IT Question

I have a .txt file on my host server (with weather data) that I want to make available to a third party.

My server etc is not publically accessible (password etc) so is it possible to include the data on my website (as an IMG?) which could be uplifted by someone else - it would need to be 'automatic' ie not need manual intervention?

Peter

Hi Peter,

First let me see if I understand correctly what you are trying to do:

1) Weather data is saved periodically as a .TXT file by software running on your local PC.
2) You want to upload this to your web site so others can view it

Questions:

a) Why can you not leave the file format as .TXT? Any browser can display a .TXT file.
b) The easiest way to upload the file is by using an FTP program. Have you looked on the web for such a program which has an automatic scheduling capability?
c) Failing that, you could use the FTP command built into Windows and run it periodically via the Windows Scheduler. This is pretty arcane and will take a bit of setting up, but once you have it going, it should work reliably.

It exists on my server but it needs to be regularly accessible at my end (for third party uploading as the .txt file). I can't upload it using ftp to a third party server or e-mail it as it has to be initiated at the other end.
How about if I inserted the .txt file (as an img) on my web page then put an html link to it (once I work out how) - would that work?

not quite sure of what you are attempting here. could you turn the text file into an html file (instead of txt)? then the third party could use any of a number of techniques to get the data (web query via excell for example). is it the downloading of the data by the third party that needs to be auto, or the making of the data available serverside (that would be interesting to figure out how to do if it is a hosting companies server - my host allows mysql dbase functionality, but havent looked into it quite yet - too busy planting my veggie garden!)

Sorry Peter, I still don't understand where the problem lies here:

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

It exists on my server...

1) Which server are we talking about here? The HostCentric server where you have your web site, or somewhere else?

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

but it needs to be regularly accessible at my end (for third party uploading as the .txt file).

2) Where is this text file coming from?
I presumed it was generated by your weather software which I understood to be running on your PC in Golden Bay.

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

I can't upload it using ftp to a third party server or e-mail it as it has to be initiated at the other end.

Perhaps the answer to this will become clear once you have responded to the two questions above. I would have thought that once you have uploaded it to the HostCentric web server, this third party can then download it whenever/to wherever they please.

Let me start again

My PC software generates a file called clientraw.txt which is then (automatically) uploaded to my my password protected hostserver (Hostcentric)therefore it is available initially on either my PC or my hostserver. I want it publically available for someone else to upload automatically (ie pull not push) in a similar manner to this http://www.carseweather.co.uk/ldata/clientraw.txt

I was suggesting I could possibly download it to my webpage as an img and create a hyperlink to that??

I am sure I am making this sound difficult! Would my suggestion work or is there a better solution?

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

...I want it publically available for someone else to upload automatically (ie pull not push) in a similar manner to this http://www.carseweather.co.uk/ldata/clientraw.txt

OK, now I've got it Peter The file already exists on your web site. In fact if I click this link:

http://www.kahurangi.org/clientraw.txt

I can see it now. What else is needed?

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

I was suggesting I could possibly download it to my webpage as an img and create a hyperlink to that??

Given that the file is already publicly accessible, and viewable within a web browser, I don't see why you need to do any of this???

Cheers,
Grant.

Quite right- how did you find that (out of curiousity)?

Sorry to muck you about - I write the templates with data tags which the weather software 'fills' with live data - to do this it must put the clientraw.txt file in the rewritten html files (??) - hopefully I will get to the point where it is not so 'black box-ish)

Thanks

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

Quite right- how did you find that (out of curiousity)?

Just a lucky guess! I noticed that your automatically updated weather graphic was in the root directory of your web site at:

http://www.kahurangi.org/indexdial.gif

And hence figured that Clientraw.txt probably was too which indeed proved to be the case.

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

Sorry to muck you about

That's perfectly OK Peter

Sometime I might need your help regarding a fancy weather station and more than likely will ask an uninformed question...[]

So don't worry, it happens to us all!

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

I write the templates with data tags which the weather software 'fills' with live data - to do this it must put the clientraw.txt file in the rewritten html files (??) - hopefully I will get to the point where it is not so 'black box-ish)

Perhaps I should explain something further here. I think I can see where your misunderstanding has come from:

1) Clientraw.txt is NOT part of the HTML file. It is a separate .txt file which may be LINKED to by any HTML file.

2) In the same way, indexdial.gif is NOT part of the HTML file either. It is also LINKED to by the HTML file.

3) The TAGS you are embedding in the HTML file are placeholders which the weather software replaces with live data or links as the case may be.

I hope that makes things a little clearer. I know what you mean about the whole thing being "Black Box-ish". HTML and the workings of web servers are a bit that way to start with. However, the "plumbing" is all very accessible and extremely well documented with excellent tutorials available all over the web.

Give me a yell if you need help with anything else

Cheers,
Grant.

Thanks Grant - I understood 2) & 3) what I hadn't realised that the hostserver files are open to all and sundry (not incl you)- similarly the site coding

Is there any quick and dirty way to build in simple security?

quote:Originally posted by GBpeter

Is there any quick and dirty way to build in simple security?

With the web servers at HostCentric, you can password-protect entire directories, but not individual files. In common with many web hosts, they use the Unix .htaccess / .htpasswd files to accomplish this.

However, in your case, it won't help to protect the "coding" of your web site. That's the way web browsers work -- the source code is available to all.

There are some cheap and dirty pieces of Javascript which stop people right clicking to see the source code, but they are very easy to get around if you know what you are doing. Also, I think that this "protection" could be disabled simply by turning off Java in your browser[?][?][?] Wyseyes or somebody correct me if I'm wrong about that []

In your case, you could move the Clientraw.txt file to another directory which is password protected, but as far as I understood, you wanted that file to be publicly available anyway[?][?][?]

So, the short answer is: There's nothing you can do to protect the source code of your HTML pages, or else nobody will be able to view them without entering a password. As soon as they are able to view the pages, they can also see the source code

Probably not what you wanted to hear I'm guessing[?]

As a related point, I have a webpage which is accessible (to anyone who asks) with a password, simply by passwording its directory, in which it is the only file. I was being harassed by a vegan activist who wanted to shock his website visitors by showing them a homekill animal being cut up - entirely not the purpose of the page as I'd painstakingly constructed it!

quote:Originally posted by GrantK
There are some cheap and dirty pieces of Javascript which stop people right clicking to see the source code, but they are very easy to get around if you know what you are doing. Also, I think that this "protection" could be disabled simply by turning off Java in your browser[?][?][?]

Even simpler than that. most of those java jobbies can be gotten arount by right clicking on the protected page/hyperlink HOLDING DOWN THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, when the popup pops up, press enter to activate the "ok" button on the popup, then when the popup is gone, release the right button and the rightclick menu will come up.

Hardly the most secure of methods.

I will just have to hope Hamama Weather doesn't attract the nutters

quote:Originally posted by Kiwi303

Even simpler than that. most of those java jobbies can be gotten arount by right clicking on the protected page/hyperlink HOLDING DOWN THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, when the popup pops up, press enter to activate the "ok" button on the popup, then when the popup is gone, release the right button and the rightclick menu will come up.

Oh OK Kiwi, thanks for that. I didn't realise it was quite that simple []