The making of TSW WebCoder 2013 part 13 – Settings in the cloud
November 14, 2012
On Facebook I got a cool comment from Daniel:
Like many people I work from multiple workstations and I would appreciate the opportunity to synchronize the TSW so settings, stored ftp server, Sniplets - store them e.g. in Dropbox or other cloud storage to have them on all workstations. Is it possible to implement this (if it is not already)?
I had already been thinking about "mobile settings" many times, but I couldn't seem to find the right approach. However, something in Daniel's comment made me realize how easy this could actually be implemented, so I did. Daniel left this comment a couple of days ago, and since then I implemented a solution in WebCoder 2013 that will help you guys keep your settings on a common local network location or in the cloud through a service like Dropbox.
It all relies on a small and simple text file, placed in the correct location, which will redirect WebCoder to read your settings from another location than the default one. I decided that this would be a job for the Settings Controller utility application that has been included with WebCoder for several versions now, but I also decided that it might be time for a facelift for this little helper. Here's how it looked for WebCoder 2010:
I admit that I didn't really do a lot of polishing on that application - it was a quick and dirty solution to some problems that I knew some users where having from time to time with their settings.
I combined the functionality of the old app with the settings redirection functionality that I wanted in WebCoder 2013, and this time I made it look a bit nicer, so nobody would hurt their eyes when they needed this functionality :). Here's the result:
A click on "Enabled" and the selection of the new location is all you need to redirect your settings to another location. I tried this with Dropbox, using the same settings on my desktop and my laptop, and it seems to be working very well!
Hopefully you will like this little addition to WebCoder, and please, do let me know if you can come up with a better (but not longer) name than "Settings redirection" :). Thank you Daniel, for the inspiration!
After long time searching the best website editing program, I discovered it in TSW Webcoder; more than better than the legendary.. Homesite. Thanks for creating this wonder!!