Too many Cluster files

[Jeff Walters]

Hi

I tried using the Web Installation feature with a large application (29M), with over 200 html files and even more images - as part of a browser-based help + numerous website themes that I distribute with my application.

I ended up with an upload process that took forever due to the FTP of individual files / the FTP confirmation per file, vs uploading a singe large EXE.

Is there no way of specifying a cluser size - say 2, or 4 M, so I have 5-10 clusters containing multiple files, rather than 900 clusters - each containing individual files - some of which are 1k or even smaller? Essentially the same method that you use for spanning disks - stipulate the required size, and SB manages the process.

Current massive list of tiny files doesn't work for me. The webupdate is less of an issue for me right now - as I am updating only a few files while I am testing this - but I can see a potential problem when I do a major version update.

Any suggestions as to how I get this to use this effectively? Current thoughts are to revert back to full Setup files for initial installs, and hope that WebUpdater don't become a nightmare with major updates.

[linder]

Jeff,

A 29 MB application with 200+ html files and 700+ image files is not that large. Some of our customers are using Web Update and Web Install with 300+ MB installations (and 2,000+ files).

I would suggest to use your favorite FTP client instead of the built-in FTP feature to upload the files to your site.

Does this help?

Friedrich

Friedrich Linder
Lindersoft
www.lindersoft.com
+1.954.252.3910

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[Jeff Walters]

Hi Friedrich

I dislike loading lots of tiny files - as FileZilla also confirms each file is OK - so it is a much slower process than uploading only a few files. I killed the upload using the built-in upload, and switched to external FTP (FileZilla), but it still took an age (on broadband).

One technique that I have used is to zip a folder with hundreds of files, upload the single zip, and then extract it on the server. This has worked far faster than individual file uploads. It would be nice option to offer. I've been told that not all servers will allow this - but it works on those that I tried it on.

Quite a number of my customers are relatively unsophisticated web users - some with dialups - not corporates with large bandwidth. The simpler and quicker I can make the install and updating process the better. Killing my laptop with very slow uploads doesn't fit that requirement.

[linder]

Jeff,

We'll investigate if it is possible to add such a "custom cluster size" option.

Thank you for your suggestion.

Friedrich