Introduction
Introduction to FTP Works

Ftp works is a free, full featured, ftp client.  The learning curve is 60 seconds.  It is great for the ftp beginner or experienced user.  It includes support for firewalls, downloading and uploading whole directory structures.  You can change file attributes on remote files (CHMOD).  Friendly gui user interface.  Create and delete remote directories.  It can view remote files.  It is free for commercial and personal use. FTP Works is a fully supported product.

Click here to go the Corban Software website.  Updates and support of FTP Works can be found there.

Click here to go the FTP Works FAQ.


View File

When you select a remote file and click on View the file is downloaded to the c:\windows\temp directory and then opened with the viewer notepad.exe.  Right now that is the only choice of viewers.  Notepad.exe must be in the c:\windows directory.  If the file is larger an option to open it in Wordpad will apear.

If by chance you have viewed a file over 500 times, to view it again, you must go and delete all the associated files in the c:\windows\temp directory and then try again.


CHMOD
CHMOD - Change Remote File Attributes

There are 3 groups for which you can set attributes.

Owner - Rights for yourself.

Group - Rights for the group of which you are a part.

Public - Rights for the public or the whole world.

There are 3 different rights you can assign.

Read - The file can only be read and not written.

Write - The file can be written to or changed.

Execute - The file can be executed.  This attribute only applies to program files and not to text type files

Set these attributes with the CHMOD command.  You will see the attributes that you have set in the Ftp files window.  Here is an example and explaination.

Say you have a file readme.txt with the attributes as follows:  -rw-r--r--

The first - is reserved for showing a file is a directory.  The next 3 spots are the settings for the Owner.  The next 3 after that are the settings for the Group.  The last 3 are for the public.  When you see a dash that means that the attrubute is not set.

So in the example, the Owner has read and write rights.  The group has read rights and the public has read rights.

Note - Rarely do you assign the public write rights.  This would allow someone in the world to delete your files.


Changedir
Change to Remote Directory

To change to a different directory manually type the directory path into the edit box and hit the enter key or click on the "Change Dir" button to change directories.

An easier way is to double click on the remote directory and it will change to that directory.


Rename Files
Rename Files and Directories

To rename a remote file or directory, select it and clic on the rename button on the right.  A box will appear around the file or directory allowing you to type in the new name.  Simply hit the enter key when you are done or click outside the box and the renaming process will proceed.


Make New Directory
Make New Directory (MKDIR)

To make a new, click on the MKDIR button and a new directory will be created ready for you to type in the name.  Type in the name and hit the enter key.


Directories
Uploading and Downloading

Whole directory structures can be downloaded or uploaded.  The directory will be copied and all of its sub directories and sub files.


Deleting Files

You can delete individual files or whole remote directories.  Click on the file or directory and click delete.

Remember that if a directory has read only files in it, then the directory won't be deleted.


Firewall Settings

The information needed in this dialog can be obtained from your system administrator.  If you are dialing up from home or you don't have a firewall between you and the internet, then leave these settings blank.

Host Name - Enter the host name of the firewall here.

User Name - Enter your username to the firewall here.

Password - Enter your password to the firewall here.

Port - Enter the numeric port for the firewall.

Use Firewall - Check this box to enable logon to the firewall.

Firewall Type - Each firewall uses a different sequence or method for loggging on.  The default is "User after Logon".


Connection Settings

The host settings are required to connect to the ftp server across the internet.  You can get this information from your internet service provider.

Bookmark - This is a friendly name you choose to assign to this host information.  Choose some name to help you remember it.

Host name - This is the name of the ftp server.  Some examples of how this name should look are:

ftp.microsoft.com

www.enol.com

marvin.qwk.net

User name - This is your user name to logon the the ftp server.  Often times this is the same user name you used to dialup to your internet service provider.

Password - This is your password to logon the the ftp server.  Often times this is the same password you used to dialup to your internet service provider.

Account - This is your account name on the ftp server.  If you don't know it just leave this field blank.  Often times it is the same as your user name.

Save Button - Click this button to save your bookmark settings.

New Button - Click this button to blank out all fields and create a new bookmark.

Delete Button - Click this button to delete the current bookmark.

Advanced Button - Click this button to set advanced settings.

Firewall Button - Click on this button to set firewall settings.

Anonymous - Check this box to logon to the ftp server anonymously.  If you don't have an account on the host ftp server then check this box.  A lot of ftp servers require you to provide your email address as the user name when logging in anonymously.

Connect Button - Click this button to create a connection with the ftp server.


Transfer Types
Transfer Types - Ascii and Binary

If you are going to transfer text type files use the Ascii transfer type.  It ensures that the files remain text files.  On some systems the files will be altered if you use binary.

If you are are not sure what kind of files then use binary.  Binary also must be used to ensure that the binary file is not altered.  Some common binary types include Gif (.gif), Jpeg (.jpg or .jpeg), Executable files (.exe), Zip files (.zip)

If you select AUTO then FTP Works will figure the file type for you by reading approximately 1024 bytes of the file.  If you are transfering whole directory structures then use AUTO.


Register FTP Works
Registering FTP Works

If you don't want to see the banner ads you can register FTP Works for $19.  Click here to go to the Corban Software web site and order this product.


Advanced Settings

Port - This is the port for connecting to the ftp server.  21 is the default for ftp operations.

Remote Dir - This is the initial remote directory that you want changed to when you first connect to the ftp server.  If you just want your home directory to be the initial directory just leave this field blank.

Local Dir - This is the initial local directory that you want to change to when you first connect.

Passive Transfers - Use passive transfers by default.  Select this option if you want your PC to establish the data connection to the FTP site instead of the site establishing the data connection to your PC.  This is necessary for some firewall and gateway configurations.

Note: not all FTP sites support passive transfers.