Copyright: Copyright ©1995-96 Alex Kunadze
Citation: Copyright © 1995-96 Alex Kunadze, all rights reserved


A filename extension term means the part of a filename after the last dot character. For instance, the extension of README.TXT
A filename extension term means the part of a filename after the last dot character. For instance, the extension of README.TXT file would be TXT.


Acknowledgements

A very BIG and SPECIAL THANKS goes to Issam Bandak (The BeasT Man), the owner of Winsock-L mailing list and the associated excellent Winsock-related FTP archive. This guy is the creator and maintainer of CuteFTP Official FTP Site and Home Page. He also  patiently answered my numerous stupid questions :)

Million Thanks, Issam!

Big and Warm thanks to Jeff Legere for coutless hours spent supporting CuteFTP, many suggestions and constant bugging for new features :) Not to mention, he taught me to play darts...

Another BIG THANKS goes to CuteFTP Official Beta Testing Team. Members are:

THT <tht@inlink.com>

Issam Bandak <beast@papa.indstate.edu>

Shakib Otaqui <Shakib@alquds.demon.co.uk>

Dave Hearn <hearn@minotaur.dra.hmg.gb>

Kenneth Liu <kliu@walrus.mvhs.edu>

Brian Bell <brian.bell@unn.ac.uk>

These people contributes a lot to CuteFTP development by finding tons of bugs, which I overlooked myself. Thanks guys!

Also, Thanks goes to:

Barbara Parkman for a collection of very cute icons for CuteFTP.

John A. Junod for his excellent WS_FTP client, which inspired me to start making CuteFTP.

Harry J. Saal, President and CEO of Smart Valley, Inc. for valuable advice on CuteFTP's marketing issues.

Abraham Shacham of TGV Inc. fo7r kindly providing a copy of TGV's MultiNet stack for testing with CuteFTP.

All my registered users for financially supporting CuteFTP development.

This Help File is a creative collaboration with Bob Gollihur of Wordsmith Associates <71334.2065@compuserve.com>

I'd also like to thank everybody who sent me any comments, suggestions and bug reports.

Thanks to all of you! All this wouldn't be possible if not for your support!


Add to Database

Add a new entry to Site Manager database, using current session parameters.


Auto-load index

Toolbar:

This toggle specifies whether CuteFTP should automatically load index file when changing to a new directory. For more information see Handling index file.

This setting is also available in extended FTP Site Edit dialog.


AutoRename scheme

AutoRename feature of CuteFTP is designed to simplify routine tasks, like Web page maintainance. It works by replacing certain filename extension with the more suitable ones, elliminating the need for upload - rename cycle.

The primary reason for this mechanism is to automatically rename *.HTM files to *.HTML when uploading them to UNIX servers. However, it can be used to substitute any other extensions too.

To enable this feature, you need to enable AutoRename check-box in Site Edit dialog.


Bookmarks

(New topic text goes here.)


Browsing Screen Manipulations

Switch Browser	Switch focus between local and remote browsers

Toggle Local	Hide/Show local browser

Toggle Remote	Hide/Show remote browser


Browsing screen

Browsing screen is the main part of CuteFTP. It consists of 3 parts:

  Log window on the top is the place where all messages on remote operations status are posted.

  Local directory browser is on the left side. It displays the contents of the current local directory. When you download a file it will be stored in that directory.

  Remote directory browser (on the right side) is the most important section. It displays remote directory contents and allows you to communicate with the remote host you're connected to.

There're resizing bars between all three parts. You can "drag" them to customise the appearance of the browsing screen.

Each entry in local and remote directory browsers corresponds to a file or a directory. Before each file or directory name there's an icon, showing the kind of entry. Here are the meanings of those icons:

 : directory

 : symbolic link to a directory, basically same as directory. Icon is different for information only.

 : text file

 : binary file

 : index file

Most commands are executed when you double-click an entry in that screen.

For directories ( [image] icon) and directory links ( [image] icon) CuteFTP will change to that directory. In the remote browser it will take some time to transfer directory listing and index file (if index loading is enabled). However, the delay will be much shorter if you have already visited that directory. In that case CuteFTP will retrieve the needed information from a temporary file instead of requesting it from remote server.

For files CuteFTP will download the file you click on and place it in you current local directory, if you click a remote file, or Upload it to the server, if you click local directory entry. If transfer mode auto-detection is turned on, ASCII mode is used for text and index files and Binary mode is used for binary files.

Browsing screen has 2 display formats:

Short listing mode is designed for quick browsing. It displays only file names and icons and has multiple columns.

Long listing mode displays all available information (size, date and description) about files and directories along with file names and icons and has only 1 column. You can configure it to display only information you want to see through View->Display details sub-menu.

You can switch between these modes through View menu or tool-bar buttons ( [image] and [image])


Change dir command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+D

This command lets you to manually change directory by typing it's path name.


Colors sub-menu

Commands in this sub-menu allow you to change colors of the InfoBar.

InfoBar Hilight	Change background color of hi-lighted InfoBar segment.

Progress indicator	Change color of progress indicator


Command Line options and Scripting

All command line options are in one of the 2 forms:

<option>=<value>

or

<option>

Letter case is ignored.

Here's the list of available options:

Host=<host address>

Sets the host address to connect to. <host address> can be a domain name, or an IP address in dotted notation (e.g. 198.44.52.32)

User=<user ID>

Pass=<password>

Sets UserID and Password to login with. If password is required, but not given, CuteFTP will prompt you for one. For security reasons this prompt is not disabled while in auto-processing mode. Both parameters are strings.

Retry=<retry count>

Sets Retry count. Decimal number.

Port=<port number>

Sets socket port to connect to. Decimal number.

Local=<local directory>

Sets local directory.

Remote=<remote directory>

Sets remote directory.

Get=<remote file name>

Downloads a file or directory from remote host and stores it to the current local directory (set by Local option). <remote file name> can be either a full path name of a file or directory, or just the file name. In the latter case remote directory is assumed to be the current one (set by Remote option).

Put=<local file name>

Uploads a file to remote host and stores it to the current remote directory (set by Remote option). <local file name> can be either a full path name of a file, or just the file name. In the latter case local directory is assumed to be the current one (set by Local option).

Anonym

Uses Anonymous login. UserID and Password are disregarded, if set.

Script=<script file>

Execute commands, stored in <script file> as if they were entered on the command line. A script file is a plain ASCII text file with one command per line. Lines beginning with # sign are considered to be comments and are ignored.

Scripts can be nested.

All parameters are processed sequentially.

Options Host, User, Pass, Port, Retry and Anonym are in effect only when connection is initiated. Therefore, specifying any of them more than once will effectively use the most recent one.

Local and Remote options are in effect for all subsequent Get and Put commands, until redefined. For example, command sequence

Local=c:\work

Get=/pub/report1.txt

Get=/pub/report2.txt

Local=c:\temp

Get=/pub/report3.txt

will download report1.txt and report2.txt files into c:\work local directory, and report3.txt file into c:\temp directory.

There's one option that is different from the above mentioned ones. It's designed to simplify integration of CuteFTP with other Internet software. You can specify an URL string in the format

ftp://[user ID:password@]<host name>[:port]/[path name/][get file name]


Connect dialog
FTP Site Manager

Toolbar:

Hot-key: F4

This dialog is the central point of CuteFTP. It's purpose is to maintain a database of FTP sites and various site-specific connection parameters.

The left-most list contains folders, or site groups. They are organized in hierarchical tree. You can expand or collapse tree branches by double-clicking on them.

The right-most list shows the contents of currently selected folder, each entry representing an FTP site. Double-clicking an entry, or hi-lighting it and clicking Connect button will direct CuteFTP to connect to that site.

You can add, delete or edit entries in both lists. To do this, move mouse pointer to the list you wish to modify and press-and-hold right mouse button. The corresponding entry management menu will pop-up on the screen.

Folders can only be renamed. FTP Site entries have a set of parameters, which are edited in FTP Site Edit dialog.

You can change position of any folder in the list using drag-and-drop technique. Just drag a folder to it's new parent folder.

You can also drag-and-drop FTP Site entries to a folder. However, you cannot change entry position in the list. It's always alphabetically sorted.

Comments box shows various notes for the selected FTP Site entry. You can modify the text, displayed in this box, as part of editing FTP Site entry (see FTP Site Edit dialog).

Import button allows you to import FTP sites databases from CuteFTP 1.3 (it used entirely different database structure) and from WS_FTP by John Junod. All imported sites are placed into the root folder, initially named "FTP Sites".


Contents
Contents - Cute FTP

Introduction and Overview
Menu Commands
Operations
Command Line options and Scripting
Registration
Technical Support
License agreement
Acknowledgements
CuteFTP related Internet resources
A Note for public software archives and Web publishers


Contents - Operations

Introduction and Overview
Menu Commands
Operations	Starting and terminating sessions
Command Line options and Scripting	Browsing screen
	Handling index files
Registration	Stopping commands in process
Technical Support	Filtering directory listings
License agreement	Selecting groups of files
Acknowledgements
CuteFTP related Internet resources
A Note for public software archives and Web publishers


Copy Log

This command copies the contents of the log window to the clipboard. You can then paste it into any text editor.


Custom Commands

FTP protocol standard was established long ago, and hasn't been revised ever since. As a result, many operations, not specified by the original standard, have to be performed through proprietary extensions.

Custom Commands mechanism in CuteFTP is designed specifically to make use of such extensions. It is not intended as a way to send standard commands to the server.

Setting up Custom Commands requires a solid understanding of FTP protocol, as well as specific information on the target FTP server. Therefore, it is not recommended for novice users. However, once everything is setup, usage is simple. Ideally, Internet Service Provider should create custom commands, applicable to it's Web server, and then distribute COMMANDS.DAT file to it's subscribers.

Commands listbox contains all currently defined commands. Click on an entry to review/edit it's properties.

Label field contains command label. This text is used to identify command in Commands listbox and Custom Commands menu.

Command Text is the actual FTP command, sent to the server. It can contain any characters, and one or more macros. Macro expressions are a follows:

 %[ prompt ] : When this macro is encountered, CuteFTP will display a prompt dialog box with a input field. The user can then type any text in the input field, which will be inserted into the actual command text in place of the macro. prompt can be any text, not containing [ ] (square brackers). It will be used as a title for prompt dialog box.

 %f : This macro will be substituted by the name of the file, currently selected in remote browser. If more than one files are selected, command will be repeated for each file.

 %% : A single % character.

Show server's response switch specifies whether CuteFTP should display server's response to command. If set, a dialog box will pop up, containing command-response sequence for each command executed.

Hot Key is a keyboard accelerator, assigned to the command. In the example above, Ctrl+Shift+S keystroke will execute "Sample Command Label" command.

Examples (some common commands):

SITE CHMOD %[New Access Mask] %f

This command will prompt the user for a "New Access Mask" and use it for each selected file. For instance, if user enters "=rwx" at the prompt, and FILEA.TXT, FILEB.TXT and FILEC.TXT files are selected, the following sequesnce of commands will be sent to the server:

SITE CHMOD =rwx FILEA.TXT

SITE CHMOD =rwx FILEB.TXT

SITE CHMOD =rwx FILEC.TXT

SITE INDEX %[Search Text]

This command will prompt for "Search Text" and send a single command to the server. For instance, if user enters "cuteftp" at the prompt, the following command will be sent to the server:

SITE INDEX cuteftp


Cute FTP Related Internet Resources

Official FTP Site for CuteFTP is ftp.cuteftp.com

All the latest versions of CuteFTP are available from that site.

CuteFTP Home Page is at http://www.cuteftp.com

Check with this page from time to time to find out any news about CuteFTP.

This page also contains CuteFTP FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document, which can be very helpfull.


Delete command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Del

This command will delete selected local or remote files and/or empty directories.


Dir Info

This command will display a summary of files in the current directory.


Disconnect command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+X

This command will terminate current FTP session and close all active connections to remote server.


Download command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+PgDn

This command will download selected files and directories (including all sub-directories) from remote site to your hard disk. You can also download a single file by double-clicking it in the browsing screen.


Drag-and-Drop

Drag-and-drop is a special inputting technique, simplifying copy and move operations. To use it, you must move the mouse pointer to the source object (e.g. list box entry), press-and-hold left mouse button, "drag" (i.e. move mouse pointer) the object to it's target, and "drop" the object by releasing the mouse button.


Execute command

Hot-key: Ctrl+G

This command downloads the selected file and executes it, using the program associated with its file type, once the transfer is completed.


Exit

Terminate (close) CuteFTP.


Exit command

Hot-key: Ctrl+Q

This command will terminate current FTP session and exit CuteFTP.


FTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) has been around for many years as a standard protocol for transferring files between remote computer systems. Until recently, it was used almost exclusively on UNIX workstations and mainframes, but after PC users gained access to Internet it has become a popular alternative to BBS systems. The biggest limitation was that FTP-compliant software usually used command line interface and it wasn't an easy task for beginners to make them work. As Internet grew more and more popular, new standards appeared (Gopher, WWW), providing for more user-friendly front-end software. However, FTP wasn't forgotten. It's still very popular among power users and computer professionals, who are ready to trade fancy user-interface for the power of FTP.


FTP Site Edit

In Site name field you specify a name, that will identify the entry in FTP Sites Manager.

Host name is the full internet domain name of the remote FTP site you wish to connect to. Please be careful when entering information here, since CuteFTP will not be able to establish connection if that name is incorrect.

Information in User ID and Password fields is used to identify you to the remote site. Password is displayed as asterisks characters to insure that nobody can look it up over your shoulder. It will also be encrypted before writing to disk. However, there are many ways to steel passwords, that you supply to CuteFTP, so do not save any top secret passwords in the database. You can also leave User ID and/or Password blank. In that case CuteFTP will prompt you for required information after you connect.

In most cases, however, marking Anonymous radio button is enough. If you do so CuteFTP will assume a User ID of 'Anonymous' and send your e-mail address (which you specify in Options dialog) as a password. All public FTP sites support this scheme, so Anonymous is the default for a new entry.

Login type radio buttons specify how CuteFTP should login to the FTP server.

Normal option specifies that UserID and Password fields are valid and should be used for user authentication.

Anonymous option specifies that anonymous login should be used (see above)

Double option is useful on some security-conscious systems. In this mode a user is logged in 2 steps: first as an anonymous user, and then using User ID and Password fields contents. Normally, you won't have to use this option.

Transfer type specifies the default transfer type to be used for file transfers.

ASCII mode is useful for transferring text files to/from non-DOS systems because it allows to translate text to remote system's native format, but binary files will be corrupted if this mode is used.

Image (or Binary) mode is the general all-purpose transfer mode. It is completely safe to set this mode for all types of files since data will be transferred without any translation. It might require some formatting on text files after transfer, though.

Auto-detect mode is a reasonable compromise between ASCII and Image modes. If this mode is used CuteFTP will transfer files with .txt extensions as ASCII files, and use Image mode for everything else.

Default is Auto-Detect.

Initial Remote Directory can be used to specify full path-name of a remote system's directory where you want to be immediately after connection. You can leave it blank and remote system will put you in it's default directory after login.

Initial Local Directory is the full local path-name where you want downloaded files to be stored by default. CuteFTP will update Local browser to show that directory after login. If you leave this field blank, default download directory (from the Options dialog) will be used.

The following options are overrides of global parameters (which are specified in Options dialog).

Check-boxes in intermediate (shaded) state and blank text fields signify a default value.

Port (NOT the serial port) is one of the two components of the remote system's network address. Do not modify this value unless you know what you're doing.

Retry field contains the number for connect retries. It is useful when connecting to busy sites.

Delay field contains the number of seconds to wait before trying to connect to the site again.

Max Safe Index Size is the size (in kilobytes) of the largest index file to load without any prompts. If index file size exceeds this limit CuteFTP will prompt you.

Logical parent dirs toggle specifies whether or not you want CuteFTP to regard parent directory to the previously visited directory, rather than just a physical parent when changing to a linked directory.

Auto-load index toggle lets you specify if index files should be automatically loaded along with directory listings when you change to a new directory. It might be desirable to turn this off for slow sites and leave it on for fast ones.

Use Firewall toggle specifies if CuteFTP should go through the firewall to connect to the site.

Resolve Links toggle specifies if symbolic links should be resolved. This is a UNIX-specific option and enabling it for non-UNIX sites can cause problems.

AutoRename toggle enables AutoRename feature. For more information see

In Comments edit box you can enter any description of the FTP Site. The text you enter will be displayed in FTP Site Manager when the entry is hi-lighted.


File details sub menu

This sub menu lets you select which file details you want to view in long listing browsing mode. See Browsing screen for more information.


Filtering Directory Listings

Filtering directory listings allows you to have CuteFTP display a portinon of directory and hide the unwanted files temporarily. It can be very useful for viewing large directories.

Filtering works by marching each file’s name in a directory against a user-defined wildcard mask. If the match is good - the file is displayed, otherwise it’s hidden.

Filter Mask: This is where you enter your wildcard mask

Local Filtering: Download entire directory listing and perform filtering localy. This method is faster, since it doesn't require re-downloading of the listing when filter mask changes. Also, allows you to use UNIX-style wildcards on DOS files in local browser.

Remote Filtering: Let the remote host do the filtering and produce a filtered listing. Requires re-downloading of the listing on every filter mask change, but can be usefull when trying to get a small piece of a large directory, or if there're any compatibility problems.

Filter Dirs: Specifies whether directories and links should be inluded in filtering. Available only with Local Filtering method.


Find Next command

Hot-key: Ctrl+G

This command repeats last Find command and hi-light any subsequent matching entries.


Find command

Hot-key: Ctrl+F

This command allows you to search file names and descriptions in the current directory for a piece of text. The first entry found will be hi-lighted. Subsequent entries can be found with Find Next command.


Font selection

Selecting this menu item will bring up a font selection dialog, where you can select a custom font to be used in the browsing screen.


Get link as file

Download a file, pointed to by a symbolic link. Normally links are treated as directories.


Handling index files

Many FTP sites maintain a list of descriptions for files and directories. However, FTP protocol doesn't provide for retrieving them, so usually descriptions are stored in text files with names like INDEX.TXT or FILES.BBS and users have to download them as normal files and view in a text editor.

CuteFTP allows you to automate that process by automatically loading these files whenever you change directory and appending files descriptions to the browsing screen entries (only visible in long listing mode, see Browsing screen).

When you change to a new (not visited before) directory CuteFTP will look for files containing "index" word in their names. If there's only one such file, it will load it automatically. Otherwise it will prompt you which file to use.

Index files can be pretty big and take a lot of time to transfer, so CuteFTP will ask you for confirmation, if an index file is bigger than 10Kbytes (default limit, can be changed in Options dialog).

For FTP sites with slow connections you might want to load only particular index files so as to minimise transfer time. You can do so by disabling automatic index loading ([View->Auto-load index file] menu option) and selecting [View->Retreive index] menu item when you want to view file descriptions.

There are 2 issues you should be aware of:

WARNING 1: Initially, index files are not intended for automatic processing. The result is that there are many different formats for the contents of these files. CuteFTP will handle most popular formats, including those used on major Internet archives (e.g. SimTel, CICA), but there's no guarantee that it can understand index files on a particular FTP site. If you successfully load an index file and get no descriptions in the browsing screen - it's most likely incompatible with CuteFTP. There's still a chance that the index file you loaded was empty or contained only some administrative notes, so please try a few more directories before tuning index loading off.

WARNING 2: Many FTP sites keep compiled listings for all their files or for major file areas. At the moment CuteFTP cannot handle these files so don't expect to get all descriptions in the browsing screen for all sub directories if you download those files. Unfortunately, names of these compiled listings are same as of normal index files, so CuteFTP will try to load them also. It is your responsibility to detect and reject them. It's usually easy since those files are huge in size (from couple of hundreds Kbytes to several mega bytes).


Index files mask

CuteFTP uses 2 lists of wildcard masks to identify index files. First, a filename is matched against Index Files AND mask list. If any item in the list matches the filename, it is matched against Index Files NOT mask. If it doesn’t match any of the items in that second list, the file is considered to be an index file.

Note: Do not tamper with these lists unless you understand what you’re doing.


InfoBar

InfoBar is a special region on CuteFTP window, which displays current local directory (left-most segment), current remote directory (middle segment) and transfer status if any (right-most segment). It is located between the tool-bar and the browsing screen.

At any given time either local or remote directory segment is hi-lighted, indicating which browser has the input focus.


Introduction and Overview

CuteFTP is one of very few programs that allow novice users to utilize the capabilities of FTP without having to know all the details of the protocol itself. The strongest point of CuteFTP is it's ability to gather almost every available bit of information about files and directory structure of a remote system and present it to the user in an easy-to-use file-manager-like browsing screen. CuteFTP will also keep data transfers to a minimum by means of storing all the data it can to a temporary file.

Main features of CuteFTP are:

 	Intuitive user friendly interface, modeled after Windows File Manager, with all the modern features, such as toolbar and context-sensitive help. No more clumsy command lines.

 	Full screen configurable local and remote directory browsing. See Browsing screen description

 	Integrated handling of index files. No need to launch notepad to view file descriptions. See Handling index files

 	Caching of already visited directories and index files for them. No need to transfer a dir list for a single directory hundred times.

 	Automatic directory tree downloading.

 	Flexible FTP Site Manager. FTP Sites are organized in hierarchical tree, which is completely customizable. Each FTP Site entry has extensive configuration options.

 	Robust stop command. With CuteFTP you can cancel any operation in progress without loosing connection. See Stopping commands in progress

You can view an interactive image map of the main CuteFTP interface with all of its menu items by clicking on the thumbnail image on the left now, or any time from the Map button above. You can click on any area of the images for a quick explanation of its function, complete with many cross-references. It can be a great help at any time, but especially when you are getting to know CuteFTP.

While this version of CuteFTP is completely functional, there are extended features available only to registered users:

 	Resuming interrupted downloads.

 	Bookmarks.

 	Non-standard FTP commands.

After you have enjoyed and appreciated all of the conveniences and efficiencies CuteFTP bring to you, please register to continue to use the program, as stated in the license agreement. CuteFTP is shareware that requires payment for continued use beyond the trial period. Thank you for your support, and enjoy the program!


License Agreement

CuteFTP software is Copyright (C) 1995-1996, Alex Kunadze.

All rights for this software are reserved by the author.

You are not allowed to modify or reverse engineer the contents of the program files.

CuteFTP is Shareware. That means you can use it free of charge only for 30 days evaluation period. After that, you must either register your copy product by paying a small license fee to the author, or stop using it.

Besides legalising your usage of CuteFTP, there ARE several other reasons to register CuteFTP. Please, see Registration for more information.

Regardless of your registration status, you're encouraged to distribute unregistered version of CuteFTP. Registered version cannot be distributed at all.

This software cannot be resold or used in any profit-generating activities, including, but not limited to, distributing CuteFTP as part of commercial products, or in support of commercial services, without the author’s expressed written permission.

There is no warranty or claim of fitness or reliability. The program is distributed AS IS, and the author shall not be held liable for any loss of data, down time, loss of revenue or any other direct or indirect damage or claims caused by this software.


Long listing command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: F3

This command will switch browsing screen to long listing mode. See Browsing screen for more information.


Make new dir command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+M

This command will create a new directory on local or remote systems.


Manual get...

This command lets you manually type in a filename to download.


Map
Click on every button and area of these Cute FTP Image Maps to learn more about what it does and how it works


Menu Commands

Click on a menu item to see more info


Menu popup
Each menu item is shown in expanded form below this main screen image


Options - Advanced
Options:  General   Advanced   Display   Prompts   Firewall      [image] Click to display the tab in which you are interested

Use logical parent dir toggle specifies whether or not you want CuteFTP to regard parent directory to be the previously visited directory, rather than just a physical parent. It is useful on sites with many inter-directory links. Default is YES.

ASCII transfers on View switch allows CuteFTP to switch to ASCII transfer mode whenever you wish to view a remote file. You should keep that option ON, unless you are using a custom file viewer, which can view something besides plain text files.

Confirm file names switch instructs CuteFTP to confirm names of transfered files, effectively combining transfer - rename procedure in one step.

Auto-refresh remote dir. If this switch is ON, CuteFTP will reload directory listing from the server after every file management operation (e.g. rename, delete, etc.)

Double-Click Action lets you choose the action you would when you double-click on a file name.

Sound on connect and End transfer sound options specify whether you want CuteFTP to notify you of completed connect and/or transfer operation with a beep. Select none, predefined Windows sounds, or choose custom and use the ? button to browse for a WAV file of your choice.


Options - Display
Options:  General   Advanced   Display   Prompts   Firewall      [image] Click to display the tab in which you are interested

Toolbar lets you choose the larger or smaller buttons for the toolbar. The smaller buttons are recommended if you use a resolution smaller than 1024x768 or if you don’t wish to display CuteFTP full screen. Click on the Customize button to completely customize the toolbar to your personal taste.

Font allows you to select the font, style, and size for display by clicking on the Select Font button and using the familiar, standard dialog.

Colors can change any of the six items to a color of your choice. Simply click on any colored bar to use the conventional color choice dialog to change it to your own personal preference.


Options - Firewall
Options:  General   Advanced   Display   Prompts   Firewall      [image] Click to display the tab in which you are interested

************************************ you’ll have to help me here -- I don’t speak firewall

Passive mode (PASV). Normally, when a data transfer is initiated, server side of the link requests connection from the client side (CuteFTP). This may pose problems for some security-enforced networks. Passive mode specifies that CuteFTP will initiate all connections and server will only wait for requests, therefore avoiding the conflict with security system. It's not recommended to turn this feature on unless you experience problems with default setting. Default is OFF.


Options - General
Options:  General   Advanced   Display   Prompts   Firewall      [image] Click to display the tab in which you are interested

Mail address is your full e-mail address to be used as a password for anonymous logins. It's not checked to be a valid address in any way so you can type whatever you want here. However, it's a matter of etiquette to give your real e-mail address to the remote system...

Default download directory is where all received file will be stored. It defaults to the same directory CuteFTP executable is in. You can override this parameter for each site in the FTP Site Edit dialog box.

Text files viewer is the name of the program to be executed when you want to view text files. It defaults to Notepad.

Log File shows the filename you specify to optionally record, as a text file, the FTP commands, server responses, and transfers to file. Use the ? button or enter the full path and file name of the log file. You can choose which items to include by clicking on the check boxes in the lower section of this dialog.

Max safe index size is the size (in kilobytes) of the largest index file to load without any prompts. If index file size exceeds this limit CuteFTP will prompt you. Setting this parameter to 0 enables prompting for all index files, while setting it to 32000 effectively disables prompting. It is not advisable to set this parameter to a high value because there might be multi-directory index files on the sites, which CuteFTP can't handle. Default is 10 KBytes.

Default Retry and Retry Delay specify how many time, and with what intervals, should CuteFTP attempt to connect to a server. Usefull for connecting to busy sites, that might take more than one try to connect to.

Log... these choices affect your log file; see Log File above.

Auto-save view settings check-box causes CuteFTP to save all display options to be saved on exit and restored next time you start the program. This includes the browsing mode selected, long listing mode configuration and window position and size. Default is YES.

Show directory messages switch controls display of directory information messages, that some sites show when you change to a directory.

Show login messages switch controls display of login transscript, which usually contains a welcoming message from the server.

Auto-load index files switch tells CuteFTP to automatically load any index files it encounters.

Resolve links switch controls a UNIX-specific option, which asks the server to resolve symbolic links to either file or directory. It’s a good idea to use this option on UNIX-based sites, but it can cause major problems with non-UNIX servers.


Options - Prompts
Options:  General   Advanced   Display   Prompts   Firewall      [image] Click to display the tab in which you are interested

CuteFTP will warn you or confirm your decision for these four items, if checked.

Overwrite confirmation will advise you if your transfer operation is about to overwrite an existing file, to allow you to abort the transfer or allow it to take place.

Transfer binary file in ASCII mode warning lets you know that you may be about to transfer a file in the wrong mode. See Transfer Type

Delete confirmation makes you confirm your decision to delete a file

Drag-drop operations confirmation makes you confirm your decision to drag and drop a file.


Parent Directory

This familiar toolbar icon moves you from the currently highlighted location to its parent directory. The change directory command is also very helpful in navigation.


Quick Connect Command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+C

This command will bring up a stripped down FTP Site Edit dialog. You can fill in the minimum needed information about remote FTP Site and connect to it right away, without having to go through FTP Sites Manager procedure.

Nothing will be save in FTP Sites database, so all the info you supply will be lost after the session ends.

This command is provided to allow fast and easy connection to FTP sites, that you're only going to use once. It is recommended that you use FTP Site Manager wherever possible.


Refresh command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: F5

Normally CuteFTP stores all directory listings in a disk cache and retrieves them if you come back to already visited directory. It saves a lot of time, but sometimes cached data may be out of date. Refresh command will let you reload directory listing and index file for current directory.


Registration

The user license agreement specifies that this version of CuteFTP is supplied to you for evaluation purposes only. You may use this product for a period of 30 days, after which, if you decide to continue using the product, you are obligated to register the product by paying the sum of US$30 to the author.

What do you receive for registering CuteFTP ?

Technical Support

Additional functionality, not included in this version

Free updates

How to obtain your registration ?

Phone:

US: 1- 800 - 290-5054 (toll free)

Others: 1 - 210 - 691-8445

Fax: 1- 210 - 558 - 6095

E-mail: sales@cuteftp.com

12500 Network Blv Suite 407

San Antonio, Texas, 78249

If you are sending your registration request via surface mail, e-mail or Fax, you must include the following information: name, address, telephone, and e-mail account. All cheques should be in US funds, and made payable to GlobalSCAPE Inc.


Rename command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+N

This command will rename selected local or remote files.


Retrieve index command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+I

This command will immediately retrieve index file for current directory. Use it if you have Auto-load index toggle disabled. For more information see Handling index file.


Save Local/Remote path

Save current local or remote directory path to the active site’s database entry.


Selecting groups of files

Group selecting allows you to quickly select large groups of similar files, using wilcard masks It is extreamly useful for working with large dirs, such as a home page directory, as it lets you select hundreds of files in one simple step, instead of going through the listing and clicking on the files manually. These are the commands:

Select Group: Select a group of files

Deselect Group: Deselect a group of files

Invert selection: Invert selection state of each entry

Dialog box fields

Filter Mask: Wildcard expression.

Mask Directories: Apply the operation to directories (dirs are excluded from the operation, if unchecked)

Remove selection: If selecting a group, this option specifies whether the current selection should be cleared before starting the operation.

Some examples

Task: Select all GIF, but not HTML files.

Operation: Use Group Select, specify *.GIF as filter mask, press OK.

Task: Select all files, except HTML files.

Operation: Use Group Select with * as a filter mask, then use Deselect Group with *.HTML as a filter mask.

Task: Select GIF and JPG files, but not HTML, TXT, DOC, WPG files.

Operation: Use Group Select with *.GIF as a mask. Use Select Group again with *.JPG mask and Remove Selection check-box cleared.


Short listing command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: F2

This command will switch browsing screen to short listing mode. See Browsing screen for more information.


Sorting submenu

This submenu lets you select the sorting method you wish to apply to the directory listing entries. Your choices are:

Sort by Name

Sort by Extension

Sort by Size

Sort by Date


Spawn Session

Launch another copy of CuteFTP with the same parameters as the current session.


Starting and terminating sessions

Sessions are started via the Connect dialog. Select an entry for the remote site you wish to connect to and click OK button. That done, CuteFTP will try to connect to that remote FTP server. It usually takes some time to get the connection, especially on busy sites, so please be patient. Connection process is complete after the browsing screen has been filled with files and/or directories. You can start working then.

You can terminate current session by selecting Disconnect command from Ftp menu or by clicking it's equivalent tool-bar button. CuteFTP will shut down current connection and clear the browsing screen. You can then connect to another site.

Session will also be terminated if you exit CuteFTP.


Stop command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: F8

This command will immediately stop any operation in progress. However, you must wait for a "Trashed response data received" message to appear in the log window. For more information see Stopping commands in progress.


Stopping commands in progress

CuteFTP allows you to interrupt any operation in progress without loosing control of connection to the remote site. It is done by selecting Ftp->Stop menu item. However, there are some penalties for doing so.

First, it is not advisable to stop anything except file transfers, directory listings transfers or index files transfers since all the other operations require only 1 line response from the server. If they are taking too much time then your link is too slow at the moment and stopping will not help it.

Second, do not expect the operation to stop immediately. FTP server on the other end of the link must acknowledge abortion and send back appropriate response. However, for the sake of reliability CuteFTP doesn't specifically wait for that response. It will abort immediately after you press Stop and wait for any data from the server in the background. You must wait until you see "Trashed response data received" message in the log window to continue. If you try to initiate any operation before you get that message you will not get desired results and will have to wait even more, so please be patient.

Third, if you stop directory change operation you may have to Refresh (View->Refresh menu item) directory listing. This is necessary because CuteFTP looses track of the current directory on the server side.


Technical Support

Technical support is available for registered users only.

Phone: 1 - 210 - 691-8438

E-mail: support@cuteftp.com

All bug reports and suggestions should be directed to support@cuteftp.com


Text files extensions

This dialog lets you modify the list of filename extensions, by which CuteFTP recognizes text files.

Whenever CuteFTP needs to decide if a file is text or binary, it matches the extension of the file against this list. If at least one entry matches the file’s extension, the file is assumed to be text. Otherwise, it’s binary.


Transfer type sub menu

Transfer type setting determines which transfer mode will be set when you initiate a file transfer. It can be one of the following:

ASCII: This mode is used for transferring text files between sites running different operating systems. It will take care of all the necessary translation to make text readable. However, use it with caution since binary files will be corrupted if transferred in this mode. Text files with non-English characters in it will also be corrupted.

Binary: This is the most frequently used transfer mode. It transfers raw data without any translation.

Auto: This mode will let CuteFTP to select the best mode for a particular file.


Upload command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+PgUp

This command will upload selected file to remote site. Enabled only when Local Browser has the input focus.


View command

Toolbar:

Hot-key: Ctrl+V

This command will download a single file from remote host to a temporary file and launch Notepad to let you view the contents.


Wildcard Masks

Wildcard masks are patterns of special characters, used for filtering file names. When a wildcard mask is match against a filename, the two patterns are compared letter-by-letter from left to right until a mismatch occurs. If all the character in both patterns compare positively - the filename matches the wildcard mask.

A wildcard mask can contain the following characters:

?	Match any singe character (e.g. ? will match a,b,c,d,e...)

*	Match any sequence of characters (including no characters at all), terminated by the next character in the mask. (e.g. *a will match cutea, wwwa, zzza, a etc).

[ ]	Match any character in the charachter set, enclosed in the brackets.

Can also be a range of charachters (e.g. [ A - Z ] )

If the openning bracket is followed by !, matches any character NOT in the set.

(e.g. [abc] will match a,b or c only. [!abc] will match any character except a,b,c)

Some examples:

Mask	Will match

=================================================

*	Any filename

*.bmp	sample.bmp, xyz.bmp, but not sample.gif

x?z	 xyz, xaz, but not xyy

a[xyz]c	axc, ayc, azc, but not abc

a[!xyz]c	abc, adc, afc etc, but not axc

a[a-c]d	aad, abd, acd, but not axd

Wildacrd masks are case-sensitive, so *.bmp will match abc.bmp, but not abc.BMP


software archives
A Note for Archives and Web publishers

I recently did a survey of most well-known winsock applications Web pages and, to my regret, found that most of them include outdated versions of CuteFTP in their listings.

To avoid this unfortunate situation I ask that you send me a note if you're putting CuteFTP in your archive or on your Web page. This measure is not intended to restrict publishing of information about CuteFTP in any way. Its sole purpose is to provide a mechanism for distributing information on new releases of CuteFTP. When I receive your note I will put your address in a mailing list, where I post announcements of new public version. It will save a lot of headaches for all of us, and I and your users will really appreciate it.