Support Topics: WebDAV: How To: Setup a WebDAV accessible directory
What you would use this for: To
easily upload iCal files or to setup an upload/download
directory accessible you can mount on your Mac desktop
via the finder (like iDisk). Also for advanced collaborative
web site management that allows group file check-in,
check-out and editing via professional level web design
programs such as Dreamweaver or Contribute.
What you need:
An FTP client (Transmit - external link)
A text editor (TextWrangler - external link)
NOTE: If you are intending to setup phpicalendar, please read those instructions first, as the example "Calendars" directory in these instructions is different from the default phpicalendar directory.
1. Setup the directory
that you want to be WebDAV accessible inside your public_html
directory. In this case, we're setting up a directory called "Calendars" for
our iCal files. Login to
your space on our servers using Transmit. Once you're inside
your "public_html" directory
on our servers, go the "File" menu and select "New
Folder". Name the folder "Calendars" and make
sure you select "Their Stuff" then press the "Create" button.
2. Now that you've created
the WebDAV accessible directory on the server, highlight
that folder in Transmit and select command+i. An information
box will pop up showing the directories permissions. In the
text field near the bottom of the information, type the numbers
777 to make the directory readable, executable and writable
by everyone. If you wanted to set up a directory that would
only allow users to download files set the permissions to
755.
3. Once that's done, send us a request telling us the URL of the directory you'd like to be WebDAV accessible. In this case, you'd say that you'd like the "http://www.yourdomain.com/Calendars" directory to be WebDAV accessible.
4. Once we've set the server to enable the WebDAV access to that folder, we will send you an email not only notifying you of the activation, but we will also give you the location of the file that contains those usernames and passwords that can access the directory via WebDAV. Initially, it will just be your FTP username and password that has access. If that's all you need, skip to step 10. If you'd like to add some additional usernames that can access that directory, read on.
5. Go to this external .htaccess generator (external link), but do not follow the instructions on their site. Continue to use these instructions. In the "Username" field type in the additional WebDAV username you'd like. In the "Password" field type in the password you'd like to be used in conjunction with that username. In the "Path" field, type "null" (without the quotes) and click the "Generate .htaccess" button.
6. On the resulting page, you will see 2 text boxes of results. Highlight the contents of the bottom box and press command+C to copy those contents.
7. In Transmit go to the
root level of your server space with us. This is represented
in Transmit by a "/" in the drop down menu above
the "Their Stuff" box.
8. In the "Edit" menu, select "Show Invisibles". With that turned on, you should see the file we've specified to hold your WebDAV usernames and passwords. Go to the "File" menu and select "Edit". You will now see the editable contents of that file in Transmit.
9. At the end of the only line in that document, press Return to create a new line and then press command+V to paste the contents you copied from the .htaccess generator. Press command+S to save the changes to the file. Now you will have access to that WebDAV accessible directory with both your own FTP username and the username you just specified. You can add as many usernames as you'd like to access that directory.
10. You
can access the directory a variety of ways using WebDAV.
A common way is to use the Finder (OS X and up). Click the
desktop to activate the Finder and open the "Go" menu
at the top and select "Connect To Server....".
In the resulting window, type in the URL to the WebDAV enabled
directory. In our case it would be: http://www.examplesite.com/Calendar
11. The finder will prompt you for a username and password to access that directory. Type in one of the specified username and password combos. If you've done everything correctly, you should see the directory show up as a network disk on your desktop. |
