Option to ignore hidden files/folders when uploading

It'd be nice to have an option to ignore hidden files or folders when uploading the contents of a folder by adding said folder onto the queue. Or if it could adhere to the system's option of whether to show hidden files or not.

Sometimes I need to upload from a CVS or SVN working copy to an FTP server, and Smart will attempt to upload all the hidden "control" files and folders inside subdirectories even though my XP system is set to not show hidden files. The local file windows will not show the hidden files, but the recursive processing in the queue seems to pick up hidden files / folders despite this.

I realise there's the option to checkout a 'release' copy from such control systems, which excludes all the extra control files, but this can be inconvenient at times when all you want to do is send up one folder with a few minor changes in it with a plan to let Smart handle change detection using checksums.

That's what file exclusion filters are for, see the settings.

I thought I checked there, but didn't see an option to disregard hidden files, only files by wildcard/regex matched filenames?

I'll double check again tomorrow when I'm back at work.

You are right, there is no option to exclude hidden files. I was meaning to say that the feature you ask for basically is there, with the difference that you need to exclude by name. Just specify ".svn" as a wildcard exclude filter and check to exclude directories, too, and you're set. This way, the ".svn" folder an all its contents will be ignored and not transferred.

Ah, lateral thinking: 1, me: 0.

Thanks, works for now

But, I'd still like to maintain my request to ignore hidden files as there's several other file types similar to this. It's just that the request isn't as urgent as before.

I'm slowly building a list in my filters for the more common ones though, like Thumbs.db and OSX files the start with dot-underscore.

The FTP client doesn't get any information whether the file is marked as "hidden" on the host system.
Therefore it's not possible now to implemented the requested feature.
Regards,
-Mat
SmartFTP

This is for the upload queue, Mat. The hidden files in question are on the client system.

Ah. I see. Will think about it.

Regards,
-Mat

Ah. I see. Will think about it.

Regards,
-Mat

I stumbled across this problem serveral times myself. Files like Thumbs.db being transfered although it did not show on the client computer. Would be nice to have an option to disable the transfer of these files automatically without setting up exclusion filters.

Thx

Stef

Just for the record, because it took me forever to figure out exactly what the filter was, this is how to exclude .svn folders and files for the default favorite. I'm using SmartFTP 3.0.126.7.

- Click Tools > Settings
- Under "General" in the list on the left click "Favorites"
- In the panel on the right, under "Default Favorite" click "Edit"
- Under Options select "Enable" and check the box for "ignore case"
- Under Filter List > Type select "Exclude"
- Click the 'new' button to the right of the word Filter (hover and it will say 'new', it's a sorta dotted-line square icon)
- Copy and paste the following into the Value field: *\.svn*
- Double-click on the words "File (Name)" and a dropdown list will appear. Select "Any" from that list.
- At the bottom of the screen, click "OK" to save your changes.

Hope this helps someone!

Thank you.

The value field is wrong:
WRONG: *\.svn*
CORRECT: *\.svn$

I'm noticing that my filter isn't working anymore. Did a recent update change the way the filters work?

I'm using Windows Vista, 64-bit, v4.0.1053.0 and I use the blue "upload/download" arrows to transfer files.

I have, under filter settings for the default favorite:

Enable (ignore case)
Use Favorite's settings (grayed out)
Exclude:
Wildchar | *.svn | Folder (name)
Wildchar | _ts3tmp.php | File (name)

Any ideas?

We haven't changed anything regarding the filters. Are the files in a directory you are downloading? The files you directly select in the remote browser are not filtered. This is however by design.

I'm uploading files from my local hard drive (local browser) onto my website (remote browser). The filter used to prevent the ".svn" folder from being uploaded, but no longer, and I can't for the life of me figure out why.

I'm sorry but I could not reproduce it here.

I think the change occurred since I switched to the 64-bit version. Could that have made a difference? Also, is there a way for me to post a screenshot of my filter screen in this forum, so you can double check I've done it right?

Update - just found an alternative way to do it. View -> Toolbars -> Filter. That seems to work.

Never mind, that only makes the .svn folder disappear from view.

Can you post a list of folders do you initially add to the transfer queue?

Regards,
Mat

Pretty much any folder that contains an .svn folder, or the .svn folder itself. For example, I might upload a folder called 'Drupal', that contains an '.svn' folder, amongst other folders. Problem is - the .svn folder gets uploaded as well, despite the filter settings.

If you upload the .svn itself it will not get filtered. This is by design. However I tested it here with the 32-bit and the 64-bit version and filtering works as expected.
Does it work if you set the filters in the favorite directly instead of in the default favorite?

Ah - that's the problem. I had been uploading the files directly. I guess it makes sense to allow a direct upload if someone needs to upload that file. I don't suppose there's a way to override this setting as well? Thanks so much for your help in tracking down this issue.

No there is no setting to override this. But if you use a view filter you can prevent the .svn files from being displayed and therefore they cannot be selected

I am trying to filter .svn folders and I cannot find any combination of filter settings that actually work. Let me know what info I can provide to help debug. Let me repeat... no settings that I use filter anything at all. Direct file names, folder names, Regex patterns, etc. I am transferring things by dragging a parent folder from local to remote, then clicking "Merge" and then "Replace". Any items inside that folder than match exclude filters are transferred anyway.

Click on "Use Automatic Rules" in the file exist dialog.

Is that the only way? What about the first time I upload a folder. I get no prompt in that case.

Also, just tried the "User Automatic Rules" and it still transferred the .svn folders.

Ok, I tried a whole bunch of permutations of filters and I did finally get it to work. It appears like the "Any" choice does not work. When I set up a RegExp and set it to "Folder(name)", it finally worked mostly as I would expect.

Might be a bug with the "Any", or I might be misunderstanding what you mean by "Any".

Unfortunately you cannot override this setting. But yes we agree that it is confusing somehow but we just didn't have the resources (yet) to implement a better solution.

Okay, I give up. I couldn't get the favorites filter to work, nor filtering on a specific website, using all the suggestions mentioned above. I even tried to filter the local view, which actually worked, but it only does the current folder - so any subfolders still contain the files I'm trying to filter. For now, I'm switching over to FileZilla. I'll gladly return to SmartFTP once this has been resolved.