[thelist] Editor Tips

[Burhan Khalid]

Dear Evolters :

One of the most annoying things that I have to do is uploading. I am always 
looking for a faster, easier (read "lazy") way to FTP. My current solution, 
untill I find something thats more appealing uses a neat switch on the 
windows FTP command.

This tip works with any editor that supports custom commands. Heck, you 
could even do it with Visual Studio if you wanted. This tip uses EditPlus as 
an example.

A prerequisite is knowledge of some common FTP commands, which I will 
highlight below.

Common FTP Commands
-------------------

Name    Syntax           Purpose
----    ------           -------
open    open sitename    opens a connection (socket) to a FTP server
cd      cd directory     same as cd in DOS. Changes directories
put     put filename.ext uploads a file
get     get filename.ext downloads a file
bye     bye              closes an open connection, and exits FTP
lcd     lcd directory    changes the local directory (on your machine)
                         if used without an argument, tells you what
                         your local directory is (like PWD in *nix).

Sample plain text file to logon to m.e.o
----------------------------------------
open members.evolt.org
username
password
cd public_html
lcd c:\myHTMLFiles
put filename.ext
bye

(saved as C:\ftp.txt)

<tip author="Burhan Khalid">
Automate FTP-ing of files (using EditPlus)
1. Create a text file with FTP commands that you want to execute.
2. Click on Tools --> Configure User Tools
3. Click Add Tool
4. Click Program
5. Type anything you want under Menu Text (I put FTP)
6. Under command type : c:\windows\Ftp.exe -:sC:\ftp.txt
7. Click Apply
8. Click Okay

To execute tool, simultaneously hit CTRL+1. If FTP is your second configured 
tool, you would hit CTRL+2, etc.
</tip>

NOTES :
Make sure to change your lcd directory to your own web projects directory, 
etc. You could name one file ftpup.txt, and one ftpdown.txt, with upload and 
download commands, respectively. Creating two tools would give you easy 
shortcut combinations to upload and download your files. Of course, you 
could put any valid FTP command in the text file, and perform any number of 
upload/downloads. Yes, I know most IDE's provide a facility for doing this, 
but I like text editors. The load quickly, and get the job done.

Just my $0.02.

Regards,
Burhan Khalid



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