Make Filezilla open external text editor on the fly.

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7832
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Make Filezilla open external text editor on the fly.

#1 Post by 7832 » 2022-11-25 17:21

Hi guys,

With WinSCP i can open notepad++, apply the changes and save. All on the fly, without doing anything else.
I'm on Linux Ubuntu now.
How to make Filezilla behave like WinSCP?

I noticed that it downloads a copy of the file, that you have to upload to the server, and delete the old file.
It's just too much hassle.

Please let me know if its a configuration i have to do?

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botg
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Re: Make Filezilla open external text editor on the fly.

#2 Post by botg » 2022-11-28 08:31

There is no automatic way to detect when it is save to upload a file. You as the user must tell the program when it is save to upload the file. Any other option would result in eventual data loss.

7832
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Last name: Anon

Re: Make Filezilla open external text editor on the fly.

#3 Post by 7832 » 2022-11-29 23:09

botg wrote:
2022-11-28 08:31
There is no automatic way to detect when it is save to upload a file. You as the user must tell the program when it is save to upload the file. Any other option would result in eventual data loss.
@botg,

I am not doing any app comparison. FileZilla is a very complete FTP client. Why does what i mentioned work in WinSCP but not on Filezilla?
What configuration do i need, so that i can accomplish what wincsp does? Is this not possible?

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boco
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Re: Make Filezilla open external text editor on the fly.

#4 Post by boco » 2022-11-30 01:41

Why does what i mentioned work in WinSCP but not on Filezilla?
It does not really work, it just appears to work, on the surface. Under the hood, WinSCP gambles with your data, as it makes a guess, a shot into the dark, by when the editor must have been done saving the file, in order to upload it. This may work in most cases, but eventually, there will be one where its guess is incorrect. It will then upload a corrupted, partial file. Additionally, the editor will probably throw a tantrum, too, as it cannot really finish saving the file that is opened for upload. As a result, both the local and remote copy will be corrupt, resulting in data loss. FileZilla simply doesn't want to go that route.

You can right click any remote file in FileZilla and select "View/Edit". This will download a temporary local copy of the file and open it with your configured editor of choice. The local copy is necessary as FTP files cannot be opened directly on the server. Even WinSCP will work with a local copy, under the hood.
When you save in the editor, FileZilla will sense that the file changed (but it can NOT tell if the saving process is complete, that's the whole issue). For that reason, it will pop a dialog and ask you to confirm that the local file has been saved correctly and completely. Only after your confirmation, the file will be uploaded back to the server.
The local copy stays and you can continue editing it. But each further save still has to be confirmed, again.

The editing process can be ended by unediting the file. The dialog for that is in the File menu (or CTRL+E). Unediting deletes the local copy. Alternatively, you can quickly unediting all edited files when you close FileZilla (it will ask for confirmation).
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