Uploader file types

[Aaron Brown]

Eli Cochran wrote:
> Fascinating. Great catch. I'll check it out on Monday.
> 
> Curious about the .zip thing though. I would be surprised but it's very 
> easy to check.

I now have a file that cannot be uploaded from Mac/Safari.  I haven't 
yet tested any other browser since I don't own a Mac myself, so I'm 
begging borrowed time from co-workers to do my debugging.  If you'd like 
a copy of the file, I'll happily send it to you.

My initial suspicion:  The culprit is the data/resource forking on the 
file confusing the SWFupload widget into thinking there is no file 
there.  If I'm right, there are several implications:

1) The problem is only testable on a Macintosh since the error is 
related to the OS's file system.  Working with the same file on any 
other platform produces a different result.

2) The problem lies in SWFupload, not in Infusion.

3) As a result of (2), you can't fix it, you can only hope that it gets 
fixed.

At this point it's only a hunch that this is the cause, and I'd like to 
be wrong here since the outcome wouldn't be pretty.  The file I have is 
actually a .zip file, created on Mac OS X, containing a single file - a 
font file - and that internal file, once uncompressed from the .zip, 
cannot be uploaded.

When I unzip the file in Linux, I see typical Mac forked file output: a 
file with the right filename, but a size of zero, plus a MACOSX 
directory within which is a file that is actually the file I want. (see 
terminal output below)

When I try to upload the file using the Uploader on Mac/Safari, I can 
Browse, pick the file from the list (I'm choosing the font file, not the 
.zip file), and click OK.  When the file chooser disappears, I see an 
empty file queue, as if I hadn't picked a file, after all.  I cannot 
click Upload - there isn't anything in the queue.

So I should clarify a bit: The real problem is that I cannot add this 
file to the queue.  Uploading is a moot point, since I can't get that far.

These experiences lead me to believe that the flash widget is looking at 
the file in a not-native-MacOSX way, so it sees the null-length file and 
not the actual data fork.  When it sees that I've selected an empty 
file, it won't let me add it to the list.  Hence my suspicions that I 
outlined above.  I can at least confirm that the file picker/queue 
behaves the same way on my Linux system when I choose to upload the 
zero-length file created from the .zip. (again, see below)

As I said, I'll be happy to email a copy of this .zip file to anyone who 
wants to take a stab at debugging.  I'll keep testing on my end so far 
as I'm able.  I couldn't find any reference to this problem by googling 
for it re: SWFupload, but someone else may have better luck there.

Here's the terminal output I promised earlier:

$ unzip Monotype\ Sorts.zip
Archive:  Monotype Sorts.zip
  extracting: Monotype Sorts
    creating: __MACOSX/
   inflating: __MACOSX/._Monotype Sorts

$ ls -al
total 72
drwxr-xr-x  3 brown brown  4096 2009-04-27 21:35 .
drwxr-xr-x 10 brown brown  4096 2009-04-27 21:35 ..
drwxrwxr-x  2 brown brown  4096 2009-04-27 10:48 __MACOSX
-rwxrwxrwx  1 brown brown     0 2003-09-23 11:58 Monotype Sorts
-rw-r--r--  1 brown brown 53739 2009-04-27 21:35 Monotype Sorts.zip

  - Aaron

P.S. Forking Mac OS X file system.  Fork.

-- 
Aaron Brown :: aaron at thebrownproject.com :: www.thebrownproject.com