Using the Plain-Text Client

EFT comes with a built-in upload form, known as the Plain-Text Client (PTC). When HTTP or HTTPS transfers are enabled in the EFT administration interface and your users have permission to upload to EFT using HTTP or HTTPS, they can upload files to their home directory via a Web browser using the PTC. The PTC uses JavaScript; it does not require you to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). If your end users cannot or do not want to allow JavaScript, you must turn off JavaScript in the browser. With JavaScript disabled, many of the PTC features are disabled, including file delete, file rename, change password, new folder creation, and log out.

Browser-based (HTTP/S) uploads are limited by the browser to a 2GB or less file size; therefore, EFT does not allow PTC uploads larger than 2GB. In addition, EFT administrators can further limit the size of uploads by changing the setting in the Settings Template or user account (which is set to 0—unlimited—by default). When using the PTC, EFT checks the size of the uploaded file and will close the connection if it exceeds the specified limit. The browser stops the transfer process upon the connection closing and informs the user of the broken connection. The "over size limit" error message sent by EFT is not presented to the user, because the browser is no longer connected to EFT; only the browser's information regarding the broken connection is displayed. The exact message varies by browser.

The PTC does not support file transfers >2GB; if you want to transfer files larger than 2GB, use the Web Transfer Client (WTC).

  • Ensure the Windows Firewall on the EFT computer is not blocking Web access. In most Windows operating systems, the Windows Firewall is turned on by default.

  • If you are sending files with the Secure Ad Hoc Transfer (SAT) module and using Single-Click Authentication, SAT creates the Single-Click link and sends it to the user. When the user follows the link, the PTC appears.

  • If the Web Transfer Client (WTC) is installed, enabled, and has licenses available, you can transfer files with the WTC instead of the PTC. The WTC benefits include resume support, a transfer queue, sending multiple files concurrently (as opposed to sequentially), no file-size limit, drag-and-drop support, and integrity validation.

The procedures below describe how to:

To transfer files to/from EFT using the PTC

  1. In a Web browser, type or paste the URL for EFT. If you are using an HTTP or HTTPS port other than the default, also provide the port number in the URL. For example, type: http://10.0.0.124:8080/. The EFT login page appears.

  2. Provide your login information, select the Use plain interface check box, and then click Login.

To upload a file

  1. Click Upload. The Upload bar appears. (To close the Upload bar, click Upload again.)

  2. Click Browse. A standard Open dialog box (depending on your operating system) appears.

  3. In the Open dialog box, select a file, and then click Open.

  4. In the PTC, click Upload. The file is uploaded to EFT and appears in the file listing.

To download a file

Do one of the following:

To rename a file or folder

  1. Select the check box next to the folder or filename, then click Rename. The Rename dialog box appears.

  2. Click in the New Name box, type a new name for the folder or file, and then click OK. The folder or file is renamed.

To delete a file

  1. Select the check box next to the filename, and then click Delete. A confirmation message appears.

  2. Click OK to delete the file or Cancel to keep the file.

To create a new folder

  1. Click New Folder. A dialog box appears in which you can type a name for the folder.

  2. Click OK. The folder appears in the tree.

To change your password

I f the user account does not have Change Password enabled on the Server, the Change Password button is not available.

  1. Click Change Password. The Change Password dialog box appears.

  2. In the Current Password box, type the password that you used to log in to the Web Transfer Client.

  3. In the New Password box, type a new password.

  4. In the Confirm Password box, type the new password again.

  5. Click Apply to verify the new password or Cancel to keep your current password.

  6. The login dialog box appears. Type your new password, then click OK to log back in to EFT.

To log out

  1. Click Logout. A message box appears explaining that you have been logged out of EFT, and reminds you that for extra security, you should close the browser.

  2. Click Exit. If a confirmation message appears, click OK. The browser closes.

Customizing the PTC

You can customize the PTC to suit your needs. For example, you can change the Globalscape logo to your logo. Be sure to change only the HTML between the <body> tags. Changing content within the <head> tags could make the PTC unusable.

The safest way to edit the form is to make a backup copy first, then make one change at a time so that you can more easily back out the changes you make, if necessary. The files that make up the PTC page are stored on the EFT computer (e.g., C:\Program Files\Globalscape\EFT Enterprise\web\public\EFTClient\ptc\). You can also create a Site-specific branded page.

To customize the PTC for a Site

  1. In the \web\custom\ folder, create a new folder with the same name as your Site. For example, name it MySite.

  2. In the MySite folder, create a folder named EFTClient.

  3. Copy the contents of \web\public\EFTClient\ptc\ into \web\custom\MySite\EFTClient\ptc\.

  4. Make all of your changes in the \custom\ptc folder.

You can copy the entire contents of the public folder into custom and/or MySite\custom. If you want to customize the interface, you will edit the files in the custom folder for those web pages. EFT first looks in the Site's custom directory \web\custom\MySite\EFTClient and loads any branded files. For files that are not present in the Site's \custom\MySite\ directory, EFT checks the Server's custom directory, \web\custom\EFTClient\, and loads the files that it finds there. Finally, for any other files, it will load the default files from \web\public\. Branded files that are Site specific override any Server-wide branded and default files. Branded files that are Server-wide override the default (Globalscape-branded) files provided by the installer.

The files that you can edit include:

To replace the Globalscape logo with your logo

  1. Edit your company logo so that it is 320 x 63 pixels and save it in the custom folder, with the same path as in public folder. For example, C:\Program Files\Globalscape\EFT Server Enterprise\web\custom\EFTClient\ptc\.

  2. Open EFTWebClientPlainText.htm in a text editor and find the image tag (e.g., <img alt="Globalscape Enhanced File Transfer" src="/EFTClient/EFTPlainTextClientRes/banner.png" style="width: 320px; height: 63px" />).

  3. Replace banner.png with the filename of your logo.

(Or just name your logo banner.png and replace the Globalscape banner.png. Be sure to save a backup copy of the logos in another location.)

You will not be able to see your changes in a WYSIWYG editor. You will have to copy the changes to the EFT installation folder, then refresh the browser to see the changes. (It is a good idea to save a copy of all original files so you can revert to them if necessary.)