Automatic Upload

[leeet]

So i'm looking for a ftp client that does checks for new folders in a specified dir by either automatic recognition of a new folder or a query or something that checks every x minutes. And if there's a new file it uploads it to a specific folder on a ftp server.
Is this possible with flashFXP? And if not i'd like to suggest that as a possible feature.

[bigstar]

Using v4.0 you could create a schedule to transfer the content of a folder and then set your transfer rules to skip files that already exist on the destination site.

[kevito96]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I am actually trying to do something very similar.
My company is looking for a way to scan our tickets or "orders" to a FTP site so we can upload them to our website.

But it has to be dummy proof for the most part. Techs call me sometimes asking how to get their "homepage" back.

So is there a way to keep the FTP client connected to the FTP server throughout the day and if it does time out, auto-reconnect? I have a scan to pdf program that will allow us to save the files to a specific folder then have ShareFXP auto-upload the files to the FTP site when the folder contents change.

Is there a tutorial or maybe someone have a link to a vid on how exactly to set the options and rules?

[bigstar]

You could do this with a scheduled task that way its completely automated.

The only thing the tech would need to do is setup the schedule within FlashFXP.

The progress is a bit long but necessary for this type of situation.

(requires FlashFXP v4.0)

Setting up a queue
1. Start FlashFXP
2. Connect to the server where you want to upload the scans.
3. Change to the parent folder where the scans are stored so if the scans are stored in C:\Data\Scans\ then change into C:\Data\
4. Select the "Scans" folder and drag it into the queue window.
5. Right click on the queue window and select "Save As.." and save the queue to a file.

Setting up the schedule and transfer rules.
1. Start FlashFXP
2. Tools > Schedule
3. Click the New Task button
4. Name the task and then select the queue file that was saved in the previous part.
5. Change the file transfer rules to "use custom rules" and then click the custom rules button.
6. Click the Add button on the File Transfer Rules dialog.
(Most likely you'll only want to upload new scans, skipping any existing files on the server.)
7. Size = "equal" Date = "No Compare" Transfer = "No compare" then set Action to Skip, finally click the OK button, and then the OK button again.
(Now you should be back at the New Task dialog.)
8. Click the Schedule tab.
9. Set the Schedule task to "Daily" and to recur every 1 days, check "Repeat Task" and entire the desired number of minutes to re-run this task, depending on how often this needs to be done, you could have it run every few minutes to hours.
There are a few other options that can be configured here as well.
10. Click the "Save" button.
Your new automated task is now setup and ready to go.

If this is too complicated for your situation we can also quote you on a custom made application to suite your needs, or perhaps a custom program that monitors a folder for changes and then automatically starts FlashFXP to upload the scans.

Please feel free to contact us (https://oss.azurewebsites.net/contact)

[kevito96]

I think this will work.
But it prompted me to replace, rename, overwrite, etc the files on the second scheduled run. Shouldn't step 7 eliminate this?
And I just need to add FlashFXP to Windows startup. I'm sure the techs can come in and launch the scheduled task.

Is there a way to hide FlashFXP or minimize to system tray so they cannot click disconnect, close, or something interrupt the process?

And thank you for you prompt reply and detailed explanation! :D

[bigstar]

Since the scans are images (correct?) they should be transferred in binary mode, so the local size should be identical to the remote size, was the size different in the prompt?

When you setup a scheduled transfer task its 100% automated and not necessary to add FlashFXP to the windows startup. The task is run via Windows task scheduler.

In addition when run as a scheduled task FlashFXP runs minimized to the system tray.

[kevito96]

Here's some screenshots of my settings. I tried to insert as img tags, but they are too big.


And the scans will actually be saved after the scan as .pdf files. So we will be dealing strictly with PDF files. I was testing it with simple text files and a word doc to see how it transferred.


http://i52.tinypic.com/5zlht5.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/aeqm4j.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/11j1w7b.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/2zzovbn.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/2nimz36.jpg

[bigstar]

Oh I see, I 'm sorry I overlooked the fact that scheduled tasks now default to the global rules when setting up a new custom transfer rule set.

You'll need to remove the existing file transfer rules in order for the one I suggested to work.

Also with text based files transferred in ASCII mode a size comparison might not be enough, you may need to do a date comparison for this type of test.

However PDF files are transferred in Binary mode so for that it wouldn't be an issue.

[kevito96]

Okay, so I removed the rules and left the one we created.
http://i56.tinypic.com/2uyoyrl.jpg

Now its not transferring at all. And I do have to load the queue back each time right? Or does it automatically load from the scheduler?

And how do I keep the connection to my server from timing out?

[bigstar]

Your setup looks correct as far as I can tell. Assuming the queue you have assigned to the task is the one displayed in your screenshot then it should work, if you made changes to the queue you'll need to save the changes to the queue file.

The schedule works like this. When the schedule task is triggered (based on your schedule) it will launch FlashFXP, load the queue file and transfer the queue, once completed, FlashFXP will exit.

The connection to the ftp server is only active during the task.

[fabianlujan]

Hello,
I need something like this but a little different.
Not sure if I need schedule a transfer, so here is what I need:

I always have two instances of FlashFXP open.
One for the root folder and the other for the images folder.
The images folder is populated regulary so I need FlashFXP to compare every minute the local and remote folders and transfer the new files from local to remote.

Some kind of "keep alive" command but with comparison and transfer.

Any idea?

Thanks!!

[MxxCon]

create a transfer queue and run it on schedule