For Coaches
The FTP account gives you access to your team's web site and/or world object path
(models, textures, sounds, etc). By default, you will have read-only access to these,
but with everyone's agreement, you may have write access to your entire web site,
a part of the web site, and/or the object path. Please be careful with such access,
as it will be possible to accidentally DELETE, OVERWRITE, OR BREAK all existing
content in these folders!
Username/Password: You will get one (and only one) account for
your site. It's name will be the shorthand name used elsewhere for your site.
The password will be set over the phone; do not use an important password (FTP
passwords are inherently insecure, and a hacker could easily steal it), but do
not use an easy-to-guess one either (someone who guesses your password has the
same access you do). Because of the capacity for damage to your project, you
should keep it secret (do not write it down in obvious places, or give it out
to students, etc).
How to access your content: You can connect using any FTP
client, either a standalone client (if you have one), or an FTP-ready web
browser (such as Internet Explorer). The site to connect to is
ftp://ftp.scicentr.org. In some clients, you may have to include
your username in the address, like so: ftp://USERNAME@ftp.scicentr.org
(substitute your username for USERNAME). You will be prompted for your
username/password. Once in, you will be connected to a folder specific to
your account. You can put files, create subfolders, etc in this base folder.
There should be two existing subfolders already: website (which is mapped
to your team's web site) and objectpath (the CUni object path additions
for your team). These subfolders will be functional only if you are set
up to have access to them.
How to use: Each client is different. Some will show
directory listings for your local computer and for the FTP site. You can
navigate between folders, and use upload/download commands to send and
receive files. If you are using Internet Explorer, you will get an
interface just like a local folder on your computer. You can drag+drop
(or copy/paste) between it and explorer folder windows for the local computer.
Be very careful that you don't overwrite or delete files accidentally.
Pitfalls: Besides accidentally deleting/overwriting files,
a likely problem is that you and the mentors could edit the same files at
the same time, and clobber each other's changes. Worse, one of you could
end up modifying an out-of-date version and clobber recent changes. Please
be careful and coordinate modifications with each other if this is a
possibility, and keep backups of your at-risk files.
How to see files over the web: The files in your
FTP root folder are not accessible except via an FTP connection.
Files in the website subfolder will appear in the same structure
under the base path:
http://host.scicentr.org/worldsites/scifairYEAR/USERNAME/
(substitute the current academic year's 4-digit FALL year for YEAR
and your ftp username for USERNAME). Similarly, the object path is
mapped to http://host.scicentr.org/worlds/scifairYEAR/USERNAME/.
Note that you will not see a file listing for these folders, however, your
web site will appear like any other web site, and you can access individual
object path files via their full url. Also, some programs use a slightly
different folder structure, so in some cases files will be elsewhere under
worlds or worldsites.
Other suggestions: Carefully test what you upload/modify.
Access web sites over the web and models/textures/sounds in CUni. Make sure
they went in the right place, links are correct, and files are packages properly.
A common error on web sites is links to files on the local computer or network
folders using local paths, which won't work over the web. Try testing on a
different computer, especially one that doesn't have access to any network
folders you used for development.
For Mentors
Accessing content: You continue to access the web site
and object path files as before (over the Cornell/SciCentr network). The folders have
not moved as far as you're concerned, though the folder name may have been
changed slightly to match the naming convention. The FTP root folder is
\\ftp.scicentr.org\inetpub\ftproot\USERNAME\. If you need write access
to this folder, please ask.
Risks: Be aware that opening the folders to FTP and giving
the coaches access increases the risk of broken web sites, deleted content,
and other errors and accidents (including unauthorized access). It is
highly recommended that you back up important parts (for example, in
your user folder on H:) in case of problems. Coaches should also only
be given access to those parts they really need. Strongly consider giving
them only a subfolder of the web site, for example. Also, giving coaches
remote access makes it more likely that you will edit the same files at the
same time, or that one of you will work from out-of-date versions. If this
is a possibility, be sure to coordinate your modifications with each other.
Testing: Double-check what the coaches upload periodically
(as well as what you modify!). Make sure links work and that they aren't
pointing to local files (vs. web URLs).
Support: You will be expected to understand the FTP system
and help the coaches use it properly. Ask for help when this gets beyond your
abilities.
