The Frodis Co. iDropper 1.0b review
DownloadiDropper, at its heart, is an FTP file transfer system.
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iDropper, at its heart, is an FTP file transfer system. But iDropper takes FTP transfer to the next level by giving you the ability to make "droplets" which deliver files to a server with little or no intervention from your end user. The end user could be a customer, client or colleague from whom you need to receive files.
Droplets works on Mac OS X and Windows XP SP2 with .Net installed.
Consider the following scenario: A typical iDropper user would be a commercial printer, who needs to receive large volumes of files from customers on a daily basis. Normally this would involve handling many CD-ROM discs delivered through conventional shipping channels, or the tedious explanation of the FTP file transfer process using standard FTP clients. With iDropper, there is no need to explain the FTP process to customers; no need to exchange sensitive FTP login and password information; no need to give customers any direct access to the FTP server. Instead, an administrator at the printer’s location would simply use iDropper to configure a droplet for the customer. The administrator would then deliver the droplet to the customer via e-mail. The customer would then copy the Droplet to his desktop. Then the customer would simply drag and drop files and folders onto a desktop icon to complete the file delivery.
Sounds great so far, right? But Wait…There’s More!
We weren’t satisfied with simply taking FTP transfer to the next level, so we went several levels beyond! Where iDropper truly excels is after file delivery. Droplets can be configured to send you an E-mail message after the delivery, so you know when files have been uploaded to your server. Droplets can also collect information about the job (Job Info) and deliver that information along with the files. You can create a custom form that is presented to the end user when files are ready to be uploaded. The form will be transmitted along with the files. Web Scripting takes this yet another step further. After delivery the droplet can POST to a web server just like a web form would in a browser. Any number of fields can be defined and POSTed. The names of the files are POSTed as well as the Job Info file location. A server side script (like PHP, JSP, ASP, etc.) that receives the POST can do nearly anything with it. It can move files, unzip them, update a database, send e-mail to an account rep; you can use custom scripts to fit into your workflow.
Limitations:
The application and any droplets created will both stop working on October 31, 2006.
A new beta may be released before the current expiration.
Requirements:
Configurator requires Mac OS X 10.4
Mac Droplets require Mac OS X 10.3.9.
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