FTP with Dreamweaver
Here you are, at the moment where you have your entire site created on your computer and you want the world to see it, but how on earth do you get your home page viewable for the world to see?
File Transfer Protocol
The Internet is the world’s largest public network and networks use protocols to govern behavior. File Transfer Protocol is the protocol used to transfer files from your computer to another computer (remote computer) via the Internet. Using this protocol, you can transfer or a more common term, upload HTML, images, ASP, ASP.NET or PHP files to your remote computer, i.e., the computer that is connected to the Internet. Using Dreamweaver to transfer files to your remote computer is a cinch. In this article, we’ll examine how to do it.
How to FTP with Dreamweaver
If you’re not familiar with creating a site definition, please read these articles first:
- Defining a site in Dreamweaver MX
- Defining a site in Dreamweaver MX 2004
- Defining a site in Dreamweaver 8
Open Dreamweaver
- Follow these steps to open Dreamweaver if it not already:
- From the Desktop, locate the start button
Select Programs>Macromedia>Macromedia Dreamweaver
On the right side you will see the Files panel:
We have one file on our hard drive. Using the above illustration, next to the drop down list which contains Midwest, you have another drop down list which has two options:
- Local View
- Remote View
Transfer/Upload index.htm
Follow these steps to transfer/upload our index.htm file from our computer to the remote computer:
- Left click the power cord button:
This will cause one of two things to happen:
- If your FTP information entered as discussed in defining a site articles, then Dreamweaver will attempt to make a connection to the remote computer
- If FTP information is not entered, then Dreamweaver will show the FTP window asking for server information as discussed in defining a site articles
For the purposes of this article, we assume you have this information entered. When you left click the power cord button, this window shows:
Let Dreamweaver work for a little bit and you see this window:
Let Dreamweaver work just a bit longer and you see this window:
Dreamweaver at this point has done the following:
- Connected to our remote computer
- Retrieving the folder on the remote computer where your files are stored
Once this window closes, you see the Files panel:
You are connected to your server. You can tell by looking at the power cord button depressed state or by left clicking the second drop down list and selecting Remote View which will cause this window to show:
Yellow folders indicate remote view. If you want to switch back to local view:
- Left click the second drop down list
- Select Local View
Remember, local view refers to your computer. When you switch to local view you notice index.htm. We need to transfer this file to our remote server to make it viewable to the public. Follow these steps to transfer the file:
- Select the file and press the blue up arrow button:
Put Files
In Dreamweaver, when you transfer files from your computer to the remote computer you are said to be putting files.
- When you left click the blue up arrow button, this window shows:
Dreamweaver notifies you of the progress. Once complete, this window will close. If you want to verify your file transferred successfully follow these steps:
- Left click the second drop down list (remote view) and look for index.htm:
You should see index.htm. Transferring the rest of your files follows the same steps. Note that we are in remote view. Normal HTML files show in the same color locally as they do remotely.
If you want to transfer files from your remote computer to your computer, you follow similar steps. For our purposes, you’ll need to delete index.htm from your computer for the following steps to work correctly.
Get Files
In Dreamweaver, when you transfer files from your the remote computer to your computer you are said to be getting files.
- Left click the second drop down list
- Select remote view
- Locate index.htm and select it
- Left click the green down arrow button, this window shows:
Once complete the window closes. Switch back to local view. You should see index.htm. Transferring the rest of your files from a remote server to your computer follows the same steps.
Viewing retrieved files
If you want to view your retrieved files from the remote server, left click the refresh button:
Summary
In this article you learned how to transfer files between two computers with File Transfer Protocol (FTP). You also learned:
- How to establish a connection via Dreamweaver
- How to upload (put) files
- How to download (get) files
- How to switch from local to remote view
You can now use Dreamweaver to FTP to your hearts content!
If you have questions, contact me.