11.0 Frequently Asked Questions

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Connection Questions

Q) How do I connect to a FTP site?
A) Run NetFinder. In the "New FTP Connection" dialog that appears, fill in the fields such as "Host", "Username" and "Password". You can also enter a path if you want to. Click the "Connect" button. NetFinder will then try to connect to the FTP server.

Q) How do I connect to a port other than 21?
A) Append a colon and the port number to the end of the hostname in the "Host" field. For example, to specify port 23 on the host archie.au, enter "archie.au:23" into the "Host" field.

Q) I can't connect to a FTP site. What's wrong?
A) There are a number of possible reasons, including:

File Transfer Questions

Q) How do I get a file from a FTP server?
A) There are several ways to do this.

(1) If you have a URL which specifies exactly where the file is, then you either copy and paste it into the New FTP Connection dialog, or drag and drop the URL file / URL text into the dialog, or somehow tell NetFinder to open that URL - for example, in BBEdit, you can command-click in the middle of a URL and it will ask the appropriate program to open it. For FTP URLs, it will ask NetFinder to download the file as long as you have set up Internet Config to use NetFinder for FTP URLs (in IC's Helpers panel). If all goes well, NetFinder will connect then start transferring the file.

(2) You can connect to the FTP server and get a listing of the available files. Browse until you find the file you want. When you have found it, just drag it to a folder on your disk or to the Desktop. NetFinder will then download it to the specified destination. Alternatively, you can double click the FTP file and it will be downloaded to the "default download folder" as specified in Internet Config (which is the Desktop unless you change it).

Q) How do I get a folder (also known as a directory) from a FTP server?
A) You must first connect to the FTP server and navigate to the directory which contains the directory you want to download. For example, if the directory named "apples" is inside a directory named "oranges" you need to navigate to the "oranges" directory and have it open and displaying the "apples" directory. To then download the "apples" directory, just drag the "apples" folder icon to a folder on your disk or to the Desktop - it's the same easy technique you would use when you copy a folder in the Finder. NetFinder will then download it to the specified destination. Note that unlike for files, you cannot double click the folder icon because that will just open its contents in another window (just like what the Finder does).

Q) How do I store a file (or folder) onto a FTP server?
A) First, connect to the server where the file (or folder) is to be stored. Next, navigate to the directory where the item is to be stored in. Then, just as you would do to copy a file in the Finder, drag the item from your Mac's disk to the NetFinder window where you want the item to be. That's it! Simple, eh? :-)

Q) Why can't I put a file onto the server?
A) You may not have access rights to that server. Mail the administrator of the server if you are supposed to have access rights.

Q) What is a partial file? How do I use it?
This is an icon of a partial file:

A Partial file is a file that has been incompletely transferred. To continue transferring a partial file, just double click it. NetFinder will try to connect to the FTP server where file is stored and then try to start downloading it from the point at which it was up to.

Q) Why doesn't the partial file continue transferring?
A) This may be due to a number of reasons:

Q) Does NetFinder support partial files when you store files?
A) No, this is currently not implemented. We hope to have it in a future version.

Q) A crash occurred and the file is only partially downloaded, but its icon doesn't look an icon for a partial file? Can I continue downloading it?
A) When an unexpected crash occurs, NetFinder does not have the opportunity to change the file into a partial file hence the icon looks wrong. But, NetFinder has probably remembered how to continue transferring that file. What you need to do is change the file so that it can be recognised as a partial file. The easiest way to do this is to drop the file on to the AppleScript program called "Change file to partial file" which is included in the NetFinder distribution. To change it manually, you need to change the 'type' of the file to 'Part' and the 'creator' of the file to 'Woof' using a utility like ResEdit or the Norton Utilities' Disk Editor.

Listing Questions

Q) I know there is a file there, but it just doesn't show up? Is this a bug?
A) Some servers have bugs that cause them to not show the contents of a directory properly. The work around is to use the "Compatible listing" mode in the Preferences.

Q) The server says "-alL file not found", and I don't get a listing. What's going on?
A) The server does not support the -alL option. To get a listing from such a server, you need to turn off the "Show target of alias instead of the alias itself" option in the Listings pane in the NetFinder Preferences window.

Q) Why do I get "ls: Permission Denied" as the only item in the directory?
A) Some servers do not obey the standard way or returning a list of file, and as a result, NetFinder misinterprets the result as a file. (It may be a file that is just named that way but this is unlikely). Unfortunately, there is no work around for this problem.

Q) Why don't I get nice looking icons? All I see are generic file icons?
A) You need to install Internet Config's preferences. (Internet Config will create a file called "Internet Preferences" in your System Folder's Preferences folder when you run it). Another possible cause is that the desktop database on your disk(s) is corrupted - try re-building the desktop database(s) on your disk(s). Also, if the application which has the icons is not available (is it mounted on your desktop?) then the icons will look generic.

Q) What are those files that have italic text? Are they aliases?
A) Yes they are. If you wish to resolve them so you can see their size, turn on the "Show target of alias instead of alias itself" option under the Listing Preferences. If you have this option on and still see the item with italic text, it's probably because the server does not resolve aliases or the alias on the server cannot be resolved.

Q) The folders have pad locks on them, but I can still enter them and put files in them? Is this a Bug?
A) No, its not a bug. Some servers do not send the true permissions information when they list directories; instead, they just send back "everything is locked".

Q) Why is the listing so slow?
A) This may be because you have a slow connection (eg modem), or you are listing in a slow order (by date say). If you view by date, NetFinder must sort the information as it gets the data and displays it. For the fastest result, view by "listing order" - it's the upside down triangular bar icon to the left of the "Name" label in a listing window.

Q) How come the listings are really fast and other times really slow?
A) You probably have directory caching on. Cached directories are displayed faster because the listing is retrieved from your hard disk and not from the server, which is slower of course. When a listing is not in the cache or is outdated, NetFinder then gets the listing from the server.

Q) How come the directory caching doesn't seem to work?
A) It is possible that the directory cache files have become corrupt. If this occurs you need to purge the cache files.

Q) The displayed directory listing is wrong! Some old files are no longer there and there are new files that aren't displayed. How do I fix this?
A) The listing is probably coming from the directory cache that NetFinder maintains when the "Cache directory listings" option is on. To update the listing, you need to select the "Refresh Listing" command from the FTP menu.

Q) Why are all my window positions lost?
A) You purged the directory cache. The cache files also hold your window positions.

Q) Why do I get a "Bad Data" error when doing a listing?
A) This will generally only occur when you are listing from the cache and the cache entry has been corrupted. One solution is to use the "Refresh Listing" command from the FTP menu. If this message occurs too often, it may be best to purge the cache files.

Bookmark Questions

Q) How do I save a bookmark from the "New FTP Connection" dialog?
A) You can either click the "Bookmark & Connect" button, or drag the text from the "URL:" field in the "New FTP Connection Dialog" to the desktop or a folder or a text editor window (for example, to a SimpleText window).

Q) How do I save a bookmark to a directory listing window?
A) You can either choose the "Save Bookmark" command in the FTP menu, or drag the folder icon at the top left corner of the window to the desktop a folder or a text editor window.

Q) How do I save a bookmark to a file or folder in a directory listing window?
A) Select the item(s) you wish to bookmark and then press and hold down the control key. With the key held down, drag the selected items to where you wish to make the bookmark(s). You can drag to the desktop or to a folder to into a text editor window (like into a SimpleText window). When you let go of the mouse/trackpad button, the item(s) are bookmarked (or their URLs are copied into the text editor window).

Registration Questions

Q) How long do I have to wait before I get my registration code after I Register?
A) If you provide an e-mail address, you will usually get your code via e-mail within a few days of receiving the payment. If may take a few weeks if no e-mail address is provided.

Q) How do I register the program?
A) See the How To Register section.

Miscellaneous Questions

Q) How do I stop Netscape from using NetFinder for FTP transfers?
A) Quit Netscape and start it up again. The Applescript program provided in the NetFinder distribution only changes Netscape's setting only while it is running. When you quit Netscape, it forgets about NetFinder and will use its own FTP transfer ability when you next run it.

Q) How do I use passive connections to transfer files?
A) Open the NetFinder preferences (select "Preferences" in the File menu) and select the Connections pane icon. Then select the "Use passive mode (PASV)" option. Click OK to save the preferences.

Q) How do I get other programs to use NetFinder for FTP transfers?
A) If the programs use Internet Config's "helper applications" settings, then you can get them to use NetFinder for FTP transfers. To do this, open Internet Config and click the "Helpers" button. Double click the "FTP" item and hange the program to NetFinder.

Q) Why do I keep running out of memory?
A) You may have too many windows open. Close some windows and see if this helps. You can also increase the memory allocation of NetFinder.

Q) Why can't I delete a file?
A) You probably don't have permission to delete it.

Q) Why can't I rename or move or list a directory? I have permission but I keep getting an error dialog.
A) The directory/file you are operating on may have a "full path" that contains a space in its name. eg "/mac/my file/some programs/". Some FTP servers do not handle this properly, so they return an error. Most Macintosh FTP servers do handle this correctly.

Q) NetFinder does not work with a certain site but the other FTP programs I use work fine? What should I do?
You have probably found a server that NetFinder does not support. Please send an email to Peter Li <pli@ozemail.com.au> with the details. Peter will try to fix the problem.

Q) I want to record the file transfers. Can this be done?
A) To record the file transfers, turn on Transfer logging in the Connection pane in the NetFinder Preferences window.

Q) Is there an updated version of the program? Where do I get it?
A) We will maintain the latest versions at these sites:

<http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pli/netfinder/>

and

<http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~vtan/sw/NetFinder/>



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Copyright © 1997, Peter Li and Vincent Tan.