Fetch Softworks

Customizing transfer mode by file extension (12 posts)

• Started 17 years ago by PaulRAnderson
• Latest reply 17 years ago from Scott McGuire

• PaulRAnderson Member

  Please add the ability to customize the list of files copied in various modes by file extension.

  For example, if I copy files with a .PS extension I want to make sure they always get copied as text, not binary. This is fairly easy to do by adding the "format" button to the toolbar and manually changing the format each time.

  However, when using the droplet shortcut, there's no way to specify how the file should be copied.

  Paul

  Posted 17 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Paul,

  Thanks for the feedback. Could you give us a little more background on your request?

  Are there other cases besides .PS that you don't think Fetch is making the correct decision when it uses Automatic mode? (Which as you've noticed, is what it always uses for droplets.)

  And .PS files, assuming we're referring to PostScript files, could possibly contain binary data, so we're playing it safe by uploading them as binary. What problem are you running into when they are uploaded as binary?

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  [This message has been edited by ScottMcGuire (edited 01-31-2007).]

  Posted 17 years ago #

• PaulRAnderson Member

  PostScript files generated by an OpenVMS system, copied in binary mode, can't be processed by Acrobat Distiller on the Mac.

  I've used other Mac FTP programs and at least one allowed you to add or change the files that would be copied in what mode.

  Paul

  Posted 17 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Paul,

  Just to clarify, we don't think that asking to be able to set the upload format for each extension is an unreasonable request... it's something we are considering adding to Fetch in the future.

  We just were curious what your specific case was - thanks for the additional details.

  By the way, in Fetch you can set the mode for downloads on an extension-by-extension basis; you just can't do the same for uploads currently.

  You can set the download mode by selecting a .ps file in Fetch, clicking the Get Info button, opening the "Transfer options" pane of the info window, and changing the setting of the "Get files like this as" pop-up menu. For more information about transfer options, see the Transfer Options help topic. It sounds like you're concerned with uploads, but I wanted to mention this just in case.

  You could also use Automator to create an upload droplet that always uploads whatever is dropped on it as text. To do this, run Automator, add a Fetch Upload Files action to a new workflow, enter the information for your server, and choose "Text" from the Format pop-up in the action. Then save the workflow as an Application. (It's easier than it may sound, really!) For more information about Fetch's Automator support, see the Automator actions help topic.

  Of course, you'd have to be careful to not drop things that you want to upload as binary on such a droplet. You could probably add a Finder action that warned you if you tried to upload anything besides a .ps file with the text-only droplet.

  I realize these are only partial work arounds, but I wanted to mention them in case they'd be helpful.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 17 years ago #

• PaulRAnderson Member

  I didn't realize you could customize the download transfer for all files of a type. That accomplishes most of what I want.

  I also created two Automator applications: one for text, one for binary. It works, but it's slow. First, Automator has to start, then Fetch re-fetches the directory list for the entire directory, then the file is copied, then the whole directory list is re-fetched.

  Even though there are only 852 files in the directory, it takes thirty seconds to display. So every time I drop a file on the Automator application, it takes one minute, in addition to the file upload time, to copy it.

  Paul

  Posted 17 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Paul,

  I'm glad being able to set the download mode for specific file types is useful for you.

  However, I'm a little surprised to hear that the Automator droplets are so slow - in particular, they shouldn't be forcing the file list to be reloaded both before and after the upload - and we'd like to try to figure out the cause.

  What actions are in your workflow? And is this behavior (with the file lists being redrawn) different from how uploading with a droplet shortcut behaves?

  And are there lots of different file types in the directory in question (the one with 852 files)?

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  [This message has been edited by ScottMcGuire (edited 02-06-2007).]

  Posted 17 years ago #

• PaulRAnderson Member

  I thought the directory list was re-fetched both before and after the file upload, but today has proved me wrong. The list is re-fetched before the upload but not after.

  There's but one Upload Files action in the workflow. It points to a folder that's not the default for the user.

  The behavior is the same when using a droplet shortcut; that is, the directory list is re-fetched and then the file is uploaded.

  There are files of many types in the directory with 852 files, which resides on an OpenVMS system.

  Paul

  Posted 17 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Paul,

  Thanks for the followup and further information.

  Yes, the file list will always reload before the upload starts if the transfer window has disconnected from the server, which it does after five minutes of inactivity. However, the file list re-loading after the upload would have been a bug.

  To avoid the file list from re-loading before the upload, you could check the "Keep connections alive" preference in the General pane of the Preferences window. That would prevent the transfer window from disconnecting from the server, and then as long as you hadn't changed directories, the file list should not redrawn before the uploading, either. (If this doesn't help, let us know.)

  Thirty seconds to display the file list is a long time, though. Do all file lists on all servers take a long time to display, or is it just this folder, or folders on this server? (I realize you may not have folders with 800 files on other servers.)

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 17 years ago #

• PaulRAnderson Member

  I've checked the "keep connections alive" preference.

  But each time I drop a file on the Automator application, Fetch performs:

  - Checking server
  - Getting folder name
  - Getting file list

  even though the Fetch window is still displaying the files from the last upload and is still connected.

  Could the fact that the server is not a Macintosh system be the cause of the time spent displaying the file list? I tried a few external servers and although none of them had 800 files in a directory, their lists seemed to refresh faster than on my server.

  The server is an OpenVMS system. I work in OpenVMS Engineering. If there's an inefficiency in how Fetch collects the directory list I'd love to know about it so I could send any suggestions to you or to the TCP/IP Services engineering group.

  Paul

  Posted 17 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Paul,

  Thanks for the offer to pass along suggestions to the TCP/IP Services group. If there's an inefficiency, we'd like to know about it too! First we need to figure out if there's a problem and what it is. There seem to be two issues - Why is alwasy reloading the file list? And why is loading the file list slow?

  Could you connect to the server, do an upload, and then send us the Fetch transcript? You can find the transcript by choosing Fetch Trasncript from the Window menu in Fetch. Then copy the entire text out (or use the File > Save menu command to save it as a text file).

  Since it's probably going to be very long, why don't you send it to:

  bugs at fetchsoftworks dot com

  Preface it with a reference to this message board thread so that the fellow who gets the mail will know what the background of the problem is.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 17 years ago #

• PaulRAnderson Member

  I've collected a transcript file and sent it off to the bugs e-mail address.

  Paul

  Posted 17 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Thanks, Paul!

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 17 years ago #