Using Web Folders


Windows XP Professional and Windows 200x Server computers running Internet Information Services (IIS) can share folders using another file sharing system called WebDAV (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning), or Web Sharing. Because it's based on the standard HTTP protocol, you can access Web folders on your office PC from home, over the Internet, or from another LAN halfway around the world.

Web folders let you view, use, and manage files and folders over the Internet just as if you were using them on your PC or on your LAN. You get exactly the same look and feel. You can use Microsoft Office 2000 or later, FrontPage, and Internet Explorer version 5 or higher to access Web folders. You don't even have to be using Windows XP; you can use these three applications on earlier versions of Windows as well.

To use a folder that has been shared using Web Sharing, you need to know the folder's URL. It is set by the manager of the Web server you'll be using. In Internet Explorer, you can't use a link in a Web page to pop open a Web folder. You have to use the following procedure instead:

1.

Select File, Open.

2.

Enter the Web folder's URL, being sure to start with http:, and check the Open as Web Folder box, as shown in Figure 17.22.

Figure 17.22.


3.

Click OK.

4.

You might be prompted to enter your login name and password. It's safe to do so, even over the Internet.

An ordinary folder view will appear, as in Figure 17.23. You can treat it in the usual way: view its contents, drag files in and out, create new folders, and rename and delete files if you have the appropriate permissions. These operations take much longer than with LAN file sharing, however.

Figure 17.23. The Web Folder view looks just like an ordinary Explorer folder view.


One peculiar thing to note is that after you open a Web folder from Internet Explorer, the window changes to Windows Explorer view. The "File" menu will no longer have an "Open" choice. If you want to open another Web folder, you'll have to start Internet Explorer again.

Windows will automatically add the Web folder address you used to My Network Places, and the Web Folders list in "other places." This is a convenient way to return to the folder later.

You can also view a Web folder using the Add Network Place Wizard in My Network Places. When you're asked for the location of the network place, enter the Web folder URL starting with http:.

NOTE

After you open a Web folder, you might be tempted to create a shortcut to it by dragging the address from the Address bar in the Explorer window. This approach doesn't work if you opened the Web folder by choosing File, Open; you get a Web page shortcut instead.

If you opened the Web folder by using the Add Network Places Wizard, however, or by opening an existing Web Folder icon, you get a working folder shortcut. Strange!


If you see an empty folder, or if you see a plain listing of filenames and dates without icons, see "Web Folder Appears to Be Empty" or "Directory Listing Appears Instead of Web Folder" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of the chapter.





Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Special Edition Using Microsoft Windows XP Professional (3rd Edition)
ISBN: 0789732807
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 450

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net