WB 2008 - Publish To FTP Doesn't Work

[snorkytheweasel]

The program connects to the server, opens the proper folders, and lets me click save.

• No files get transferred.
• Sometimes the FTP tool goes away.
• Sometimes WB hangs and I have to kill the process. Prior to killing the process I can see it intermittently using resources, but the program is hung and stays hung for several minutes - until I get tired of wasting my time.

Prior to 2008 FTP was weak, but functional. With the 2 releases of 2008 that I've tried, Publish to FTP has gone into the toilet.

Is there a fix on the way?

[davenz]

Hi there

I have used the ftp side of three Blumentals programs for a few ywars now without any problems. I connect to a mix of Linux and Windows-based servers and all connect fine without any tweaking of the ftp properties. While I agree that the ftp side of the software is unorthodox, especially for people like me who have always used a more traditional two-pane-view FTP program, it has served me pretty well once I got used to the quirks.

Are you behind a proxy, or is there any other unusual feature of how you connect? I assume you have tried changing the different options as far as passive mode etc? Any firewall software on your machine/network that could get in the way? Any real-time scanning tools that may b0rk things?

I know you have probably taken all these things into account and I am not implying you don't know what you are doing; as a tech, I like to ask as many questions as I can before I can form any potential opinion on why something doesn't work as it should.

Dave.

[snorkytheweasel]

When I upgraded from v8 to v9, FTP stopped working (a lot of other stuff failed, as well). Nothing changed on the computer or network in that 2-3 minutes it took to upgrade. No other software has had problems. Besides, FTP does allow me to connect to the server, to switch directories, and to view files and subdirectories. At that point the file to be transferred is shown in the file name box, and the choices are 'save' or 'cancel.' Click 'save' and one of two things happen:

• the screen blinks momentarily - as if it were actually transferring the file, then returns to the editor - but the file has not transferred.
  or
• freezes the computer - for minutes on end, until I kill the process (which in itself is a challenge, because wb doesn't go away easily

If I immediately invoke (assuming that wb hasn't tried to strangle my computer) a different FTP program, the transfer goes through as expected. I can then go back to wb and re-try the transfer and the same as above occurs: it either doesn't the file and/or it hangs.

I installed wb on a different computer, different network, different ISP. The transfer was likewise unsuccessful, although I didn't have time to risk repeating - I was very pressed for time and couldn't enjoy the luxury of having it hang as did the other computer.
I've tried to eliminate all of the variables. What it boils down to is that the Publish to FTP function for wb 9x is buggy -very buggy.

Now to make it more bizarre. I never use "Save to FTP" because it is a two-step process: save locally, then save to ftp; and next time I have to remember to save locally 1st, then Save to FTP. I tested it, and "Save to FTP" did work, i.e., the file transferred and wb didn't hang.
I guess I could get used to changing from what has worked in the past ("Publish..."), but that doesn't alter the fact that it is a bug that showed up when I upgraded to 9x and has persisted through an additional upgrade.

By the way, when the "publish..." bug reared its ugly head on the first 9x upgrade, I tried it on 3 computers, all with the same result. I haven't tried the 2nd 9x on a third computer - I really do have to get some work done, and can't continue to be a gamma tester. Besides, if I want to test buggy software, I can always use anything from the guys in Redmond.

To be fair, my list of infuriating bugs in the first 9x (I had a dozen or so show-stoppers on my list) is down to just a few. Thank you, Karlis, for fixing some of the other bugs. At least now I can use wb (I had to stop using wb and use a less capable editor until this release). If I had never previously used wb or any of the other great tools from blumentals, I would have junked wb 9, assumed that it was crap, and never looked back. The only reason I stayed on is because I knew that it would get better. However, there is still a way to go before 9x works as well as 8x did - or as well as it should.

[chrisjlocke]

However, there is still a way to go before 9x works as well as 8x did - or as well as it should.

So long as there are steps to reproduce the problem, and it can be 'verified' by others (ie, to rule out a dodgy FTP server your end) then these niggling issues can be resolved. Its hard to fix something when it works this end but not yours. Without extensive debugging, its hard to know where to start.

[Karlis]

Please submit a click by click report, in a step-by-step fashion, including FTP access data hostname/username/password. There are many ways to upload to FTP and we are not sure which one you use. So detailed step by step report would be helpful. Send it to support[at]blumentals.net

Obviously you are doing something in a very specific way because this works for others, so we need to know what exactly you do.

[Karlis]

I think I got it. You meant Publish to FTP command from the file menu and not the Publish related to projects. Indeed we have discovered an error when you publish a file that contains images or other linked files, they get published but the file itself does not. Will correct in the next update.

[snorkytheweasel]

I thought I was going to have to up the meds. It's good to know that the problem is real. I eagerly await the update. Meanwhile, most of the other glitches in the earlier release are gone. Thanks for all you do to make life better for programmers.

[daredare]

yes the problem is real, same for me, it used to work properly in old WB versions. I've been using FireFTP wich is very good.(a firefox addon)

[Karlis]

I hope to release an update by the end of the September or in the first week of October at latest. We are currently trying to correct some other issues as well. After all is finished the update will be released.