[WWdevel] File Manager and linebreaks

[Michael Gage]

On Saturday, January 8, 2005, at 01:34  PM, Sam Hathaway wrote:

> On Jan 8, 2005, at 12:08 PM, Davide P.Cervone wrote:
>
>> Folks:
>>
>> Ken Appel's recent problems with uploading class list files suggests 
>> that there is an issue that might need to be addressed in the File 
>> Manager.  Currently, when text files are uploaded, their contents are 
>> save verbatim.  In particular, nothing is done to adjust line 
>> terminators for PC and Mac files to be in the unix form.  This may be 
>> the cause of some of Ken's troubles.
>>
>> The question is, how should this be handled in the File Manager?  It 
>> is probably a bad idea to ALWAYS convert line breaks, as if the 
>> professor is uploaded an image, for example, this would damage it.  
>> There are a couple of solutions:
>>
>> 	1.  Have a checkbox under the UPLOAD button that is "convert line 
>> breaks to unix format"
>> 	     or some such wording, with a warning about not doing this for 
>> images or binary
>> 	     data.  It could be checked by default, since most transfers 
>> would be text.
>>
>> 	2.  Have another action button on the right for "Convert Line 
>> Breaks".
>>
>> 	3.  Try to use the file's extension (e.g., .lst) and contents to 
>> determine if it is a text
>> 	     file, and do the conversion automatically.  (Easiest for users, 
>> when it works, but
>> 	     prone to errors.)
>>
>> 	4.  Some combination of the above.
>>
>> What do you think?
>
> Some FTP programs let you specify "Text", "Binary", or "Automatic" for 
> the transfer mode. One of the effects of this is to turn on or off 
> linebreak translation. I think this mechanism would work pretty well 
> for WW.
>
> We also have the choice of whether we reverse the translation when 
> downloading files.
>
>> A related question is should the File Manager try to be smarter about 
>> where you are putting the files.  For example, if someone puts a .lst 
>> file in the top level rather than in templates, should there be a 
>> warning about that?  If so, what are the filetype-to-directory 
>> mappings?  I know that .lst and set.def files should go in templates, 
>> and .pg files should be somewhere below templates.  What other files 
>> would people be uploading, and what are the restrictions on where 
>> they should go?  Is a warning sufficient, or should there be some 
>> sort of confirmation dialog box?
>
> At the very least, there should be some documentation on the File 
> Manager page of where various course files should go. I'm hesitant to 
> do anything based on file type detection (although in WW it's probably 
> a pretty safe bet). A warning couldn't hurt though.
>
There is documentation under the yellow question mark at the top of the 
File Manager page.
> Maybe there should be a mechanism to take to to the directory for a 
> particular file type? Maybe a popup menu and a "Go" button?
> -sam
>
>
>
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