problem;

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=309634

AirNav, do you use the regular Put command in RadarBox to upload the screenshot?

There may well be a modification/workround/alternative to allow the file to be overwritten under IIS for those that prefer to use it?

Altough after trying Serv-U I for one wonder why anyone would want to bother with the FTP Service within IIS...

Kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

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