FTPortal
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Overview
FTPortal is an application and contextual menu for easily uploading files to specific folders of one or more FTP servers. You do this by either creating and configuring multiple copies of the program, or using the FTPortal System Preferences pane to configure the contextual menu items. Then you upload files by either dropping them onto the main window or application icon in the Finder:
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or, by selecting an appropriate contextual menu item in the Finder:
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System requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later
Application Installation
To install the application place it into your Applications folder, or any other convenient location.
(You will probably create multiple copies of the program to upload files to various FTP locations.)
Contextual Menu Installation and Usage
To install the contextual menu and preference pane just launch the Installer, or place the pieces into their proper locations, namely the "Contextual Menu Items" folder and "PreferencePanes" folder of your Library.
The first time you open the contextual menu it will alert you that it needs a password:
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Select the preferences item to open the system preference pane for FTPortal to activate the demo (which runs for about ten days):
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Once activated all the menu items will display.
The initial configuration has one item that points to this web site, and another one which points to a bogus FTP server, for illustration. (Of course you can delete these items.)
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Create your own menu items using the Menu Editor on the preference pane:
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Click on an item to edit its URL using the text field at the bottom of the pane, and press the 'Enter' key to save the changes. You can also edit the item "in place" by double clicking on it. Note that menu item display names are entered in the "Name" column of the editor.
FTPortal uses the standard FTP URL format for specifying server hostname, username, password and directory, as shown by the example above.
Here's the general format:
ftp://[username]:[password]@[host]/[directory]/.../[directory]/Note that the menu items can also reference files on your computer using the "file:///" protocol, and files on the web using the "http://" protocol, for convenience.
Once your menu is configured simply click on a selection of files in the Finder to upload them to the desired FTP account and directory by making the appropriate selection from the contextual menu.
Progress reports (and errors) are written to the console log, "FTPortalCM.log," located in your /Library/Logs folder. You can easily open the console log at any time using the contextual menu itself. (There is a option in the Preference pane to have the console log opened automatically for each upload.)
Application Usage
Preferences
Click the "Preferences" button to specify the FTP server address (IP address, Bonjour name or domain name) and the username and password for the FTP account to be associated with this copy of FTPortal:
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As of version 1.0.1 FTPortal supports multiple FTP servers, one for each separate copy of the program:
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Specifying Folders
The directory FTPortal uploads files into is determined by either the "Folder" text field in the Preferences window OR the name of the program copy.
When the program name begins with (or is) "FTPortal" then the directory is determined by the entry in the "Folder" text field of the Preferences window. If this entry is empty, the "root" folder is used. For example, the following two FTPortal applications upload to two different folders on the same server:
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If the program name begins with anything other than "FTPortal" then it is assumed the program name is matching the folder name. For example, the following FTPortal application will upload files into the folder at path
/Documents/Images
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Directory Listing
Click the "Directory Listing" button to have a list of files in the configured directory displayed in the console log. You can use this feature to verify that your files were uploaded.
Note: the portal must be configured to use this button, or the program currently quits. This will be fixed.
Pre-configuration
As of version 1.0.1 FTPortal supports pre-configuration using a preferences file named "Preferences.txt" to be located in the Resources folder of the applications bundle. The application Resources contains a file named "PreferencesSample.txt" which can be used as a template for this file.
When a configuration file is included in the application bundle the text fields of the Preferences window are disabled.
Console logging
FTPortal logs errors to the console log. These files are located in the "Logs" folder of your Home Library folder, and can be viewed with the "Console" application in your Utilities folder.
Every FTPortal application you create will be associated with a console log. You can view the console log by selecting "Console Log" from the File menu:
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The "Show All Portals..." command displays the console log and lists all currently configured portals.
You can clear all the current portal settings using the "Clear All Portals..." command. The following alert will be displayed to be certain this is what you want to do:
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Using the built-in Mac OS X FTP server
If you turn on "FTP Access" in the Sharing System Preference pane then you can specify the FTP server using the Bonjour name (such as "Prudence.local") and your login username and password to upload files to folders in your home folder:
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In this case I can upload files to my "Movies" directory on my computer "Prudence" using these settings in FTPortal:
