Unless otherwise noted all pictures, captures and illustrations are by Mike Strong. Copyright 2004 Mike Strong, all rights reserved.

FileZilla - FTP application

FileZilla FTP program (application) - This is a terrific small FTP program which handles UMKC sites very well. FileZilla allow you to move (copy) files between your own machine (local) and the web server (remote). FileZilla is especially nice in that it can be installed on a thumb drive and used on any machine you are at where you can install a thumb drive.

On this page is a tutorial, in two versions, showing how to use FileZilla,
#1 - (at top) is a video version in Flash (may or may not play on your computer) and|
#2 - (below) is a step-by-step version of the same action using a set of still-image screen captures as illustrations so you can take your time

 

You should keep two sets of identical files: Local and Remote

 
     
     
Local (left side)   Remote (right side)


The local computer is the computer at which you are physically seated.

 

 Left Side       Right Side
Servers in racks at a hosting company. Could be anywhere in the world.
There are two computers in this 1983 picture above left, The Commodore 64 at which I am typing and the Radio Shack pocket computer (front, placed on top of the printed labels). The Commodore had 64-kilobytes of memory and the pocket computer (made by Sharp) had 1,436 bytes of memory [1.4kb]). 64-kb was a respectable amount on a desktop in 1983. Today's desktops routines have 3 and 4 gigabytes or more of memory, about 60,000 times that amount. In the late 1960s my squadron in the Air Force had a room-filling Burroughs computer with 64-kilobytes. We carried a heavy desksized Olivetti p101 which handled 128-bytes of program at a time - 31,250,000 times smaller than today's desktop memories. Each is or was state of the art for its own time.
     

The left side is the local panel
on the FTP program

Use the local computer to create a site which works on your local machine. Remember, you need to create and edit the files locally. When you are sure it works locally you should then upload a copy of the files to the web.

A program designed for FTP (file transfers)

The two-panel look of a typical FTP program, everything is handled within a single program window.
The left-side panel displays files on your local computer.
The right-side panel displays files on the remote computer.

Notice the mnemonic, left for local and right for remote.

The right side is the remote panel
on the FTP program

This panel shows the files on the computer on the web containing your website. This is where you drag a copy of your local files to so that the world has access to your website. (the World Wide Web - www)

     

 

#1 - Video Version of the Tutorial - (needs Flash player)

In the (repeating) Video Below we:
1) Set up the first connection using FileZilla at the top
2) Adjust the folders for local and remote
3) Save the current site connection for future use
4) Transfer files (to = upload, from = download)
5) Close down the connection
6) Use the Site Manager to open the saved connection
7) Close the connection again

This animation Repeats
Below this animated demo are step-by-step instructions for FileZilla.

 

#2 Step-by-Step Version of the Tutorial
    (uses screen-capture Images)

Making the Initial Connection

Remember - use YOUR username, not mine!

When Connected it looks like this (below)

 

Save the Connection Information

 

The Site Manager Holds Your Saved Connections

 

Transfering Files between your local computer and the web

The Panels

Before you do the transfer for critical files you might want to rename the existing file first. This isn't for everything, but it does give you a backup just in case. In the case below you can see that we are going to rename the database file before we do the actual transfer. Note that this file has a couple of versions, each with a different name. In this case I am renaming the soon-to-be-replaced file with an underscore and a "psuedo-Julian" date (yyyymmdd format).

 

The Options - in PopUp Menus

Below - what happens when you select a file or files and right-click the selection in the local panel. Clicking on the "Upload" option gets the ball rolling to transfer the files.
Note: You can also just drag the file to the other window.

 

Below - what happens when you select a file or files and right-click the selection in the remote panel. Clicking on the "Download" option gets the ball rolling to transfer the files.
Note: You can also just drag the file to the other window.

 

During Transfer

While the transfer is in progress you will get a constant report in the panel just below the local and remote panels. The direction of the process is confirmed in the "Direction" column and from the title of the next column (here it says "Remote file"). The "gas gauge" shows the percent of transfer so far completed.

 

Disconnect

There are really three ways you disconnect from the current FTP connection.

  1. FileZilla will, all by itself, disconnect if you don't have any activity for a while
  2. Manually you can either
    1. Click on the disconnect icon at the top
    2. Click on the disconnect option from the "Server" pull down menu