Micahville

I have grown tired of my website’s file manager. You might have as well. Some have settled for FireFTP, some have settled for CuteFTP, and some have settled for the countless other FTP programs available. However, now I have discovered the joys of an attractive AJAX file manager. Meet eXtplorer.

Simply, eXtplorer is better because it allows you to access your server from any computer that has a browser and an internet connection. In a clean and efficient way, I might add. Contrary to popular belief, file managers don’t have to be ugly or unclassy (Ex: Net2FTP). eXtplorer combines form and function with useful and usable design sense.

What You Will Learn

You might have clicked on this post because of it’s inherent use of Buzzwords, such as AJAX and FTP. In case you are not familiar with one or the other, or both, let’s take a quick refresher.

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP is the commonly used way to transfer files, in addition to its secure counterpart SFTP. FTP functions as a way for you to manipulate files on a remote server; uploading files for example. The most important part of FTP is that it allows any computer connected to it to manipulate files, regardless of which operating system they are running.

AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript And XML. One of the coolest things about AJAX is, in the words of Paul Stamatiou, the feature of, “being able to send and receive little bits and pieces of data without having to reload the page, making for clean page transitions”. More instant awesomeness all around.

More About the Program We Will Be Installing

As I have mentioned earlier, we will be working with eXtplorer, an excellent program built on a world-class AJAX and Javascript framework called ExtJS, which is used on websites such as IBM, Juniper, and Cisco. I chose the eXtplorer program as the rightful king of the directory managers because of the self-installation option, the downright attractiveness, dearth of features, and ease of use. The site is hosted by SourceForge, and you can view it here if you haven’t already.

Before we start:

I should mention that there are certain things that you need to have to install the program on your web server. This is the complete list.

• An up to date browser with Javascript enabled
• At least PHP 4.3 on your server. (Most servers have it standard, but be sure to check on your hosting packages features page.)
• An FTP program, or other file manager, already set in place.
• An Unzipper like 7zip (my personal favorite)

Installing It

First, you need to download the software. You can download it by clicking here, or you can download it from the official web page, which might be slowed by other downloaders.

After, the download has finished, double click to open the zip file.

When it is open, extract by clicking on the minus button, which just so happens to say “Extract”.

After this, open whatever FTP program you are using. (If you are reading this using Firefox, I suggest FireFTP, my prior program of choice.)

Login, and create a new directory with a name that is fairly easy to remember. Remember, you will have to type this in every single time that you want to access your FTP server. I suggest a name that is simple. Like “/ftp/”.

Navigate to the spot where your files are stored, SHIFT-CLICK to select all of them, and then upload them to the destination that you insist that they are in.

Now, navigate to the address bar at the top of your browser, and input the formula as follows, “www.yoursite.com/the directory that you placed the files in”

Next , you should come to a page that appears like this.

Input “admin” into the Username box, and “admin” into the Password box (Don’t worry, this is just the default, and you will be prompted to change it later). Finally, select the language that you want.

And, that leads you to the main page. This shows you all of the files that you have on your server, however, you have no control over them.

Now, that you have the basic setup complete, I will supply some additional pointers that will lead you to FTP Nirvana.

If you want to actually manipulate your files, you need to switch to FTP mode.

How to do this:

• Gaze at the top left corner, and slick the blue, lower-case ftp. A dialogbox will bounce up,into which you must supply your Server credentials. Your hosting company has given you these, and all you need to do is type them in.

The End

That’s a wrap.

Have fun with your brand new, slick FTP file manager.

If you have any questions, comments, or pointers, feel free to leave them in comments, shoot me an email (micahville@gmail.com) or send me an IM (micahville)

"How To: Install Your Own Ajax File Manager" was given life on on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 8:42 pm and, I think, categorized How To's.