getting WebDAV syncing to work

turadg
Has anyone gotten the new File Syncing feature to work? I've tried it with several WebDAV servers with no success.

The last I tried was box.net which offers 1GB free storage. I can add it as a network folder in XP, but when I put the same URL in the new Storage Options and clicked Verify, it said it couldn't reach the server.

eager to sync,
Turadg
  • dstillman
    What URLs are you trying to enter (obscuring any usernames if you like)?
  • turadg
    I've gotten two different types of errors.

    My MS Office Live workspace url, which mounts a folder in my Network Places, is http://turadg.workspace.office.live.com/. With that I get an error box that contains just "-15". I tried making a "zotero" folder in the window shell, and that itself fails with "Unable to create new folder".

    So then I found a service where I can make a new folder. I mounted my Box.net account with this url, https://box.net/dav/ and made a "zotero" folder. Then I tried that in Zotero (specifically I put "box.net/dav" in the field) and got the error, "The server box.net could not be reached".

    Any suggestions?
  • dstillman
    edited September 5, 2008
    Are those the exact URLs you're entering, or are there username parts as well? The following assumes those are the actual URLs and may not apply otherwise.

    We haven't yet added user-friendly explanations for all the error codes, but -15 means it's an unknown error. Are you sure that live.com URL supports WebDAV? It appears to redirect to a login web page, which won't work for Zotero and also causes a "Redirect error" in a dedicated WebDAV client I tried. MS might be doing something special (other than WebDAV) to get that to work with Network Places.

    As for box.net, there are a few problems there:

    1) box.net uses a wildcard SSL certificate, *.box.net, which, at least currently, requires whitelisting via Firefox before you can use it with Zotero. So you can load that URL in Firefox, accept the wildcard cert, and then return to Zotero.

    2) https://box.net/dav/ redirects to https://www.box.net/dav/. Zotero doesn't handle redirects for WebDAV—you need to enter the final destination URL.

    3) https://www.box.net/dav/ redirects to http://www.box.net/dav/ (no SSL) before prompting you for your password. Zotero doesn't handle this redirect either, but it also means box.net doesn't appear to use SSL, at least for the login process and possibly for the rest of the data transfer. Zotero currently only supports HTTPS transfer for WebDAV.
  • pesho
    WebDav works fine for me so far (2 hours).

    If you have a moderately sized library with attached PDFs it may take a while to import it even if the WebDav server is on your local network as in my case.

    Fantastic job Dan! I hope the new word plugin is coming along too.
  • turadg
    Dan, thanks for the detailed explanation.

    I see the Live.com WebDAV uses non-standard authentication, if it even really is WebDAV. It has the same icon and properties in "My Network Places" as WebDAV services, but it operates differently in IE and Firefox. (Pulls up a web console.)

    I've got the box.net SSL whitelisted (1) and I can change the URL I use to the www version (2). To get around (3) either:
    a) Zotero supports non-SSL HTTP transfers OR
    b) box.net supports SSL HTTPS transfers

    I'll write Box.net to see if they can do that. It seems Zotero users could be a big new market for them.

    What are the chances Zotero could support non-SSL HTTP transfers (a)?

    And in the meantime, does anyone recommend a free or inexpensive WebDAV service?

    -Turadg
  • turadg
    UPDATE: forget Box.net. When I asked their support about supporting SSL connections they replied,
    As of this time, we do not support webdav as a Box.net feature. Please let us know if you have any other questions regarding our service.
    So it's an unsupported feature, which has bugs that won't be resolved.
  • erazlogo
    edited September 7, 2008
    a wildcard SSL certificate ... which, at least currently, requires whitelisting via Firefox before you can use it with Zotero. So you can load that URL in Firefox, accept the wildcard cert, and then return to Zotero. ...
    Zotero doesn't handle redirects for WebDAV—you need to enter the final destination URL. ...
    Zotero currently only supports HTTPS transfer for WebDAV.
    Dan--I added the above info to the Sync Preview page to provide some directions on how to set up the WebDAV sync. Please edit if it requires further clarification--I didn't really understand whether the whitelisting issue only arises with wildcard certificates or whether these are two separate issues.

    Does one need to create a /zotero/ directory in WebDAV before using file sync, or does Zotero automatically create it on first sync?
  • dstillman
    edited September 7, 2008
    I added the above info to the Sync Preview page to provide some directions on how to set up the WebDAV sync
    Great, thanks.
    Does one need to create a /zotero/ directory in WebDAV before using file sync, or does Zotero automatically create it on first sync?
    Zotero will offer to create it for you if it doesn't exist when you click "Verify Server".
  • turadg
    I've got a verifying server now, but it doesn't seem to be syncing correctly.

    I'm using an account on BlueHost which says that their WebDAV is part of cPanel, so this may apply to all cPanel-based WebDAV.

    I navigate in Firefox to the WebDAV URL in order to record an SSL cert exception. Then I enter the same into Zotero and click Verify. It works.

    Then three ZIP archives showed up in my "zotero" folder on the WebDAV path. But these added up to < 1MB and my Zotero "storage" folder is 107MB across 213 subdirs. (e.g. 2AJ7HQPQ) Two of these match the ZIPs in the WebDAV zotero folder, but one of the WebDAV zips doesn't match anything in my real storage folder.

    Then I tried resetting storage history. Looking at my error console, there's one error:
    Error: no element found
    Source File: https://MYWEBDAV/zotero/zotero-test-file
    Line: 1

    I take it that Zotero puts the file and gets it back in order to verify WebDAV works. Given this error, did it not really work, even though the Verify button says it succeeded? Or is this error not really an error?

    eager to sync,
    Turadg
  • sean
    Is it possible that you interrupted the file sync while it was still in progress? I don't know what your upload speed is, but it's going to take a while to send 107 MB, even with zip compression.
  • turadg
    Yes, that's possible. In case that was what happened, I tried to reset the sync. The closest function I could was "reset history".

    Is there a way to reset the sync to start over and try again?

    Is there some status or progress indicator? Should I just watch the Firefox Error Console?
  • wouterstomp
    Why are only HTTPS transfer supported for WebDAV?
  • dstillman
    Why are only HTTPS transfer supported for WebDAV?
    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/3992/#Item_7

    HTTP will be an option in the next release.
  • wouterstomp
    Thanks!
This discussion has been closed.