The Dev Studio Explorer does not let me copy a zip file from one server environment to another (Other folder). I have a 1GB ftm file that I zipped to 65MB, but I can't drag-n-drop the file. This is the only way for me to upload files to the server where WebFOCUS runs. Does anyone have any idea of how to achieve this?

Cheers,

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Francis Mariani,

Can your server connect to your DS WF server ?

Turning things around, means that you could conceptually table and HOLD the FTM file on the server.

I have six Access databases on a local server that I have to merge to create a FOCUS database. I need this FOCUS database to end up on a server that I do not have a User ID for. The only access I have to this server is via Dev Studio. I thought I'd transfer a flat file to the other server to create the FOCUS DB.

Are you saying I could conceivably read the data via the local server and create the FOCUS database on the other server?

If the access is available, Yes.

But it relies on the Server being able to communicate with your DS Server.

Deponding on the network set up and ports being open, it can be done.

Do you have access to the Server, if so try creating a remote server, pointing to your DS server.

The other option which may work, perhaps, , is using -REMOTE BEGIN and -REMOTE END, as the contents are sent to the remote server. This is not a nice way to do it, but may work. I don't know if the size will cause problems.

Francis,

Is the remote server a Unix box?

You mentioned that you don't have a User ID on that server but that you can "see" it and probably create content on it via Dev Studio.

If so, would you be able to create a FOCEXEC in that server and execute a remote command there using -UNIX in Dialog Manager?

If I understand your problem correctly and if assumptions above are met:

1. You have a 1GB local .ftm file which you have already ZIPped and that needs to be transferred to the remote server. You may try to rename your local ZIP file replacing ".zip" by some extension that Dev Studio recognizes as a valid "binary" file (for example .gif).

2. Dev Studio will now let you drag and drop this .gif file to your remote environment "untouched".

3. Create a procedure in the remote server (again, I assume it's a Unix box) that renames the .gif file restoring the original .zip extension and finally unzipping the file:

-UNIX mv -f /your_path/mydata.gif /your_path/mydata.zip
-UNIX unzip /your_path/mydata.zip

Your original .ftm file should be accessible now.

Sounds simplistic but hopefully it'll do the trick.

If the platform is not Unix, there may be a way for Dialog Manager to execute commands in the specific host operating system where the WF Server runs but I'm only aware of -UNIX and -DOS.

Neftali.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: njsden,

njsden,

Happy New Year. Just got back from an extended year-end break.

Thank you for your suggestion - it has helped me move a little further. As you assumed, the prod environment is UNIX.

I have successfully copied a file using Dev Studio:

1. Created a GZIP file on my Windows PC [bcph001_200610a.txt.gz]
2. Renamed the gz file to gif [bcph001_200610a.txt.gif]
3. Drag-and-dropped the "gif" file from the local Dev Studio environment to the prod environment.

Interestingly, the "gif" file automatically gets unzipped to bcph001_200610a.txt. I'm not sure if this is normal UNIX behaviour because there are two suffixes.

I'm attempting a 10MB "gif" file - this is taking quite a while.

Thanks,

What you are trying to do is making me very nervous, Francis. I too have a UNIX backend and when I want something to go up there from my PC, I always use ftp because it knows how to unscramble the bits and put them back together on the other side. I'm not sure if the Dev Studio copy has that intelligence built in.

I will experiment with a simple file and DS and give you my results.

For the time being, I did this the other way around. I created a small one line file on the Unix box, all alpha characters, saved it and gzipped it. I renamed it to .gif. I copied it to my localhost environment using DS. I went to Windows Explorer and opened the file using WinZip. There was one file in the archive, the original text file.

Now I'll try to do this the other way around. Stay tuned.

OK. I did the same thing from Windows to Unix and it worked just fine. The thing is, I can get to my Unix box to do the unzip. I don't have to do everything from DS.

Do you have Samba there where you can map a Unix drive to your PC?

Ginny, thanks for your suggestions.

I cannot connect to the UNIX box, other than by Dev Studio - this has been the problem all along.

Thanks to njsden, I have solved the problem.

1. Created 6 GZIP files on my Windows PC (163MB each unzipped, 10MB zipped) [eg. bcph001_200703.txt.gz]
2. Manually renamed the gz files to gif [eg. bcph001_200703.gif] - this is because Dev Studio will not copy gz files, but will copy gif files. (I dropped the two suffix name because of the behaviour of UNIX).
3. Drag-and-dropped the "gif" files from the local Dev Studio environment to the prod environment (this took a few minutes for each file)
4. Ran a fex with commands to rename and unzip the 6 files:

UNIX mv -f bcph001_200703.gif bcph001_200703.txt.gz
UNIX gunzip bcph001_200703.txt.gz

Hi Francis,

I'm glad the workaround worked!

I understand Ginny's concern about moving files from Dev.Studio to Unix and the risk that they might become damaged in the process; personally I would also use (S)FTP for such a task but you were clear in the fact that you had no access whatsoever to the Unix box other than through DS.

Ginny, the reason I suggested the use of ".gif" as a file extension is that Dev.Studio will see it as a binary image file and won't try to parse it or anything like that ... something entirely different would have happened if we used an extension such as ".fex" which I actually tried before playing with the ".gif" one but that approach damaged the content of the file.

Anyway, as other people in the team say ... "with WebFOCUS there's always a way" even if we have to fool the tool a little bit sometimes

Regards,
Neftali.

Neftali, I did try your technique and it worked very well and I appreciate the information. I didn't even think about unzipping in a focexec. Duh! I'm the admin here and have lots of powers so didn't think about that. Francis was very clever.

I am not the admin and have no power! I had to think of a different way to copy those files and Neftali really helped.

Now, to make Dev Studio a real Development tool, it should have the "feature" to recognize zip files, at least it should be able to copy them from one environment to another.

Forget Zip files, it should be able to transfer any file, text or binary.

As it does transfer images (Binary), I would have thought that it is not a large leap to get it working.

Nice piece of lateral thinking Neftali.

Thanks Waz!

After looking back a little in the thread I just realised I overlooked Francis' Happy New Year greeting. My apologies for what could be seen as a lack of politeness on my part.

Since some of my friends from Russian descend are celebrating their New Year today, I think it is probably not too late for me to wish you all as well as your loved ones a Happy New Year loaded with cool and exciting experiences!

Best,
Neftali.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: njsden,