OS X Archives -

What is the error code 36 I get when using Mac OS X WebDAV?

by Steve | Jul 29, 2009 | Mac OS X

: Image via Wikipedia

WebDAV using the Finder’s “Connect to Server” under Mac OS X occasionally encounters transfer errors, usually error 36.

The way the Mac WebDAV support works it quickly claims to have transferred the file, then when it says “closing file” is when the actual transfer takes place, and when the error code 36 might occur.

In addition the error reported is often false, and if left alone the transfer will complete fine. The problem is you have no way of knowing if the transfer is still proceeding.

There are two WebDAV clients for the Mac that work well pretty well if you’re having this problem. One costs money but is a very good product, the other is free, works well, but it is no longer being supported.

The commercial product is Transmit, a very popular ftp client you may already be using for ftp that also does WebDAV very well:

http://www.panic.com/transmit/

The free product is Goliath:

http://www.webdav.org/goliath/

Of course, if you are a My Docs Online user you can also use the Desktop App, but it only works with My Docs Online accounts.

Microsoft Live Support Pages referring users to My Docs Online for Web Folder help

by Steve | Jul 28, 2009 | Mac OS X, Web Folders

: Image via CrunchBase

We’ve been getting a lot of non-customer type support calls and emails from people with Web Folders questions. Since we’re naturally curious we did a bit of research on the source of these calls and found that Microsoft is actually referring Web Folder WebDAV questions to us through certain pages on their support website.

This page for example is a Microsoft Office Live support page titled “Use your own design software to create your Web site”. If you go to the page and scroll about half way down you’ll see a special message to Mac users:

“If you use the Mac OS X operating system, you can also create a Web folder as a network connection. The location associated with this connection is your domain (for example, http://contoso.web.officelive.com). For more information about how to create a network connection, see Web Folders/WebDAV Support.”

Just in case you didn’t click on the link, it takes you directly to the My Docs Online Web Folders / WebDAV page. Wow – So basically if you’re trying to use a Mac the help they have for you is to go to My Docs Online.

Well, we’re glad they’re referring people to our site and hope those people find the instructions for setting up and using Web Folders and WebDAV useful. Thanks to Microsoft for this vote of confidence.

Mac OS X Java Update Causing Problems with Java Web Start?

by Steve | Jul 2, 2009 | Mac OS X

Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

The most recent Java auto-update through OS X (Leopard) is causing some problems with Java Web Start, the program used to launch the MDO Transporter program. If you’ve gone through the update and your Java Web Start is no longer available it means that the update wasn’t completely successful.

A symptom of this is trying to launch a Java Web Start Application (Transporter for My Docs users) and having it open something that looks like a text file.

Fortunately there is a fairly simple solution to the problem. You can manually re-install the Java Update from this Apple location.

Let us know through the comments here if this doesn’t work for you.

Uploading Keynote Files to your Account

by Steve | Jul 15, 2008 | Uncategorized

Unlike PowerPoint, Apple’s Keynote uses XML and folders called “bundles” to package multiple files and folders into a presentation.

As a result, when uploading or downloading you are actually uploading and downloading a folder structure, and a lot of files.

To make things trickier, OSX and Safari understand the special nature of Keynote “bundles”. The Finder will treat the folder bundle as a presentation, and if you try to upload one to My Docs Online via Safari, it will be grayed out (you can’t select it for upload).

If you use FireFox, you can select the “presentation” but it won’t upload, because it isn’t really a file.

However, if you use the Transporter to upload the presentation it will upload the entire bundle (all folders and files).

Then, when you want to download the presentation to another Mac, use the Transporter again to “download folder” and the result will be a working Keynote presentation.

For more detail about the technical aspects of Keynote, see this very technical piece:

https://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/01/07/keynote.html