Update website via website?

[Adrian Wood]

Hello all!

I've set up a small personal website for mobile devices (PDAs/Smartphones
etc) with links to mobile-friendly websites.

I've realised it would be very useful if I could update the site through my
PDA (A handspring Treo 600, Palm OS5.) The question is, how to do it?

I was wondering if it's possible to build a web interface to do this;
something which would list the HTML pages currently on the site, and open up
the selected pages source in an editable format?

I have plenty of webspace... about 55MB... but no server access on any other
level, so JAVAscript and XHTML are in, but PHP etc are out.

Failing that, I guess I just have to learn to code and write a combined HTML
editor/FTP client for Palm.

Any ideas?

 

[Paul Furman]

I have plenty of webspace... about 55MB... but no server access on any other
level, so JAVAscript and XHTML are in, but PHP etc are out.

If you have SSH (Secure Shell) access you can open the active pages in a
command line editor like vi (unix text editor) and update them directly
without having to download & upload. If you have SSI (Server Side
Includes) you can set up the pages to include content from plain text
files and not have to fiddle with the html tags. This would just fill in
pre-formatted paragraphs and titles, etc or you could add a few tags
like <br> if you want. SSI might be available at a minimal charge if not
part of the standard package.

 

[Adrian Wood]

If you have SSH (Secure Shell) access you can open the active pages in a
command line editor like vi (unix text editor) and update them directly
without having to download & upload. If you have SSI (Server Side
Includes) you can set up the pages to include content from plain text
files and not have to fiddle with the html tags. This would just fill in
pre-formatted paragraphs and titles, etc or you could add a few tags
like <br> if you want. SSI might be available at a minimal charge if not
part of the standard package.

I'll e-mail them and ask, but I doubt I have either... Not to mention I'd
still need a way to access these through the Treo.

I have this feeling I'm going to have to find a Linux expert to help me set
something up along the lines of...

* I send an e-mail to my linux box at home
* My Linux box e-mails me back the code
* I edit it and e-mail it back again
* My linux box takes this code and gives it to an FTP program which uploads
it for me.

Thanks for the line of inquiry though, at least it's a start!

(PS, sorry for the e-mail, damn that 'reply' button being right next to
'reply group'!)

 

[Hywel]

I'll e-mail them and ask, but I doubt I have either... Not to mention I'd
still need a way to access these through the Treo.

I have this feeling I'm going to have to find a Linux expert to help me set
something up along the lines of...

* I send an e-mail to my linux box at home
* My Linux box e-mails me back the code
* I edit it and e-mail it back again
* My linux box takes this code and gives it to an FTP program which uploads
it for me.

Why not write a process for your Linux box that catches the email and
does the changes for you - you just email it with instructions.

 

[Adrian Wood]

Why not write a process for your Linux box that catches the email and
does the changes for you - you just email it with instructions.

That's kinda what I was thinking, but the problem is, I don't have the
faintest idea where to start. I know enough about Linux to install it, and
that's about it... And I'm no programmer. That's why I need help :/ I'm
hoping someone will stumble across this who could see it as an interesting
challenge to take on and set up for me, because although I'm not lacking the
drive or desire to set it up myself, I am severely lacking the know-how.

 

[Hywel]

That's kinda what I was thinking, but the problem is, I don't have the
faintest idea where to start. I know enough about Linux to install it, and
that's about it... And I'm no programmer. That's why I need help :/ I'm
hoping someone will stumble across this who could see it as an interesting
challenge to take on and set up for me, because although I'm not lacking the
drive or desire to set it up myself, I am severely lacking the know-how.

Write a Perl script to check the mail file for a particular address,
parse the content of any email it finds, HTTP POST that to a script
running on your web server, delete the email.

 

[Adrian Wood]

Write a Perl script to check the mail file for a particular address,
parse the content of any email it finds, HTTP POST that to a script
running on your web server, delete the email.

The problem there is, even if I did know PERL, I don't have the capability
of running a script on my server; I have webspace, but as previously
mentioned, that's it. It's just a basic ISP giveaway, I'm afraid!

Still, thanks for trying; at least it might come in useful if I wind up
moving for whatever reason.

 

[Augustus]

Hello all!

I've set up a small personal website for mobile devices (PDAs/Smartphones
etc) with links to mobile-friendly websites.

I've realised it would be very useful if I could update the site through my
PDA (A handspring Treo 600, Palm OS5.) The question is, how to do it?

I was wondering if it's possible to build a web interface to do this;
something which would list the HTML pages currently on the site, and open up
the selected pages source in an editable format?

I have plenty of webspace... about 55MB... but no server access on any other
level, so JAVAscript and XHTML are in, but PHP etc are out.

Failing that, I guess I just have to learn to code and write a combined HTML
editor/FTP client for Palm.

If you could do server side scripting this wouldn't be that hard to do...
but you don't

Instead of "write a combined..." why don't you just download an FTP program
to your palm and use a plain text editor? When you are done you can FTP the
programs back up to the site (the web browser should be able to work as an
FTP client as well)

 

[Toby A Inkster]

I was wondering if it's possible to build a web interface to do this;
something which would list the HTML pages currently on the site, and open up
the selected pages source in an editable format?

I have plenty of webspace... about 55MB... but no server access on any other
level, so JAVAscript and XHTML are in, but PHP etc are out.

To do this you will need something more than HTTP and FTP access to the
server. Either:

a) use some scripting language that can be run by the webserver (Perl,
PHP, etc) to build a basic content management system;

b) use a mail account and cron jobs to scan for incoming mail and add
whatever they find to the web site; or

c) find a second server that you can use to host CMS scripts as per option
(a) and then upload the finished product to your main server by FTP.

 

[Hywel]

The problem there is, even if I did know PERL,

Now's the time to learn, then.

I don't have the capability
of running a script on my server; I have webspace, but as previously
mentioned, that's it. It's just a basic ISP giveaway, I'm afraid!

In that case, get your Perl script to create an HTML document that then
gets FTP'd to the server using scripted FTP. Easy peasy.

 

[Adrian Wood]

Now's the time to learn, then.

A few pointers on where to start learning wouldn't go amiss?

In that case, get your Perl script to create an HTML document that then
gets FTP'd to the server using scripted FTP. Easy peasy.

Easy peasy, *if* you know how.

I'm trying to keep the 'Linux proxy' approach as a backup; I'll be looking
into it (I've been told Procmail can help out with the whole automated tasks
thing) but unless I can get some serious help/advice in setting it up, the
web interface seems the way to go.

After all, useful as this feature I'm after would be, I could do without it,
so learning a whole programming language just for this seems a little like
the "wrecking ball to bang a nail" approach.

 

[Hywel]

A few pointers on where to start learning wouldn't go amiss?


Easy peasy, *if* you know how.

http://www.google.com/ - Perl tutorial.

 

[Adrian Wood]

open

If you could do server side scripting this wouldn't be that hard to do...
but you don't

Instead of "write a combined..." why don't you just download an FTP program
to your palm and use a plain text editor? When you are done you can FTP the
programs back up to the site (the web browser should be able to work as an
FTP client as well)

Ahh, you might be onto something here.

I didn't think there were any Palm FTP clients, but I rechecked based on
your post and, sure enough, there are. Now it's just a matter of getting one
that actually works, and I'm 99% sorted.

 

[Adrian Wood]

Ahh, you might be onto something here.

I didn't think there were any Palm FTP clients, but I rechecked based on
your post and, sure enough, there are. Now it's just a matter of getting one
that actually works, and I'm 99% sorted.

<snips>

Turns out the problem wasn't with the FTP clients, but with my ISP
apparently disallowing FTP access from connections outside their network. As
a result of my posts here, I was generously offered use of a proper server
to host from, and the result is, everything works!

So, thanks to Augustus for the FTP client nudge, and J.E.S for the server
space, I owe you one!

As for everyone else, thanks for your suggestions, if things hadn't gone the
way they had... well, let's just say I'd already started work on the Perl
script I would've needed.