Re: Newbie question: need to transfer directory contents fr om my local machine to my website

ghood stuff.... Jon Westcot wrote:

Jochem:

    My most sincere apologies for not replying to your questions.  I've been

suffering with a rather dibilitating head cold the last few days and somehow glossed over your questions.

1. what is the local machine?

    Just my local workstation.

2. where does the DB live? (is it a different machine?)

    Yes, the database -- in MySQL -- lives on a different server.

3. do you need reporting/information about the local machine inspection anywhere other than the local machine?

    No, I only need it locally.  At least, for right now.

4. will there be more than one local machine?

    No.  The only place the data will originate FROM will be my local

machine. The data are simply directory entries of PDF or CHM files.

5. why do you want to do this?

    For starters, I'm trying to cull out duplicates.  Some are easily found

by comparing file sizes and then looking at the file names. But, some of the files are damaged, so I need to actually open the files to ensure they open without error before deciding which ones to delete. It seemed to me that it would be easier to open the files from a web browser than from another, scratch-built application.

not sure I understand how a browser based app will be easier to use than say WindowsExplorer. I would suggest you try to figure out a way to let php (in this case) work out if a file is corrupt automatically (files it thinks are corrupt could be dumped into a special folder)

    The larger question though, is, "Why use PHP for this?"  Because I'm

trying to learn more about how to use PHP, and because, once the data have been combed through and duplicates have been culled, I'd like to make the data available to a few friends who would like to see the list of files that I've amassed (currently around 12,600, with approximately 3000 known duplicates). Those able to view the data would not be able to update the data at all -- the form to do the update would have been password protected.

    What I think I'll do now is create the update routines locally, then

export the data, upload the data to the server, and import it into a copy of the database. Yeah, it means more work on my part, but that's okay. The updates after I finally get the initial data clean will be somewhat infrequent.

like I said before its quite easy to run you php routines locally, gathering information and have that code make a DB connection to a remote server - you should do a little reading on MySQL security though. With regard to people requesting files - the remote database could keep a list of requested files (and a relevant email addr) and your 'local' routines could query the relevant data and either mail out requested files directly OR package the requested files and upload them to the remote server (which then takes care of mailing them out) anyway good look in your project....

    Thanks again for your input and suggestions.

    Sincerely,

        Jon