File Upload Utility!

[jgbull]

Greetings FQers,

I've found this forum so useful in the past, that I'm becoming an abuser; i.e asking lots of questions (that I am sure seem stupid to people who know what they are talking about, a group which I am not included in).

The situation is this; I am trying to create a password protected site where research teams that we have dispersed around the world (from Washington DC to Nairobi to Jakarta to Bangkok) can share documents.

The simple (but time-consuming solution):
All the documents are sent to me (via yousendit.com as some will be in excess of 10mb), I post them, and send out an announcement that something has been posted.

The ideal (but technically prohibitive solution):
The user can upload the document, which then show up in a list (I assume this would have to be something database driven) and an email is sent out to a small group of users (no more than 10) that a new document has been uploaded.

The feasible solution?
Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and have people send me large doc's via yousendit.com and I manage the whole process of uploading and distribution?

It would be nice to simplify this somewhat and have a folder where users can upload doc's so at least I don't have an inbox cluttered full. That seems feasible... I've tried various "File Management" programs, but they cost money and are more complex than necessary. I've seen free ASP scripts that do the trick, but I can't figure them out. I've read threads here about uploading with PHP but became all the more confused...

:dunno:

Thanks!
JB

[jgbull]

As a brief addendum: does anyone have experience with

http://sourceforge.net/projects/uber-uploader/

[Tom E.]

Hi JB,

If your site is at FQ, here's an almost-ideal solution that requires no programming.

1) in the CNC File Manager, create a directory under www and password protect it

2) add the FancyIndexing option to the .htaccess file in the directory which tells the web server to list the files in the directory if there isn't an index.* file. See the apache documention for mod_autoindex (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_autoindex.html)

3) in the CNC FTP Manager, create an extra FTP account and make the root directory of the account the same directory you created in step 1

4) in the CNC Email Manager, create an alias that forwards to each of the members of your group (up to 10)

5) send an email to the alias you created with the FTP and directory login info, and instructions on how to upload files.

In windows, you can do drag-and-drop ftp uploads using IE or the windows explorer. After the person uploads a file, they just have to email one address to announce it.

Even if this isn't a good long-term solution, you can get it up and running in 10 minutes and give youself more time to find a better one.

Tom

[Monty]

Most all uploaders are going to hit a limit way below 10 megs. I would teach them all how to use FTP. My favorite one is Cute FTP and I have many of my users that have learned how to use it (http://2coolfishing.com/ftp.htm).