Infinite LiveCode - Message from CEO

[Richard Gaskin]

Sannyasin Brahmanathaswami wrote:

 > But when I saw recently that something we've been begging for, for
 > 15 years… simple SFTP functionality from the engine..

Writing the word "simple" doesn't make it so. :)

Yes, many programs offer it.  But none of them also provide a 
generalized scripting language with integrated GUI controls suitable for 
crafting a vast range of apps across seven platforms.

If LC was only an SFTP client it might be simple.  But we also ask them 
to do a lot more, a thousand things no one asks of any SFTP client.

Moreover, because there are so very many capable SFTP clients, why does 
the world need one more?

Once upon a time a lot of people thought they wanted SFTP in LiveCode. 
Some still do.  But most of them would rather have the other things the 
team is also building, and along the way it seems many have lost sight 
of why they thought they wanted it in the first place.

There are three common scenarios for uploading files to servers:

a) Non-admins submitting content to the site.
    This is commonly handled via HTTP APIs, which is both more
    efficient and far more secure.  Why give unbridled access
    to the entire site just to upload a file?  HTTP is the tool
    for that job.

b) Admins doing general administrative tasks.
    Most tasks are done faster in shell, but once in a while a
    general-purpose SFTP client can be useful.  And when it is,
    there are dozens of free ones for every platform to choose
    from.

c) Admins seeking to automate file uploads.
    Anyone doing work on a server often enough to need automation
    has also shared their SSH keys with the server, so using
    rsync, scp, or other such tools are the natural choice, offering
    far more efficiency than FTP/SFTP.  After all, if you're automating
    isn't efficiency the goal?  All such automation can be managed
    through LiveCode today. (In fact, mixing Expect with bash and
    LiveCode you can even write Ansible-like tools in LiveCode for
    very broad-scope automation, but that's a different topic.)

There are no doubt edge cases beyond these, but these three cover about 
90% of upload use cases, and all the use cases you've described thus far 
for your organization.

If you have a need that falls outside of these common solutions, let's 
look at it.  Perhaps there's a way to resolve even highly-specialized 
needs at minimal cost.

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com