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 Web Design - Site Management |
| Downloading a File From an Anonymous FTP Site with WS_FTP |
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When you start WS_FTP, the first window you are
presented with is the "Session Properties" (see the example below).
In this window (which has four "tabbed" sub-windows), you can
create a login script, or "session," that specifies all the details
you need to connect to a particular FTP directory on a particular
internet computer.
Using the guide, below, fill in your session profile with each of the items from example 1, below. As you fill in these items, you will begin to understand how an FTP connection works. Please note that not all versions of WS_FTP look exactly like the examples below. All of the features mentioned below, however, should be available to you. Just poke around the WS_FTP interface until you find them.
Example 1![[Session Profile Screen, General Tab]](images/wsftp1.gif)
Filling out Your "Session Profile"You should start on the "General" tab, as illustrated above. Click on "New" to create a new session profile.
The name you assign to a particular FTP session profile. This is completely up to you. The name you use should identify the site clearly so that you know what the site is and why you want to connect to it. Host Name: The name of the internet computer that hosts (contains) the FTP directory you want to connect to. Sometimes this is the internet "domain" name of the FTP computer. You will have to get this name from the owner of the FTP directory or from some other source. If you are the owner of the FTP directory, just ask the technical support folks at your internet service provider for the host name you should use to connect to this directory. The FTP directory we will connect to in this tutorial is stored on a computer owned by Rocky Mountain Internet, an internet service provider used by the author of this tutorial. Host Type: The type of operating system that the FTP host is running. Most internet computers, but not all, run the powerful, multi-user, Unix operating system. The dialog box in example 1 is set to "Automatic detect", which will make WS_FTP automatically determine the type of operating system it is connecting to. You can usually leave this setting on Automatic detect. Anonymous (checkbox): Unless you are the owner of this directory, or have been given the username and password by the owner, you will be logging in anonymously, as discussed above. If so, check this checkbox. Save Pwd (checkbox): Check this box so you don't have to fill in your password each time you login to this FTP site. If your computer is not in a secure environment, you might want to fill in your password each time you login. In that case, leave this checkbox unchecked. If you check this box, anyone with access to your computer can pretend to be you and login to this FTP directory. User ID: The username assigned to the person who owns this directory. If this is an anonymous FTP site, the username will be "anonymous" so that anyone on the internet may get access to the directory. Password: The password assigned to the person who owns this directory. If this is an anonymous FTP site, the password will be your e-mail address. The e-mail address password is a courtesy to the owner of the anonymous FTP site. It tells the owner who is logging into the anonymous FTP directory. Account: This applies only to certain older FTP host computers. Most FTP users can leave this field blank. For more information on this field, see the WS_FTP on-line help. Comment: In this field, you can write in a description of the site and why you want to connect to it. Or, you can leave it blank, as illustrated above. OK, now click on the "Startup" tab. (continued on next page) |