FTP within Textpad?

Ideas for new features

Moderators: AmigoJack, bbadmin, helios, Bob Hansen, MudGuard

Rodrigo
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 2:47 pm

Post by Rodrigo »

Yeah i use flashfxp...
I rightclick the file and chose "edit".

Then it'll open textpad (i adjusted it to open this instead of notepad)
after i'm done i close textpad and go back to flashfxp.
it shows a popup with "upload edited file?"
if i clikc yes he makes a connection if the connection had timed out.
and uploads the file

my 2 cents ... that's 4 cents already (we're gonna be rich:p)
noah
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu May 12, 2005 6:17 pm

Setup rsync from the Tools menu.

Post by noah »

I have successfully used rsync and ssh to setup one-click
synchronization with a remote server. The best way to do this is to
install Cygwin and include the rsync and ssh packages.
You will need to create a key pair and put the public key in your remote
server's authorized_keys file. ... If all this seems too confusing then
you can try talking to a sysadmin. They do this all the time.
If they are smart they will also lecture you about the security risks
of using public keys (This basically eliminates the need to login to
your remote server with a password, so anyone who can gain access
to your windows machine could easily gain access to your remote server).

Next define a tool from the TextPad menu:
Configure | Preferences | Tools | Add | Program...
Add this program:
C:\cygwin\bin\rsync.exe
Then Go back to Tools tree list and select Rsync. Set these options:
Parameters: -e /usr/bin/ssh "$FileName" user@example.com:$FileName
Of course, replace user@example.com with your remote login and
machine name.

Now you can synchronize your files just by going to the Tools menu
and clicking "Rsync". The active file in TextPad will be copied to the
remote server.

It's a little pain in the ass to set this up, but once it's setup this technique
is very easy to use.
Rodrigo
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 2:47 pm

Post by Rodrigo »

Great post noah.... this is quite interesting...
I'm gonna give it a try when i find the time.

tnx :)
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:53 pm

Post by [XAP]Bob »

My "file at a time" solution using the windows builtin FTP client is here:

http://www.textpad.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6529

It is great for running edits - then you just upload the file you've changed (or a new file...)
wnent
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:34 pm
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Contact:

Post by wnent »

There is the "FTP" add-on to TextPad (the first one) that you can find here: http://www.textpad.com/add-ons/index.html I'm testing it out right now and it works great...simple yet effective. I'd suggest selecting the options to "Run minimized" and to NOT "Capture output". That way a command prompt just pops up on your Windows Taskbar and then disappears instead of it opening the "Command Results" file in TextPad, which get annoying since there's no keyboard shortcut to quickly close windows. :)

I'm doing a few mods to it that should make it a little more useful, since you'd have to configure separate copies of the same file if you're FTPing something to a different directory on the same server. My plan is to set it up so that I can basically set up a local mirror of my remote server, and whenever I do updates have it use the local directory structure to figure out the directory to drop it in on the remote ftp server.

If I come up with anything very useful, I'll post it here. Have a good day all,

Kevin
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MudGuard
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Location: Munich, Germany
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Post by MudGuard »

wnent wrote:since there's no keyboard shortcut to quickly close windows
Ctrl-F4 does not work for you?
wnent
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:34 pm
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Contact:

Post by wnent »

Actually I just stumbled across Ctrl+F4 last night. Thanks.

Back to FTPing from within TextPad, I made a script in Windows Script Host (don't know how to manipulate strings in DOS) that's called by a batch file that is set up as a TextPad Tool, but WSH is a little bulky and the performance is pretty slow (about 5 seconds on the old machine I'm using). It does what I proposed above, allowing me to have a local mirror of my server set up, and whatever local directory the file is in it FTPs the file to that directory on the server. It's just a little too slow for my tastes, as the ftpActiveFile Add On from the above site runs in about 1.5-2 seconds.

That said, does anyone know how to manipulate strings in DOS/batch files? I'm sure it would up the performance of it, though I think string manipulation is pretty processor itensive in any language.

Kevin
wnent
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Location: Fort Collins, CO
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Post by wnent »

I take it back...all I needed was a little processor speed. I developed this on a dual 500MHz/512MB RAM system, which ran it in about 5 seconds. My home system, still only a 1.8GHz with 512MB RAM, runs it in about 1 second...just enough time to switch to my browser and hit F5. Both systems are XP Pro, but I'm pretty sure this will work in W2K, W2K3, and possibly the 9x's - all it needs is Windows Script Host, which became a standard part of the Windows OS at some point no later than W2K.

I'll clean it up, make it as user friendly as possible, and post it in the next week or so. Ctrl+4 just became my favorite key combination. :)

Have a great day,

Kevin
wnent
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Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:34 pm
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Contact:

Post by wnent »

"next week or so" is apparently very relative...I've been busy. I finally got a chance to clean this up, and it works great, so...

For those looking for a TextPad FTP add-on that can FTP to multiple directories automatically, look no further: http://www.textpad.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6921

Kevin
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Brikface
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 4:37 pm

Re: FTP within Textpad?

Post by Brikface »

jmooney wrote:The topic of an enhancement request in these Textpad forums of adding a feature to allow FTP within Textpad has been repeatedly requested. And gets repeatedly discounted. In spite of the repetition of the surfacing of that request (myself included), people who bother to reply offer several alternatives (samba, windrive, macros, etc.).
You're right on jmooney. Some of the apparently most senior people on this forum always jump right up and shoot down all "FTP-in-Textpad" posts, and Helios seems to feel as they do. They think it would be bloat, they think batch files using DOS's FTP or netdrive-type apps are just dandy, etc.,., etc.,. It really makes me question whether these guys have ever had a lot of work to get done between a windows box and a remote *nix server, because if they'd had that experience they'd know what a huge annoyance and waste-of-time this perpetual clicking outside of TextPad is every time something needs to be xferred. Put the damn functionality into TP and if you're against built-in FTP then don't use it. FTP client code is very minimal (you'd get more "bloat" by adding a couple pages to the Help file), and additions to the GUI would take a developer maybe 10 hours including testing... But Helios obviously isn't going for it and in all likelihood I'll soon join you in using EditPlus. Maybe we can get the EP people to see and emulate some of the good things about TP...

--
BF
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