file download vs. link to file

Freeway
1

Hello,
I’m using 5 Pro and I can’t find an action called, “file download, or download file” it seems like this action used to exist in 4…but I’m not sure if it was replaced by “link to file” in 5.
I have an odd file from a client, (.mht) and when I insert that file using the link to file action, it just opens a browser window with a bunch of garbage code.
Here is the link and file in question, http://myronangstman.com/firm/news.html …toward the bottom of the March 08 News, in the paragraph that start, “March is Iditarod month in Alaska…” and the link that says “Download Video”.

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2

Hi Gannon,

Yep, the Action had a name change and is now called “Link to
File” (for a text link) and “Graphic Link to File” (for graphic links).

With regards to the MHT file, you will need to contact your webhost
and get them to configure the mime types for MHT files otherwise the
server will send the file down in plain text.

I hope this helps.

Joe

On 9 Apr 2008, at 16:09, gannon wrote:

Hello,
I’m using 5 Pro and I can’t find an action called, “file download,
or download file” it seems like this action used to exist in 4…but
I’m not sure if it was replaced by “link to file” in 5.
I have an odd file from a client, (.mht) and when I insert that file
using the link to file action, it just opens a browser window with a
bunch of garbage code.
Here is the link and file in question, http://myronangstman.com/firm/news.html
…toward the bottom of the March 08 News, in the paragraph that
start, “March is Iditarod month in Alaska…” and the link that says
“Download Video”.

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3

On Apr 9, 2008, at 11:09 AM, gannon wrote:

Hello,
I’m using 5 Pro and I can’t find an action called, “file download,
or download file” it seems like this action used to exist in
4…but I’m not sure if it was replaced by “link to file” in 5.
I have an odd file from a client, (.mht) and when I insert that
file using the link to file action, it just opens a browser window
with a bunch of garbage code.

Your hosting provider’s server is in charge of identifying files and
sending along a “header” that describes the file when it serves that
file to the browser. The browser is in charge of what to do with
files that are linked within your page, and uses the header to make
this decision. Most Web servers are configured to send the text/plain
or text/html mime-type header whenever they encounter a file that
they don’t recognize. You will need to ask your hosting provider to
add a mime-type for the .mht extension, or you may be able to do this
yourself using an .htaccess file.

Try using an FTP application to upload a plain text file into your
Web root (or if you want to be more particular, into the folder where
these files will live). You can name it anything you like for now.
Inside this text file, add this line:

AddType application/octet-stream .mht

Finally, use your FTP application to rename this text file .htaccess
(leading dot is critical).

Don’t be surprised if the file vanishes as soon as you do this,
because “dotfiles” are invisible by convention on Unix servers. You
may also see an error that you are not allowed to rename the file
thusly because the file exists.

Your FTP application will have an option or preference somewhere to
“show hidden files”. If you enable this, your .htaccess file will re-
appear, along with (maybe) a whole bunch of other hidden junk that
powers your hosting provider’s control panel. Be very careful not to
change any of this stuff!

If you already have an .htaccess file, then open it for editing
(Apple-J in most FTP apps on the Mac) and add the line above to it,
and save.

Now refresh your browser and try clicking on one of those nasty
files. It should just download as a generic file.

Walter

Here is the link and file in question, http://myronangstman.com/
firm/news.html …toward the bottom of the March 08 News, in the
paragraph that start, “March is Iditarod month in Alaska…” and
the link that says “Download Video”.

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4

Thank you!
Walt, if I can add the MIME type .mht extension via the .htaccess editor, do I still have to do the rest of your instructions? ie, ftping a text file with the: AddType application/octet-stream .mht … ?

I do have the ability to add mime type extensions…which I will try right now.

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5

Walter,
Sorry for that question…I think a closer read of your post answers it for me.
Thanks!

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6

Your download is working and the file opens as a movie in Windows. I
have Parallels on my system and double clicking on the file
automatically opened Parallels and IE in which the (slightly rowdy)
video ran without problems. Looks like the video is encoded for
Windows and needs to be converted to a more universal format.

Just tried on a ‘real’ PC - works straightaway.

Colin

On 9 Apr 2008, at 16:37, gannon wrote:

Thank you!
Walt, if I can add the MIME type .mht extension via the .htaccess
editor, do I still have to do the rest of your instructions? ie,
ftping a text file with the: AddType application/octet-
stream .mht … ?

I do have the ability to add mime type extensions…which I will try
right now.

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7

Great Thanks!

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8

Just add the mime-type. The rest of my instructions constitute an end-
run around your hosting provider should they not allow you to do this
directly.

Walter

On Apr 9, 2008, at 11:37 AM, gannon wrote:

Thank you!
Walt, if I can add the MIME type .mht extension via the .htaccess
editor, do I still have to do the rest of your instructions? ie,
ftping a text file with the: AddType application/octet-
stream .mht … ?

I do have the ability to add mime type extensions…which I will try
right now.

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9

Hi Gannon,
The .mht file from the client is simply a MIME encoded HTML file (much like
Safari’s own web archive files) but only works in browsers that support these
file types. On the Mac, from memory, Firefox does but genarally most Mac users
will simply see either the mht code listed in the browser window or the file
downloaded.
If you open the mht in a browser that supports the file type and save the HTML
source to a regular html file then all your users will see the content.
Here’s an example;
http://www.freewayactions.com/test/gannon/AndrewAngstmanFinishes43.html

In Safari open the page above and choose File/ Save As… and select Page Source
in the format menu. In your Freeway file use the Upload Stuff action
(http://www.freewayactions.com/product.php?id=beta) to upload the HTML file
into the same location as the host page
(http://myronangstman.com/firm/news.html). Then all you need to do is to hard
code the text link in Freeway to point to the newly uploaded HTML file (this
will simply be the name of the html page).

I hope this helps.
Regards,
Tim.

Quoting gannon email@hidden:

Hello,
I’m using 5 Pro and I can’t find an action called, “file download, or
download file” it seems like this action used to exist in 4…but I’m not
sure if it was replaced by “link to file” in 5.
I have an odd file from a client, (.mht) and when I insert that file using
the link to file action, it just opens a browser window with a bunch of
garbage code.
Here is the link and file in question,
http://myronangstman.com/firm/news.html …toward the bottom of the March 08
News, in the paragraph that start, “March is Iditarod month in Alaska…”
and the link that says “Download Video”.

–
Extend Freeway the way you want with FreewayActions.com
http://www.freewayactions.com

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10

Is there a way in FW5 to reapply a master to just a single item,
rather than to the entire page which can produce unwanted duplicates
and near duplicates all over the place?

Steve.

Steve Cooper, email@hidden
Mac Assist, Geelong Australia
Web: www.macassist.net.au

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11

Yes - select the item and choose either or both of the Master checkboxes in
the Inspector. One relates to position and one to content.

hope this helps

regards
Brian

Steve Cooper said recently:

Is there a way in FW5 to reapply a master to just a single item,
rather than to the entire page which can produce unwanted duplicates
and near duplicates all over the place?

Steve.

Steve Cooper, email@hidden
Mac Assist, Geelong Australia
Web: www.macassist.net.au

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12

Thanks Brian. I was sure I’d read of a method somewhere, but couldn’t
find it anywhere in the FW4 manual.

Cheers,
Steve.

On 10/4/2008, at 6:13 PM, Brian Steere wrote:

Yes - select the item and choose either or both of the Master
checkboxes in
the Inspector. One relates to position and one to content.

Steve Cooper, email@hidden
Mac Assist, Geelong Australia
Web: www.macassist.net.au

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13

Brian, I’ve tried now to do this, but whether the selected item is a
graphic or an HTML text item (existing on the master in either case),
there are no such checkboxes on any page of the Inspector. I’m using
FW5 Pro with 4.01 Transitional but have tried with 1.0 Transitional as
well – no difference. What am I missing here?

Thanks, Steve.

On 10/4/2008, at 6:13 PM, Brian Steere wrote:

Yes - select the item and choose either or both of the Master
checkboxes in
the Inspector. One relates to position and one to content.

Steve Cooper, email@hidden
Mac Assist, Geelong Australia
Web: www.macassist.net.au

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14

Is it possible that you are trying to restore an inline object? Only
elements drawn on the page are able to be reverted to their Master
Page settings, IIRC. If an element drawn on the page has inline child
elements, those will be reverted along with the parent if the parent
is restored to the master settings. This has the additional problem
of removing any content you added to the item, unless that content
was already in the master.

Save first, then try it. Or try it out on a stunt document.

Walter

On Apr 11, 2008, at 3:06 AM, Steve Cooper wrote:

Brian, I’ve tried now to do this, but whether the selected item is a
graphic or an HTML text item (existing on the master in either case),
there are no such checkboxes on any page of the Inspector. I’m using
FW5 Pro with 4.01 Transitional but have tried with 1.0 Transitional as
well – no difference. What am I missing here?

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15

Thanks Walt. I was having a problem with downloading Mathematica files from my website. So I searched the forum for “link to file” and found this thread. I added the .htaccess file as you said with the lines:

AddType application/mathematica .nb
AddType application/mathematica .nbp

uploaded it with the FTP application Yummy, and it worked. So thanks again.

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