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Version 8.34 (released Feb. 4, 2012)

Introduction

Use this application to manage files and directories on your webserver or any FTP server. You can create, rename, move and delete directories, upload, download, edit, rename, move, copy, delete and search files, and change file and directory permissions*. It's also possible to play audio/video files and view preview thumbnails of images.

Have a look at the following examples (most file actions are disabled for security reasons, though). The first example shows the default view with directory tree and log window:
×
×
×
×

×
×
 
×
file name => file_name
FileName => filename
×
file name => file_name
FileName => filename
×

×

×
file name => file_name
FileName => filename
×
×
×
The next two examples are "minimized" views; the first one lists all MP3 files, while the second one shows preview thumbnails from all JPG files. In both cases, the search function has been disabled to "lock" the initial search result:
Please have a look at the config.inc.php file to find out how FileManager can be adapted to your needs.

FileManager can be used as a stand-alone application, but it's also easy to integrate it into your own website. The above examples show that it is no problem to create as many FileManager instances as you like, each one with its own specific settings. Just have a look at the usage section and the source code of filemanager.php to see how you can do this.

FileManager works fine with FTP connections. Please note that if you don't set up an FTP connection in the configuration, FileManager will use the local file system instead. In this case it can only access directories and files for which PHP has at least read permission; if you want to upload, edit, rename, move, copy or delete files, or change file permissions*, PHP must also have write permission for these files or directories.

This software should work with PHP 4.1.0 or higher.

Features

  • Works with FTP servers (UNIX and Windows) and local file system.
  • Supports multiple languages.
  • Can be easily adapted by modification of configuration file and CSS file.
  • Can be easily integrated into your website - even multiple instances.
  • Supports detailed view and icon view.
  • Built-in editor for text files with realtime syntax hilighting.
  • Built-in image preview with thumbnails.
  • Built-in action log.
  • Integrated file and directory search.
  • Integrated directory tree for quick directory switching**.
  • Supports automatic setting of permissions when creating new directories or saving files*.
  • Supports automatic modification (to lowercase, replace spaces) of filenames for uploaded and downloaded files.
  • Images can be resized automatically before they are saved.
  • Multiple files and even whole directories can be uploaded at once.
  • Files can also be saved from URLs.
  • Supports automatic backup creation (versioning) when saving files.
  • Supports restoring of deleted files.
  • Supports password protection (login).
  • Supports hiding of system files and files with arbitrary extensions.
  • Works with UTF-8 and other character sets.
  • Integrated media player for audio and video files.
  • Can view documents (Word, Excel, PDF, etc.) with Google Docs Viewer.
  • Provides hooks for upload and download.
* On Windows systems changing of file permissions doesn't work properly. This is not a restriction of this software.

** If the number of directories is too big, it will take some time to load. This goes especially for FTP connections. In this case it is recommended to disable the directory tree.

File Search

You can use FileManager to search files and directories. It will search all directories recursively, starting in the directory that is currently viewed. At the moment, it is only possible to search for file or directory names. Wildcards like "*" are not supported; FileManager will find all files and directories containing the search string in their name. For instance, if you search for "file", the files "filemanager.php", "file.gif", etc. will match your search.

While FileManager views a search result, file upload is disabled, and you cannot create new directories. If you want to do so, please return to your current directory listing first. Please note that this is not possible if you disabled the search function, but told FileManager to start with a search - in this case, the current search result will be "locked" and file upload and directory creation won't be possible.

Upload Engines

File upload with PHP has two drawbacks: usually the file size is limited (default is 2 MB per file and 8 MB per POST request), and it is not possible to view a progress bar. The size limit can be changed in the php.ini file by the server administrator, but this will also affect all other PHP applications.

The Java Uploader

The open source JUpload applet views a progress bar, supports drag and drop, upload of big files and even whole directories. It's integrated into FileManager since version 7.8 as default upload engine. Java 1.4 or higher is required on the client side.

The Perl Uploader

Alternatively FileManager can also upload files via Perl and view a progress bar while uploading. This requires however that Perl is installed on your server, and that the Perl scripts in FileManager's cgi directory can be executed. Please have a look at the usage section to see how this can be done.

The PHP Uploader

This is the basic uploader that should only be used if neither the Java nor the Perl uploader works for you. It only requires PHP on your server, but you will have to live with a file size limit (depending on your PHP configuration) and without a progress bar (unless your browser has one by default).

Authentication

If you want to use the Java or Perl uploader and installed FileManager on a server that requires authentication, you must set the authUser and authPassword variables in FileManager's configuration file.

Media Player

The integrated open source audio player SoundManager 2 can handle MP3 audio files. MP4/AAC, WAV and OGG audio files are also playable if your browser supports them with HTML5 audio. Please note that Flash 9+ is required on the client side.

FileManager can view SWF files, too. For the video formats MP4 and FLV, the OOS FlvPlayer is being used. This also requires Flash 9+ on the client side.

A Quick Note On ID3 Tags And Preview Thumbnails

It is only possible to view ID3 tags and preview thumbnails from files of the server's local file system. This is no problem when FileManager uses the local file system, but in FTP mode these files must first be copied from the FTP server. This can take quite some time especially when the file size is big and/or there are a lot of files in a directory. In this case, it is recommended to disable image preview and ID3 tags. This can be done in the configuration file (variables enableImagePreview and enableId3Tags).

A Quick Note On File Download

When FileManager runs in FTP mode, files must first be transfered to the local system before they can be sent to the browser. This can take some time especially with big files. To avoid this, FileManager uses the asynchronous FTP mode: while loading a file from the FTP server, it can start to send it to the browser without having to wait until the transfer is complete. This works however only on systems with PHP 4.3.0 or higher. If your system runs an older PHP version, the file must be transfered to the local system completely before download can start.

Known Issues

Here's a list of things that don't work on some systems or with certain configurations:
  • If SSL is used, FileManager might not work properly in Internet Explorer. This seems to be a browser problem, though. It might help to tweak your SSL server configuration like this:
    SetEnvIf User-Agent ".*MSIE.*" nokeepalive ssl-unclean-shutdown downgrade-1.0 force-response-1.0
    
  • Thumbnail creation of big images might not work on some servers. This also goes for automatic resizing when uploading images (server returns error 500 and the image won't be saved). Increase the memory size limit in your server's PHP configuration and restart your web server.
  • When testing FileManager with PHP 4.1.2, the iconv_set_encoding() function caused an internal server error (500), and it was not possible to establish an FTP connection. These problems seem to be caused by a wrong server configuration, though.

Change Log

Version 8.34
  • Important bugfix: Cleaning of temporary directory didn't work if it was not the default directory.
  • Added FTP username to cached files to make them unique.
  • Bugfix: In FTP mode, the start directory was not set correctly when it was passed as argument to the FileManager constructor and the FTP host has not been set in the config file.
Version 8.33
  • Updated Java uploader.
Version 8.32
  • Path to temporary directory and log directory can be changed now.
  • Added optional prefix for log file names.
Version 8.31
  • Added Google Docs Viewer support for several file types.
Version 8.30
  • Fixed cache bug when moving or copying files.
Version 8.29
  • Minor code optimization.
Version 8.28
  • Added further security patches.
Version 8.27
  • Added security patch for Java uploader.
Version 8.26
  • Added patch for IE 9 in code editor.
Version 8.25
  • Added possibility to modify prefix for containers, session and cookie variables.
  • Fixed viewing and editing of text files if encoding is set to UTF-8.
Version 8.24
  • Optimized image preview.
Version 8.23
  • Fixed code editor look.
Version 8.22
  • Added support for image rotation. Note: don't rotate an image too often, because there will be a quality loss!
  • Updated Java uploader.
Version 8.21
  • Added syntax hilighting for SQL files.
Version 8.20
  • Optimized screen layout.
  • Added syntax hilighting for XML files.
Version 8.19
  • Added syntax hilighting for Perl scripts.
  • Did some JavaScript code refactoring.
  • Fixed text editor reset bug.
Version 8.18
  • Added the following file extensions to the list of editable text files: xml, xsl, xslt, xsd, xul, dtd, wsdl, rdf.
  • Fixed text editor size.
  • Removed rounded corners - they didn't work on several browsers (incl. IE), it was a pain in the ass to make them look good, and they messed up some content.
Version 8.17
  • Optimized code viewer.
  • Added FTPS support (requires PHP 4.3.0 or higher with OpenSSL).
  • Optimized directory listing cache.
Version 8.16
  • Added code viewer.
  • Some code optimizations.
Version 8.15
  • Fixed typo in template.inc.php.
  • Added @ to date() and strtotime() functions in order to surpress warnings of PHP 5.3+ occurring when timezone is not set in php.ini file.
  • Bugfix: Variable startSubDirs is working again.
  • Omit "hidden" directories when performing search.
  • Fixed viewing of documents in search results.
  • Minor optimizations.
Version 8.14
  • Important bugfix: Set HTTP content type header to text/html again because of problems with file uploads.
  • Thumbnails are cached now.
  • Optimized cache.
  • File upload: If file backups are disabled, files will now be overwritten in local mode, too.
  • Fixed default file and directory permissions setting.
  • Fixed wrong modification date in FTP mode (UNIX).
Version 8.13
  • Several important bugfixes and optimizations - if you have version 8.10 or higher, you should make an update.
Version 8.12
  • Bugfix: Do not cache search results.
  • Album covers of MP3 files can be enlarged now (if ID3 tags are enabled).
Version 8.11
  • Optimized cache.
Version 8.10
  • Cache directory listings.
Version 8.9
  • Added HTTP header that prevents robots from indexing.
  • Set HTTP content type header to text/json.
  • Optimized FileManager integration.
  • Minor code optimizations.
Version 8.8
  • Added memory limit setting.
Version 8.7
  • Optimized image preview.
Version 8.6
  • Renamed menu item "View document" to "View".
  • Optimized dialog position on screen.
  • Minor code optimizations.
Version 8.5
  • Added icon for PowerPoint documents.
  • It's possible to view text files now.
Version 8.4
  • Added support for Google document viewer.
Version 8.3
  • Bugfix: Added workaround to prevent JavaScript error in IE 8.
Version 8.2
  • Added possibility to set multiple passwords and start directories.
  • Minor fixes for older PHP versions.
Version 8.1
  • Bugfix: Removed redundant comma that caused JavaScript error in IE 8 on Windows 7.
Version 8.0
  • JavaScript code refactoring.
  • Modified configuration file syntax.
  • Added "remember password" feature.
  • Added rounded corners and dialog box shadows - not supported by some browsers, though.
  • Added possibility to disable file/directory search.
  • Several minor improvements under the hood.

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