Internet File Creation and Upload

Welcome to the FAQ on Internet File Creation & Uploads.

Here we will explore the basic setup and uses of this feature in Weather Display.

Before we get started, we want to be sure that Weather Display (“WD”) is already communicating properly with your server. Go to: Control Panel > FTP & Connections > Connections Tab. Make sure your “FTP Host Settings” are entered correctly, and be sure the “Main Internet Switch” is turned on.

OK - let’s get started.

Go to: Control Panel > Internet File Creation & Uploads - this is what you should be looking at:

The highlighted tabs at the top (setup Page #1 & #2) show the list of available files that can be created and uploaded. For this FAQ, we are going to use File #4 - Dials image and cloudheight.

Click on the “Set” button for File #4, which brings us to the setup screen.

There are lots of options here (Thanks Brian!) - we will look at the basics here to get you started.

The highlighted buttons are what we will be working with now. The first two are for creating the file locally on your computer - the second two for uploading the file. One important point here - you must configure each file to both be created and uploaded. When you first open the setup screen, you should be looking at the file create times screen. Below the highlighted buttons shows the options for the times that the file is created locally. You may simply click on a button such as “Update every 10 mins”, and the times for the file creation should be populated automatically. Other options here are to manually enter the times, offset the times, or update the file every minute.

You can also click the “Create this file now” button to manually create the file.

When you are done with your creation settings, click the “Save Now” button.

OK - now that we have WD creating this file, we need to set the times to upload it.

Click on the “Show file upload times” button.

At the top of this screen, you will see the FTP settings. “Remote File Name” should be populated automatically by default. This is the file name that will be used when uploading to your server. You can change this file name if you so wish.
By default, WD will upload the files to your standard remote directory as you had set in your original connections setup (Control Panel > FTP & Connections > Connections Tab). If you would like this individual file to be uploaded to a different directory, enter it here. Just leave it blank if you want the file uploaded to your standard directory.

Then below the buttons, you will set your upload times just like you did for the file creation times. Select your upload times, then hit the “Save Now” button.

In the center of the screen, you will see an area “Load other times”.

Let’s say you have set your file creation and upload times for file #1 already, and you want to use the same creation and upload times for this file. Instead of having to set the times again, you can tell WD that you want to use the times from file #1. Enter the file times you want to load in the box, and click the “Load” button, then the “Save” button.

The next item below is “Other FTP Servers”

This option corresponds with the “Other FTP Servers” tab which is explained later.

Now on the far right on the setup screen, you will see the image of the file you are working with, plus the option to create a thumbnail image. These settings are fairly self-explanatory.

OK - we are now done with setting the file upload times. Make sure you click the “Save” button, and “OK” to exit the setup screen.

You should notice when back to the main Internet File Creation screen the red/green lights under File Create and File Upload. This is a nice feature where you can quickly see what files are set to create and/or upload.

At this point, you also want to be sure the “Override” switch is turned on.

One more option we have here, is to have our files uploaded to a different FTP server.

You can specify 3 different server configurations here. The numbers (#1, #2, etc) will be used when you are in the upload creation screen as mentioned above.

And there you have it. Although it takes a little time to configure WD to create and upload your files separately, this gives you great control for uploading only those files you want and further creativity for your custom website.

Enjoy!

[updated 8/24/07]