[WWdevel] File Manager and linebreaks

[P Gavin LaRose]

Hi Davide,

Re: line break conversion, my inclination would be to go with the
text/binary convention of FTP, perhaps renamed to be more obvious.  I'd
probably put binary as the default.

Gavin

On Sat, 8 Jan 2005 at 12:08 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?
>
> 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?
>
> Davide
>
>
>
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-- 
P. Gavin LaRose, Ph.D.  Program Manager (Instructional Tech.)
Math Dept., University of Michigan
glarose at umich.edu                         "It's snowing still.  And freezing.
734.764.6454                              However,  we  haven't had an earth-
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/	  quake lately."         - A.A. Milne