We are going to develop a client-server application where all the office documents will be stored on the remote server.
The problem is that users need to edit these docs very often.
The standard solution is:
download
edit locally
upload
But it is very inconvenient and would cause high traffic, cause docs are very large.
Is there any solution to edit documents right on server?
E.g. some remote OpenOffice installation which we can connect somehow?
Thanks in advance!
Unless you can give your users RDP sessions on Windows or VNC (or X windows?) sessions on Linux you're going to be stuck with downloading the document to edit locally (in one form or another) then upload again.
There may be some HTTP/browser based solution but because it's HTTP you're going be to pulling all of the document back to the browser to edit then posting back to the server, it pretty much defeats the purpose.
As pointed out by Kev, one solution would be some sort of remote access software to access a copy of OpenOffice.org running on the server. There is for example a VNC viewer that will run as a Java applet in a browser (http://www.realvnc.com/support/javavncviewer.html ), that might do the trick.
Another option would be a server-based office package, a la Google docs. There are some available, but none with the full feature set of OpenOffice.org, so this is probably only an option if you can restrict to that feature set. If you can, it could work quite well.
Related
is there a possibility to change the Dropbox sync folder (aka "Dropbox location") programmatically on Mac OSX? By programmatically I mean by executing some command line helper tool or by using the Dropbox API.
I've searched around for this quite a long while now, but couldn't find any satisfying answers.
Sym-linking or using an alternative cloud provider (with a possibly better CLI/API) as suggested here are not an option for me.
As I understand the Dropbox API, it is made for accessing the Dropbox Server storage from within one's own application rather than interacting with the "out-of-the-box" Desktop sync client, is this correct?
The solution I am looking for should also work very reliably, so "hacking" the encrypted SQLite dbx files (as suggested here) or an Apple UI script that changes the sync folder via the Dropbox UI Desktop client are also really not an option for me.
For Google Drive I know that doing this is a simple as stopping the sync client, moving the sync folder, changing the sync path in the sync_config.db accordingly and re-starting the Desktop sync app. -- Exactly such a procedure is what I would also be hoping to find for Dropbox :-)
THX for your replies & suggestions!
No, without using the potentially brittle methods you mentioned, I don't believe there's a way to do this programmatically.
Your understanding of the Dropbox API is correct though. Using the API allows you to communicate with the Dropbox servers directly to interact with the account, and not the local desktop client.
First, I guess I'd have to figure out if I'm running remotely and second I'd have to figure out whether my remote connection is a standalone remote app or an app running on a terminal server (that may be tricky).
But, once I've figured out all those awful things, is there a way to run a windows function like ShellExecute locally instead of remotely?
The reason I'd want to do this is because I launch a web browser to view rather high bandwidth things that require javascript and flash and certain sysadmins who administer our product aren't too keen on having to make unnecessary and insecure modifications to their terminal server farm.
Yes, if the clients are running Windows and you can install software on them.
See Remote Desktop Services Virtual Channels in MSDN.
There is a free tool that does exactly what you want. I got reference from TechNet forums, it's named Remote Executer from http://www.mqtechnologies.com
Good luck
I'm currently working on a migration from svn to mercurial. My needs are plain and simple, I need source control over an intranet in our company. I see examples everywhere for setupping remote repos over IIS. I just don't see the point when I can just make a share on a server.
Can I still setup authorizations and authentications on repos using NTFS permissions?
Am I missing something?
Thank you
Putting a repository on a file share works, but it's not the way recommended by the Mercurial team.
See the "shared disk" part of Publishing Repositories on the HG wiki:
generally restricted to intranets, not generally recommended due to general issues with network filesystem reliability
Be sure to check out Chris Becke's answer as well, because he points out another valid disadvantage (people with write access deleting stuff from the network share, be it intentionally or not).
If you are aware of (and can live with) these things, putting the repositories on the network share is without a doubt the easiest way to setup.
My personal experience is that it works perfectly as long as the Windows share is on a "real" Windows machine.
At work we're using a share on a real Windows server without problems, but at home I ran into issues with a NAS (which behaves like a Windows share but actually runs on Linux).
You can read more about my experiences here:
Can you 'push' to network share using Mercurial on 64bit Windows 7?
There are a number of reasons to prefer, well, anything at all to a writable file share.
In essence it comes down to, there is a limited amount of damage someone can do with the ability to do a push via a web-method.
A read/write share on the other hand is necessary to do a push, but also allows a user to delete an entire repo, history and all.
Without even invoking malicious intent, people (or rogue software agents) have been know to navigate to random network shares and accidentally drag a file to someplace it doesn't belong.
The best reason to lock your PC is not because your co-workers find it amusing to use an unlocked email account to send porn to HR, but because its amazing what a cleaning lady can do with a rag and a keyboard. Its also amazing what Music Library applications can find while scanning all shares in a workgroup, and carefully "move" and catalog to someones Library.
I'm trying to help a wonderful designer who is sadly running out of space on her Dropbox, but is already paying for hosting service that has 100GB available for her. Is there a software that works and that is seamlessly integrated within explorer and updates files on FTP that you yourself can assign?
Thanks!
What you are looking for is something like FTPBox http://ftpbox.org/
Hell in your case Id consider buying a NAS drive :)
QNAS make about the best on the market, they can be rigged up as ftp servers, have almost a terabyte space, allow for windows and linux integration and make brilliant samba servers.
It all depends on your requirements, which you have not stated too clearly.
Do you want Internet storage (web/dav/ftp/sftp) or storage within your own network?
If you are looking for a solution which is available for almost every OS and where the storage is located somewhere in our wonderful Internet-verse, webdav/s could be the solution.
I'm not really sure, if I understand the statement "files on FTP that you yourself can assign".
Please be a little bit more specific.
Why not Filezilla?
http://filezilla-project.org/
You can try IQBox, my own free open-source project. It syncs using FTP-SSL by default (you can use non-SSL FTP also, but not recommended due to security.) It's a simple sync app for FTP.
Official Download Page for IQBox FTP Client
Google Code Project Page
If they are using Windows they can set up an FTP account as a "Network Location", then you can use it like a regular folder on your PC. Drag and drop away.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/work-with-files-ftp-site#1TC=windows-7
I'm looking for a web based FTP client, with a good PHP, javascript, html, code editor. possibly with unzip capability.
I've tried eXtplorer, but it's pretty buggy, especially the editor.
Any suggestions?
EDIT:
I thought about this and i decide that maybe it's better to have a desktop app that allows this kind of connection (read the comment below) instead of using a web app that is slower for sure.
So I change my question: Is there a mac os app that allows me to manage my server files via a protocol like web ftp, so that i'm not firewalled by public networks limitations?
To turn your request around emacs provides remote file access over a variety of protocols including ftp (tramp mode), and can function as a web browser as well. If you really want it to run in a browser you can find a web terminal emulator and run emacs from the command-line.
How about PHPfileNavigator? (I'm assuming you want PHP based on eXtplorer.) I haven't used it, but a friend of mine said it worked pretty well once.
Edit: Based on your edit, are you just looking for a Mac FTP client? There are certainly plenty of those around. What is the specific requirement that's preventing you from using a normal one? Is it that an FTP service can't be opened on that server for some reason?
If that's the case, what services can be made available on the server? FTP on a different port? SSH/SFTP, perhaps?