AFP Engage! User's Guide

Using AFP Engage!

System Requirements

• Mac OS version 7.5 or later
• 512 KB RAM for the application
• Open Transport 1.1.2 or later
• AppleShare Client 3.7 or later (previous versions may work for AppleTalk URLs)
• Netscape 2.0 or later and/or Microsoft Explorer 3.0 or later
• Internet Config 1.3 or later (if desired)

Installation & Usage

Place AFP Engage! at any convenient location on your hard drive. AFP Engage! works with your Web browser, Eudora 3.0 or later, or any application supporting Internet Config. See the next four sections below.

Registering AFP Engage! With Your Web Browser

To register AFP Engage! with your Web browser, be sure the browser is running, and launch AFP Engage! On first launch, AFP Engage! will automatically register with whatever Web browser is running. Once AFP Engage! is registered with your browser, your browser is capable of processing AFP URLs. After first launch, you can register AFP Engage! with a Web browser by launching the browser and choosing Register from AFP Engage's File menu.

Should you ever want to unregister AFP Engage!, you can do so by launching your browser and choosing Unregister from AFP Engage's File menu.

Using AFP Engage! With Eudora

Eudora 3.0 or later will automatically recognize and highlight any URL enclosed in angle brackets (for instance <afp://afp.opendoor.com>). The first time you click on a highlighted AFP URL, Eudora will ask you to select the helper app to use to process that URL. Simply select AFP Engage! and it will be used to process that URL and all other AFP URLs from then on (if you ever want to change the helper app selected, hold down the option key while clicking). Eudora versions through 3.1 will not, however, automatically recognize AFP URLs that are not enclosed in angle brackets. To use AFP Engage! to process such URLs, you can command-click the URL (select the whole URL and then click it while holding down the command key). It is also possible to teach Eudora 3.x to automatically recognize AFP URLs through a procedure documented in the release notes.

Using AFP Engage! With Internet Config

AFP Engage! can work as a helper app for any application which supports Internet Config (version 1.3 or later). To register AFP Engage! with Internet Config, run Internet Config and choose the "Helpers" window. Click the add button and type in "afp" in the "helper for" field. Then click the "Choose" button and locate AFP Engage! Be sure to quit Internet Config and save changes to complete the registration.

Using AFP Engage! With Other Applications

AFP Engage! will work with any application which sends it a standard GetURL (GURL) or OpenURL (OURL) Apple Event. These Apple Events are documented at http://www.scripting.com/midas/geturl.html.

How AFP Engage! Works

AFP Engage! acts as a helper app in conjunction with Internet applications. Technically, in relation to Web browsers, it is an external protocol handler rather than a helper app. That is, it processes Internet protocols, not MIME types like a helper app does, and will not show up in the browser's helper app list. In all other respects, it acts just like a helper app. When AFP Engage! is registered with an Internet application, that application is then capable of using AFP Engage! to process URLs of the forms:

afp://server-name/volume-name*/path

and

afp:/at/server-name/volume-name*/path

* NOTE: The volume-name field may be optional, depending on the version of AppleShare client used. The path field is optional. See the AFP URLs chapter for details.

These are called AFP (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) URLs. The first form is used over TCP/IP, the second over AppleTalk. AFP URL syntax is discussed in depth in the AFP URL section. AFP Engage! can take one of several actions when it encounters an AFP URL. The choices are presented in the Preferences window, discussed in the next section.

Preferences

The Preferences window is shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Preferences Window

Automatically quit when finished - If checked, tells AFP Engage! to quit after processing each AFP URL; otherwise, AFP Engage! remains in memory. AFP Engage! takes less than 512 KB of RAM; leaving it in memory makes processing AFP URLs somewhat faster, since AFP Engage! doesn't have to reload for each URL.

Allow server login messages to appear - If not checked, means you won't see the same greeting every time you connect to an AppleShare server which has the login message feature enabled.

Display status window - If checked, tells AFP Engage! to display a status window as it is processing AFP URLs.

Pathname processing - You can tell AFP Engage! to take one of two basic actions when it processes an AFP URL:

• Don't process pathnames in URLs - Just mount the volume indicated in the URL on the desktop. The volume appears on the desktop as though it were a local drive.
  
  
• Process pathnames in URLs - Mount the server and process pathnames in URLs. See the next two choices.

If you choose to process pathnames in URLs, you can also choose to:

• Just open the indicated folder - If a folder is specified in the URL, AFP Engage! tells the Finder to open a window displaying the contents of the deepest folder in the path.
  
  
• Try to open the indicated file - This option pertains to a file being specified in the URL. There are two choices here:
  
  
  • Try to open with Web browser first - AFP Engage! tells your browser, if it is running, to display the file if AFP Engage! believes the file is of a type which your browser will understand (for example, if it has an extension of ".html" or ".txt", or the equivalent Macintosh file type). If this option has not been checked, or AFP Engage! believes the file is not browser-readable, AFP Engage! tells the Finder to open the file as though it had been double-clicked.
    
    
  • Ask first or Ask if can't open with browser - If "Try to open with Web browser first" is checked, this option will read "Ask if can't open with browser first"; otherwise, it will read "Ask first." Opening a file through the Finder may mean that the file is an application, or that an application will be launched to open the file. If you are unsure of the contents of the file or if you wish to download the file rather than opening it, you may not wish to have the Finder launch an application. If this option is checked, AFP Engage! will verify that you want to open the file and give you the option of just opening the enclosing folder instead.

Accessing URLs Directly Using AFP Engage!

AFP Engage! can be used to open URLs directly, eliminating the need to go through a Web browser or other Internet application. To open an AFP URL directly from AFP Engage!, choose "Open URL" in the File menu. A dialog box appears, listing the last URL which AFP Engage! has accessed since it was run. To open a new URL, you can either modify the URL listed by AFP Engage! or type or paste in a new URL.

Troubleshooting

I registered AFP Engage! with Netscape, but when I quit and relaunch Netscape, it doesn't recognize AFP URLs.

• Netscape 3.0 and 3.0.1 have a bug such that they "forget" about AFP Engage! between sessions. That is, when you quit and relaunch Netscape 3.0 or 3.0.1, you will have to reregister AFP Engage! with Netscape. A workaround is covered in the Release Notes.

AFP Engage! tells me there is no such volume on the server, but I know there is.

• The specified volume may have conflicting privileges with an already-mounted volume on the same server. Unmount mounted volumes and try again.

AFP Engage! says it can't find the file or folder.

• If any file or folder in the pathname contains a "/", it must be escaped as "%2F". In some cases, other characters, such as spaces, should be escaped as well. See Special Characters.

AFP URLs work over AppleTalk, but not over TCP/IP.

• The machine on which AFP Engage! is running must have a functioning TCP/IP connection.
  
  
• The server to which you're trying to connect must support AFP over TCP/IP. Versions of AppleShare prior to 5.0, all versions of Macintosh File Sharing, and most non-Apple AFP servers do not support AFP over TCP/IP directly. You can add TCP support to these servers through Open Door Networks' ShareWay IP product. If you are trying to access a non-Apple AFP server, consult the server's manufacturer to determine if its supports AFP over TCP/IP.

AFP Engage! is not listed as a helper app for my browser, even though it's been registered.

• Although AFP Engage! acts much like a helper app, it is technically an external protocol handler and thus is not listed in your browser's helper app window.

I click on an AFP URL but AFP Engage! tells me that a volume name may be required.

• Versions of the AppleShare Client prior to 3.7.2 require volume names in AFP URLs. Upgrade your AppleShare Client to the newest version.

Back to Table of Contents
Forward to AFP URLs