Thanks Andrew -
Andrew said:
With FTP you can transfer files either way - to the host or from the host.
When I try to open the hosted site using FTP so that I can transfer files to my local
machine, FP gives me the error "Front Page does not support opening files from FTP
servers." so I don't know how it can do the transfer.
Creating a directory (folder) on the host server won't damage anything;
all the permissions within your hosting account are (or should be) set
for you to do this. If you venture in to a folder you shouldn't be in,
it will deny access.
Prehaps I wasn't as clear as I should have been. I have no problem creating a folder
using a third party FTP client.
What my issue is, is that I am not able to give FP a specific destination to an
already existing folder.
1. I open my local website in FP
2. There is a folder named DB, containing a file somedb.mdb
3. I select the file, right click, and select 'Publish selected files'
4. FP gives me a dialog box to enter the destination
5. I enter ftp://mydomain.com/db and click OK
6. FP prompts me for username and password again. I enter them and click OK.
6. FP tells me 'A web does not exist at ftp://mydomain.com/db Would you like Front
Page to create a web at that location?'
7. I click cancel in frustration
Note that FP did *NOT* offer to create a folder, but a web. Maybe that is just bad
terminology on FP's part. If so, it's still a problem because the folder already exists.
If I use just ftp://mydomain.com for the above example then FP creates (with no
further prompting) a folder in the root of the site, and puts the file in it. Not
surprising in light of the fact that ftp doesn't do anything with the metadata that
http publishing does.
Frontpage would be correct - it will prompt to create a folder that
doesn't already exist, as well it should.
That's not what I (or FP) said. It prompts to create a web. See above.
If you use a third party FTP (Filezilla, FTP plugin for Firefox, WS_FTP,
Cute_FTP etc) then it would do the same thing as FP (except normally
wouldn't tell you about it, it would just transfer the folders/files
and create the directories when needed).
Seems to me the 3rd party clients do more, like showing the local and hosted sites at
the same time. They don't automagically create directories, but they do allow you to
select the destination, both ways.
FP is, I suppose, just ftp challenged.
Mike