WebFm - Web File Manager

Just a quick message for those of you who have become contributors at stilltruth.com

Excuse me for shouting:
DO NOT USE WEBFM IF YOU ARE USING INTERNET EXPLORER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
/excuse me for shouting:

I've enabled a new file management system which should make future searching and report generation better. On the downside it will take a little getting used to: Starting today you'll notice a new menu selection called "WEB File Manager"


Before using webfm I strongly encourage you to take it for a test drive on it's beta site which you can link to from: http://drupal.org/project/webfm. If you're uncomfortable using webfm please let me know and try to tell me why. It takes roughly the same amount of work as other methods but it is different.

Excuse me for shouting:
DO NOT USE WEBFM IF YOU ARE USING INTERNET EXPLORER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
/excuse me for shouting:

Unfortunately webfm currently does not like IE. IE will cause random glitches like files and whole directories of files disapearing. IOW you will kill stilltruth if you use IE. If you must use IE don't try to mess with webfm.
Since most of you use firefox however you will not have a problem. USING Firefox however will open up a whole new world of manageability when it comes to embedding files into the system.
Here's how it works:

1. Using your regular FTP program you can now upload your files as before in bulk
2. Click on Web file manager in the left hand menu.
   The webfm screen will load.



3. You'll notice that the interface consists of three main areas.
   
   1. The Directory Tree is the area where files recognized by the database are located.
   2. The FTP Directory Tree is the directory and subdirectories of the FTP account I've assigned you.
   3. The Larger block on the right is the location you are currently at. From this larger block you can drag and drop files from the ftp tree to the regular directory tree (click the plus and minus buttons to expand and contract the entire directory structure).
   4. Below that area you'll notice the "file meta data" area. If you right click a file and choose "meta data" you can insert the title, author/publisher and a few other items here. Be sure to click submit or the data is not recorded. Note that you can only apply meta data after a file has been moved into the Directory tree structure.
   5. The File search hasn't proved very useful to me at this point but have fun playing with it if you want.
   6. The File upload area will upload a single file directly into the database site structure. To use it, please navigate to the area you want to use for the new files and upload them. After the upload completes the page will refresh and you'll see your file.
4. then using WEBFM you can asign each file to a folder within the database's recognized file system. WEBFM will enable you to drag and drop files on the server just like on your computer.
5. Right clicking on a file will enable you to delete, rename and best of all assign meta-data to individual files. This information will be used to automatically generate pages listing all of the files of a relevant type (for instance all PBB's in the entire system on one page).
6. When creating a post:
   
   1. do everything you'd normally do, except don't embed links in your post.
   2. Scroll down the page a bit till you see The two sections named "Attached Files" and "File Browser"

   

   3. The File browser section is nearly identical to the main webfm screen.
   4. Right clicking on the file names (e.g. Kuyper.lbxcol above) choose "attach file to node" and then right click again and choose to edit the meta data in the box above. Don't forget to click Submit to save your changes.
   5. When finished save or submit your post as normal.

I have already completed the first tedious stage of this transition by assigning all PBB books to individual author directories and assigning names and authors to all books. In the near future I'll begin making use of this by automatically generating a complete listing of every PBB book on the site! This is a function which many have asked for.

Excuse me for shouting:
DO NOT USE WEBFM IF YOU ARE USING INTERNET EXPLORER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
/excuse me for shouting: