2. How to Start the SendFile Application
7. Beehive Contact Information
Sendfile is a true Internet application (ASP). On the user side, it is a browser-based application with a JAVA applet that is served to the users browser from the central www.sendfile.net server. The central www.sendfile.net server keeps track of all the users, forms, logos and ftp keys. Each user has a sponsor account which is identified by a unique 32 character account code which is embedded in the access URL (typically on the "How to Send us File" page. When the URL is accessed, the user is prompted for their UsrID and Password and if the system authenticates them, they are given access to the Java Applet and the complete Sendfile application. Sendfile virtualizes ftp, i.e. the actual ftp server may be anywhere on the network. The Sendfile server just serves the encrypted ftp parameters to the systems users, when they send files, they make a direct ftp connection to the ftp server specified in the key. In this way, the www.sendfile.net server is never a bottle neck for file transfer. Sendfile is just an application and access server.
Sendfile file transfer is generally considered to be a simple as 1-2-3 operation as shown in the diagram below:
Mac - I.E. v4.5 or higher, preferably v5.0 or higher; must also have MRJ v2.1 or higher; must have Java enabled and user must grant permissions to Beehive/Sendfile Digital Certificates.
Mac - Netscape v4.0 or higher preferably v4.7 or higher; must also have MRJ v2.1 or higher; user must grant permissions to Beehive/Sendfile Digital Certificates.
Win - I.E. v4.5 or higher, preferably v5.0 or higher; Java enabled and user must grant permissions to Beehive/Sendfile Digital Certificates.
Win - Netscape v4.0 or higher , preferably v4.7 or higher; user must grant permissions to Beehive/Sendfile Digital Certificates.
Linux - Netscape v4.7 or higher; user must grant permissions to Beehive/Sendfile Digital Certificates.
Most clients first encounter Beehive and Sendfile.NET from the "How to send us Files" html page customized for a specific printing or prepress site. The linked macftp.sea.bin and winftp.exe files are completely customized for that site and the links to the SendFile.NET browser based file transfer portal are also custom.
Picture - Sample how to send us files page
In the "How to Send us Files" page there are 2 URLs for SendFile.NET :
* 1st time users - this URL will immediately prompt the prospective user to enter their user information (name address etc.) and password before they get to the SendFile page. They will also have to grant some special rights to SendFile.NET by clicking OK when presented with some digital certificates.
* existing accounts (already have password) - this URL is for users who have already used SendFile.NET..they will be immediately prompted for their userID and password and will go directly to the SendFile.NET page where their user information will already be "auto filled" into the form.
First Time Users
The first time that you use SendFile.NET, you will be prompted to enter a login-ID and password, along with your user information. This information will be stored on the system. This way, you will not have to re-enter your user information into your order form every time you use the system.
Picture - user information window
Once you have filled out your user information and you have clicked "Sign Up!", the window will close and you will be welcomed to the system.
Picture - Welcome window
Click on the "Click Here" link and you will be prompted again for your userID and password; once you are authenticated you will be presented the Sendfile.NET file transfer window.
Depending on the security settings of your browser, you may be presented with up to three windows asking you to grant the SendFile.NET applet additional rights that it will need in order to act as an FTP client. Just click on the "Grant" button to give these rights to SendFile.NET. You may also wish to enable the check box in these windows if you do not want to be prompted again in the future.
Existing Users
If you already have a password on the Sendfile.NET system, you may click on the URL for existing user. You will be prompted for your userID and password;
Picture - Logging on
Once you are authenticated you will be presented the Sendfile.NET file transfer window.
Sendfile Desktop File Prep Utility
Macintosh users are given the opportunity to download the Mac binary encoding utility for Sendfile. When you login to the Sendfile application for the first time as a Macintosh user, you will receive a message that says you can click to download FilePrep. If you do not decline this download, it will begin automatically. This utility is very useful for Mac users because it captures all the Macintosh file resources that would ordinarily be lost in an Internet file transfer.
Picture - File Prep Download
To send a job to an ftp site:
1) Login to SendFile.NET by clicking on the Sendfile URL.
2) Enter your user ID and password to access the Send Window.
3) You will notice that your user information has already been filled out on the form. So just enter your message (form information) and attach your files. To attach your files - click on the browse button. This will open a browse window that you may use to find the files you want to send.
Sending a job with multiple destination key choices
4) Addressing the form is only required if there are more than one destination keys loaded in the system. The "To: field will be a drop down button for you to select the correct destination.
If there is only one destination key (only one site to send to, the form header will not have the "To:" field, i.e. everything will be sent to the ONE default key.
5) After you have attached all the files, just click the Send button on the bottom of the window. You will receive a status window that will show you the status of the file transfer.
Picture - File transfer window
To send a job to an email address:
When you open SendFile.NET when the Getfile function is enabled, you will see a special recipient email field at the top of the form. It typically says "Recipient", if you do not want the job to go to the default ftp site, you may enter the user's email address instead. If somebody enters an email address, then the system creates a user ID (from the recipient email address) and a password and sends the recipient an email notification with a URL to call their account in Sendfile and this account information to login. (the "Receiving Files" section below describes how a user picks up the files you sent them).
Picture - Email Addressing
To receive a job:
If a sender used the email addressing scheme to address the job, then the system creates a user ID (from the recipient email address) and password and sends the recipient an email with this a URL for the job and the account information.
Picture - Notification email
The recipient clicks on the link, which launches their browser and presents them with the login dialog. Once they are logged in, they open their "inbox" and select the job they want. Highlighting a job in the inbox displays the form and the attachments on the right. The user should check the checkboxes next to the files he wants to download and click on the "Get Files!" button.
Picture -Sendfile Inbox
They recipient will then be presented with a download dialog - select the local drive folder where you want the downloaded files to go:
Picture - Download Dialog
Once you press "Select", the file transfer window will open and the files will be downloaded:
Picture - File Transfer Window
Each sponsor site, i.e. printing, prepress, newspaper or reprographic center running a Beehive/Sendfile system needs to establish an administrator. When the system is setup, the Beehive systems engineer will send the designated administrator the access information for managing the account.
If you want to access the administrator page for SendFile.NET for your site, click on the URL provided by the Beehive technical staff:
EXAMPLE : http://www.sendfile.net/<--32 character acct#here-->/sponsor
When prompted for UserID and password, enter the values provided by the Beehive technical staff:
Admin User : XXXXXXX
Password : XXXXXXXXX
This administrative page provides administrative functions for users, forms, sites and splash screens.
The user administration page will allow you to see all of the users of your system.
Clicking on any of the user names will allow you to view the details for that user. You may enable and disable users from this window. The administrator may also change passwords from this page.
The "Manage Forms" page will allow you to add/delete forms. Add forms by using the browse button to select the html form from your local drive and then click the "Add!" button to load it to the Sendfile site. To delete a form, just highlight it in the forms list and click "Delete selected Form". To rename a form, highlight it in the forms list and then enter a new value in the "Rename form to:" text box. The name will be changed in the system as soon as you click on the "Rename" button.
To edit forms online. Highlight the form you want to edit and click the "Edit Selected Form" button. This will open the edit form window. The "Save"
The "Manage Sites" page allows you to add/delete/edit/rename site keys (ftp parameters).
Highlighting a key in the key list and clicking on the "Edit Selected Site" button will open the Edit Key window:
Every ftp site key must have a Server URL or IP address, a user ID and a password. Path is an optional field. You may also select PASV (passive mode ftp transfers) or disable PASV for Active mode transfers. It is important to remember however that Netscape for the Mac does NOT support active mode transfers. If you want the Beehive "On-the-Fly" streaming file compression to be used - ensure that the "Use Compression" checkbox is enabled.
Highlighted sites in the site list may also be deleted or renamed. Clicking on the "Add New Site..." will open up the Edit Key window and the admin can add a new site key. This process is different from the "Add Site Key:" function where the admin can browse for a pre-made key and upload it to the site.
The "Custom Splash" Screen window allows the administrator to change the splash screen that is displayed in all the desktop clients in the admin's sponsor network.
Problem: When attempting to use the Sendfile.NET application the user gets the error: "Class not found"
Solution: This may occur if the user rejected any of the digital certificates when the dialog boxes popped up. If you click "No" to accepting the digital certificates the first time you use the application, you have not authorized certain classes in the application to operate. Login as a new user and Grant all rights requested.
Problem: Buttons in sendfile aren't enabled
Solution: You must use a browser with both Java and JavaScript support. Most current browsers have this support and it is turned "ON" by default. Sometime This feature is turned off in Netscape. In Netscape, open the preferences and select "Advanced", click both the JAVA and JavaScript checkboxes.
Problem: Sendfile system just hangs when it attempts to send file or the file transfer window opens up and the following error is displayed: JAVA Error NO route to host. Netscape/Mac only.
Solution: Configure Sendfile for a proxy server. Beehive and SendFile.NET use the standard ftp port 21. If you or your customer has a proxy server installed, intercepting port 21, then you will have to go into the Sendfile User Information window and configure the proxy settings (this is true of all ftp clients).
Firewalls/proxy servers typically strip off the parameters for the remote ftp server and pass them only if the login parameters to the proxy server were correct. Logging into a remote ftp server through a firewall is done with a composite UserID and Password which the Sendfile application will perform for you if you give it the correct information.
Before you can configure this setup you must get the following parameters from your firewall administrator:
* IP address of proxy server/firewall (referred to as proxy-ip address in instructions below)
* userID login for proxy server/firewall (referred to as proxylogin)
* password for proxy server/firewall (referred to as proxypasswd)
Procedure for Configuration:
1) open the user information window from the Sendfile menu item.
2) Enter the proxy information from your admin.
Sendfile User Info Window showing proxy configuration
NOTE: Do NOT enter anything into the Proxy text boxes unless you have a proxy server installed, This will interfere with operation of the software.