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Not the same as using the Finder
Authored by: mingking on Dec 21, '02 07:46:00AM
Though Goliath is in fact much faster than the Finder at accessing files from e.g your iDisk, note that it doesn't offer some of the benefits of using WebDAV via the Finder.

When using the Finder to mount a WebDAV server (like your iDisk) it essentially mounts the remote volume on your Desktop as if it were a local file system. Using WebDAV in this way is much like mounting an AFP/SMB/NFS volume. What that means is that the volume and its files will show up in the Open and Save dialogs from any application, and you can drag and drop the files directly onto application icons. If you are doing something like maintaining the files of a web server, having the remote volume act like a local volume makes it very easy to just 'edit in place' the web server content. You can use BBEdit or whatever and just open, edit, save and close.

Using something like Goliath is more like using an FTP program like Fetch or Interarchy. All files are shown in application owned windows and therefore must be manually dragged from the remote server to a local folder in order to edit them, then dragged back when editing is complete.

Given that it can take many seconds to open and save files using the Finder way, it may be a wash in actual increased efficiency to use it that way. There are fewer steps in the process, but it is annoying to hit Save and have to wait. On my DSL connection it takes about 8 seconds or so to save a simple file from within BBEdit. But a benefit of 'editing in place' is that the file will be locked out for anyone else to edit while you are editing it (just like when editing a truly local file). This eliminates the problems of possible collisions with collegues if more that one person maintains the files of a site simultaneously.

Hopefully Apple will improve the speed of the WebDAV services in the Finder over time. The latest releases have improved somewhat, but Goliath still blazes in comparison to the Finder in accessing the files.

So, if you are just dragging files back and forth, Goliath is the way to go right now. But the features of WebDAV integration with the Finder are richer and may be more appropriate for some.

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Not the same as using the Finder
Authored by: legacyb4 on Feb 23, '04 02:07:33PM

Under 10.3, accessing webDAV is much improved.

However, if you are accessing a newer Apache2 server providing webDAV services and are having trouble manipulating files/folders on the remote server (in my case, Linux) or seeing odd behavior, check out the following addition to httpd.conf that should solve your troubles.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107047

Symptom

When using WebDAV, you can connect and browse content, but you cannot create new files or folders.

Products affected

Mac OS X 10.0 or later

Solution

This occurs when the WebDAV server is using some versions of the Apache 2 Web server. Users of Mac OS 10.0 to 10.1.5 must update to Mac OS X 10.2 or later. Additionally, a configuration change may be required for the server. Refer your server administrator or Internet service provider to this document.

The following directive can be added to the httpd.conf file on the Apache 2 server to fix this issue:

BrowserMatch "^WebDAVFS/1.[012]" redirect-carefully

The httpd.conf file should already contain several BrowserMatch directives for other WebDAV clients. If there is not a BrowserMatch directive for WebDAVFS, then it should be added.

Note: Apache 2, as installed with Mac OS X Server 10.2, includes this directive, but the default installation of Apache 2 may not.



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