Login Window
When the main window appears the centre of the screen contains a rectangle with several text boxes. Fill out the text boxes with your FTP settings, which are normally provided by your web site host at the time you set up a web site account.

The IPAddress is a dot notation string in the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

If you do not use a proxy to connect to your web site, then leave the text box empty.

After filling out the required details, click the Close button to hide the text boxes. Then click the Start Internet Session button to connect to your web site.

Depending on your operating system and installed software, you may need to connect to the Internet outside the FTPLite application. In the authors experience, the ISP connection dialog appears using Win95, but does not appear using WinXP.

At the time of making a connection, the settings used are saved to a file (C:\Windows\System\ftpwsm.ini). These settings are automatically reloaded when FTPLite is run at a later time. The process of saving settings only applies if the text boxes are used. It does not apply to the FTPClient.ini process.

If using Visual Basic code to open the FTPWebsiteManager.exe window, and using parameters in the ShowWindow method, then the parameters will override the ftpwsm.ini file settings.

Uploading
To upload a single file, click the selected file in the left side treeview control, and click the required directory to upload to in the right side treeview control. Then click the Send button.

To upload a directory structure including files and subdirectories within a directory, click the parent directory in the left side treeview control, and then click the required directory in the right side treeview control. Then click the Send button. This will place the contents of directory A into directory B. The process first creates the directory structure on the remote computer and then transfers the files to the relevant directories.

When uploading, an upload dialog box shows progress of files as they upload. The cancel button on the dialog will not stop the current file from uploading, but will block subsequent files from uploading if uploading a directory structure.

Deleting
For reasons of safety, only single files and directories can be deleted at a time. A directory can only be deleted after all the files within it have been deleted.

FTP Client Overview
Sometimes a situation occurs where a parent organisation wants to provide a subsidiary organisation with access to a subsidiary part of a web site. A subsidiary part of a web site would be a single sub directory, in which the subsidiary organisation could create a sub web site within the main web site.

Examples of this situation may include a business head office with many branches, perhaps spread around the world, and each branch wants to maintain it's product catalogue on the web site. Or it may be a school, where each subsidiary is a class, or sports team, or interest group.

The requirement is to give a subsidiary access to a specific part of a web site, without compromising security to the rest of the web site.

The FTPLite application can meet this requirement. For the process to work each subsidiary must access the web site on a separate computer and not share system files via a network.

FTP Client Setup
The setup process has to be done by the parent organisation as only it knows the FTP username, password and other settings.

In the profile text boxes enter the details as normal.

The local 'web site ready' text box is ignored.

The remote web site directory the subsidiary needs to access is specified in the root directory text box e.g. /www/branch1. In this case, branch1 is the directory which will become the root directory of the subsidiary.

After all settings have been specified, click the Create FTPClient command button. A new FTPClient.ini file will be created at

C:\FTPClient\FTPClient.ini

The file extension .ini means initialisation file, which is only a specialised form of text file. If you create this file and then open it, the details can be read in Notepad. Except that the settings specified have been double encrypted. Only the FTPWebsiteManager.exe ActiveX EXE is able to decrypt the FTPClient.ini file.

To test a created FTPClient.ini file, first create the file as above, and then copy paste it into your system directory, which could be

C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Windows\System depending on your operating system.

The system directory must contain FTPWebsiteManager.exe

Start up FTPLite, but when viewing the settings text boxes, check the Use FTPClient.ini check box, close the sub window, then click the Start Internet Session button. Because the FTPClient.ini check box has been checked the settings in the text boxes will be ignored, and the settings read from the FTPClient.ini file.

Note that the FTPClient.ini file has built in anti tampering code within it.

Another FTPClient.ini file cannot be created from settings provided by a FTPClient.ini file.

The name of the file FTPClient.ini is the same, regardless how many are created, or to what subsidiary a file applies. It is important to keep track of these files, possibly in different named directories.

FTP Client Distributing and Using
After creating a FTPClient.ini file, copy it to disk and then into the system directory which contains the FTPWebsiteManager.exe on the users computer.

All the subsidiary needs to do is start up FTPLite, check the Use FTPClient.ini check box, close the sub window, then click the Start Internet Session button. Because the FTPClient.ini check box has been checked the FTP settings in the text boxes will be ignored, and the settings read from the FTPClient.ini file.

However the subsidiary will still need to specify their own local 'web site ready' setting in the text box.

FTP Client Security Caution
The FTPClient.ini file process is robust and any tampering with such a file can be detected when a file is used.

There is one security issue though that users should be aware.

If a directory does not exist on the web site, then the subsidiary will automatically be redirected to the root directory of the web site. Which means a subsidiary will have access to the entire web site.

This is done by FTP protocols and has nothing to do with FTPWebsiteManager.exe.

The requirement then is for the parent organisation to make sure the subsidiary directory exists on the web site, and once a FTPClient.ini file pointing to the directory is distributed, to never remove (delete) the directory.

Another option is for the parent organization to remove the FTPClient.ini file from the users (subsidiary) computer. This may not always be possible, and iot may be impossible to determine if copies of the FTPClient.ini file have been created. The safest option is to never delete the subsidary directory on the website.