Yummy Software

Not 100% sure why, but I just can't find much to like about the name for this functionality. Personally, I think FTP Droplet is more descriptive. Not sure you want to entertain changing it's name, but probably worthwhile to see if someone can come up with a killer name...

That being said, I DO have some ideas (and questions). First, I find what one needs to do to MAKE one to be very counter intuitive (as in PITA). One has to not only connect, BUT make sure the server is highlighted before the option opens up. One SHOULD be able to make one whenever one has the bookmark list (or individual bookmark in edit mode) open and one highlighted.

The question centers around the password. Because passwords are totally obscured in Yummy, I make sure they all come from my keychain. BUT what happens when I make a FTP Droplet (err Alias)? Theoretically, as long as I run it ON my machine, it can still get the password from the keychain. BUT what if I intend to use the FTP Droplet/Alias, say, on my work computer, do I have to manually enter the password in the bookmark, THEN make the FTP Droplet/Alias? Or is Yummy smart enough to embed the password into that FTP Droplet/Alias automatically, even if it's source is the keychain and not the bookmark?

I gave it the Alias name after the classic Mac OS feature - the  'alias'

With a Mac folder alias you can double click it to view the contents and drop items on it to transfer them there. That's exactly how an FTP Alias behaves. FTP Alias is, quite literally, an alias to an FTP folder :)


I guess I could make it easier, yes :) Thanks for the feedback.


The password that was used to successfully connect to the server is stored in the Bookmark. If you intend to distribute an FTP Alias you should use the new Secure variant so that the login details cannot be viewed or edited.

Interesting.

I have an "old" one connecting to my website. Double clicking it ends up showing me a directory listing. I made another one, but used the "secure" setting. THIS one, if double clicked, gives me a dialog box about needing to drop files on it, then it quits after the dialog's OK is pressed.

Is THIS action the result of making it a secure one? FWIW, the "secure' one is about 600k larger, although the 5.1MBs for it aren't all that large.

Just to make it REALLY clear to my ancient gray matter (AGM), even if the password is ONLY in my keychain, making a "secure" ftp alias will embed that password; now I can drop files at the office to my website!

Even so, if I had a non-secure one on my machine at work, even of someone had the full app, the best they would see is the remote server's address and my username; the password would be redacted, right?

The secure variant does not allow the server directory to be viewed. That's part of the security, that if you gave the FTP Alias to somebody, they couldn't go browsing your server. So to answer our question - yes, the dialog box that comes up when double clicking it is a result of being a secure variant.

The secure variant embeds the password into it, so you can safely distribute it with the knowledge that the settings cannot be viewed or edited. So, to answer your question, yes you can use it to drop files to your website from the office.

The non-secure one could be edited to see the other settings, although the password will be not be readable. However, I don't recommend distributing these or leaving them in publicly accessible places. The secure variant was made with good reason! Mind you, if your computer has Yummy installed on it and you leave your computer open to the public then all bets are off - you're asking for it!

The queen of vapidity tells me "that's hot!"

Just to add to this ... I was at first surprised that I could not myself edit one of my own aliases, a secure one.  So secure aliases cannot be edited by the creator?  There's probably a good reason for this, although I can't think of it. Couldn't you ask for the username and password and check that the person wanting to edit is legit?  Anyway, if it cannot be edited, I think a message should pop-up saying why, rather than allowing the user to choose "Edit" and select the alias and then: nothing.

Cheers, J

Yep, valid comments. I'll see what I can do.

I think of FTP Aliases as extensions of the bookmark. THAT is where you can check things.

BTW, there IS a bug! The FTP alias seems to take on the same time/date spec every time it's "created." They ALL read 3/3/07 at 6:33 PM (created and modified). Very bad... I noticed when I had to edit one, brought the "new" one to work and found they both had the same created/modifed dates. This needs to be... adjusted.

That's because the FTP Alias is an application package (a folder) and so it's the contents which have changed, not the folder itself.

I will make a change to bump the mod date when you create or edit :)

Ah, didn't think of that. Normally, if something changes in a folder (one level down), the folder gets the new mod date... but application packages usually update stuff 2 levels down! STILL, it IS an OS bug IMO!

Still, it's a "good thing" to change the application package date... so thanks for changing it!

Well, not necessarily so. A folder or directory is really just a file containing a list and details of files it contains. So its mod date changes only when that list changes, like when a file is added, removed or renamed. It doesn't change when the contents of one of its files changes.   

However, in this case, you would expect a new alias to take on new creation and mod dates!  JD doesn't say why it isn't. I presume Yummy is using a predefined built-in template with existing dates.  Otherwise it's hard to see where these dates are coming from.

I think the FTP Alias app is taking on the first creation date of the bookmark as it's created and modified date.

I have seen a folder date get changed when a file  in it is modified in some way, thus taking on a new modified date for that file. BUT I have also seen this work in some cases and not in others.

But my alias has exactly the same mod date as yours!  I think --  although it's local-time adjusted: 4 March 2007, 12.33 PM.  Weird!  So that's why I think it must be the time that some template was created by JD...


Well that is true. Some Mac software will actually change the file's details in the folder record, directly or indirectly. I know Photoshop and Excel do. Not sure what they are doing, maybe updating an icon or some resource that affects the folder.  BBEdit doesn't, but TextEdit does.

Everyone's FTP Aliases are created from a template that I built which is embedded within the Yummy FTP package. The dates you see are indeed the dates which were set when I created the template.

For the record, a folder mod date only gets bumped if a child item is added or removed, not if one is modified. If a folder mod date changes due to a child item being modified then it is most likely another app doing it.

Ah, good to know JD!

So perhaps I should summarize:

1. it seems one can't "edit" any previously created "secure" FTP Aliases, perhaps that might be a good thing to implement.

2. changes will be made to insure the FTP Alias is tagged for it's time of creation.

3. changes will be made to allow the creation of such FTP Aliases directly from the bookmark list without requiring a connection first.

Is my understanding correct?

All seems reasonable :)