Mosaic and the FTP Protocol
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a protocol that allows a user on one machine
to access and transfer files to and from another machine over the Internet.
Mosaic usually accomplishes this through anonymous FTP, which allows
Mosaic to retrieve publicly available text documents or binary files using the
special user ID anonymous.
Mosaic can be used to view documents and other files residing on FTP servers,
or it can be used to retrieve any file from an FTP server and save it to a
local disk. Mosaic displays an FTP directory listing as a list of hyperlinks.
- Selecting a file which Mosaic knows how to display causes Mosaic to do
exactly that (either in its Document View window or via an external viewer).
Files displayed in Mosaic's Document View Window can be saved using the
Save As feature under the FILE menu, or the equivalent Save
As button.
- Files which Mosaic does not know how to view will cause a Save
File dialog box to prompt the user for a filename to which the document is
saved.
- The Save File dialog box can be triggered by all hyperlinks,
regardless of Mosaic's ability to view an associated document or file, by
turning on Load to Local Disk using the Options menu. All
subsequent hyperlinks will invoke the Save File dialog box until
Load to Local Disk is turned off.
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
alanb@ncsa.uiuc.edu