About DirectLoad v.3.8
How DirectLoad works
Online help file
Version history
Download DirectLoad
Buy DirectLoad
 

The files in the 2 following
menu items were loaded onto
this site via DirectLoad client.
Demo Section 1
test1
Test script onclick
testttt
thids is the file
This is another test
This is a test of v
Page with an image
test x
Available publications
Think Melbourne 2001
Melbourne 2001
directload1
Hullo there smarty
news item 1
Are we really not working
This is a file from Win Nt
This is a test to see tables
now we really work
Was genau ist openBOX
Demo Section 2
test1
testxcxcxcxc
Register now!
Think Melbourne 2001
Hullo there
Are we really not working


How DirectLoad works.

    DirectLoad Client
  • The MS Word template DL38.dot is installed as a MS Word add-in. It has some code in it written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
  • When you select the menu item: DirectLoad
  • You are then then prompted to:
    • Select the web site you want to DirectLoad a file to.
    • Select the action you want to take (Load or Remove)
    • Select the destination section of the file in the website, (in this case Demo Section 1 or Demo Section 2).
    • Select the format (HTML, Native MS Word [.doc], Adobe Acrobat [.pdf] or MPEG Video [.mpg])
    • Enter a password.
  • When creating html files, the file is saved by MS Word as a html (.htm) file in a sub-directory of the current directory called DirectLoad_Files. (If it doesn't exist, DirectLoad_Files is created). MS Word creates a quantity of junk we don't need so the saved .htm file is run through the MS supplied executable filter.exe to clean it up and make it smaller. Some of the associated files MS Word created in DirectLoad_Files are also deleted.
  • The file (together with any associated images is sent by HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) across the internet to the DirectLoad server. If you are not online then your system may dial automatically. (Otherwise you should be online before running DirectLoad).
     
    DirectLoad Server
  • The server receives the file(s) and if it is HTML format:
    • Optionally strips out some more of the dedicated MS Word XML in the stylesheet of the document.
    • Optionally strips out some html tags like <html></html>, <head></head>, <body></body> if the file is designed to be included in another html page.
    • Optionally adjusts the relative paths in <img> tags.
    • Strips out any excess white space in the file.
  • Then, if it is a load action:
    • If it is a new file with some content, it saves the content to the server. (An automatic menuing system like on this demo site can then create a new menu item based on the file name to link to the content.)
    • If it is an an existing file, it simply overwrites the old content with the new content.
  • If it is a remove action:
    • It deletes the file (and any associated images). The menu item would then disappear in an automatic menuing system.
  • A message is always returned to the DirectLoad Client indicating the action which was taken (or an error message). The latest list of Sections which may be loaded into on the site is also returned and loaded into the client.

Currently the DirectLoad Server scripting only exists in Cold Fusion (because we like it) but there are no technical reasons why it could not work with other systems such as Perl, PHP or ASP.
 
For more information about DirectLoad, contact rmh
© rmh 2001 - 2024