Posted by Jared Williams on 05/09/05 19:38

> Hi All,
>
>
>
> I need to implement the ability to ftp upload files from
> client machines via a form in a web application I'm developing.
>
>
>
> From reading the PHP help, all I can find to perform this is
> the POST method for handling file uploads
> (http://au2.php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.php).
>
>
>
> From my perspective, while this seems to work, there are a
> couple of drawbacks, most important of which is that it seems
> you can only do comparisons of the uploaded file, against the
> potential that the file has already been uploaded, once the
> file has already been uploaded and is sitting in the server
> temp directory.
>
>
>
> This is a drawback to our application because the files can
> typically vary on a daily basis in size from 20mb thru to
> 400mb, and 400mb seems like a lot of bandwidth to consume to
> discover that the file already exists on our server.
>

Hmm, sounds like you just want to send something like a hash first
Like the SHA1 of the file.
So would need ActiveX/Java obect to perform the SHA1 of the file client side first.
Send that, if it hasn't been seen then send the whole file.

As for other methods...

You could try WebDAV and the PUT method. There is a PHP implementation of a WebDAV server in PEAR. Its not form based, but would
make it somewhat more easier to upload than using FTP atleast. I believe WinXP can attach directly to them, or use Novells' NetDrive
to map a drive letter to the WebDAV server.

Jared

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