FileHamster - auto incremental file monitor/backup as you work - and free!

[tinjaw]

I'm willing to be they will let you "upgrade" for the difference since you purchased so recently.

[Deozaan]

"ALL future features and enhancements" sounds like it might include those plugins.

[tomos]

Upgrade to FileHamster +plus only $19.95!
New Features Include:

    * WatchTree filters
    * WatchTree enhancements
    * Enhanced network and removable drive support
    * Offline libraries
    * Customized OpenWith menu
    * Full UNC support
    * Adjust SubFolder properties within a watch
    * And ALL future features and enhancements...

-http://www.mogware.com/filehamster/upgrade/index.html

I'm sure they wont mind me quoting their response to my query about what direction they taking:

We have always planned on a continuous rollout of new features and enhancements to FileHamster in the form of paid plugins.  In addition to those plugins we are also planning on continued addition to the plus version of FileHamster.  As for the free version, minus bug fixes, we hope to suspend any further changes.       Currently we have the following plugins in testing:             TeamPlugin – Gives FH the ability to work with a shared library across a network.             ScriptPlugin – Gives FH the ability to add scripted events to each completed revision.             ReplicationPlugin – Gives FH the ability to replicate revisions to secondary locations each time a revision occurs.             AdvancedZip – Gives FH the ability to delta or patch zip revisions.

sounds okay to me* -
they interested in the idea of being able to make an exportable report as well
so i happy

*EDIT: I mean it sounds fair enough to me -
"As for the free version, minus bug fixes, we hope to suspend any further changes."
cause it works very well as is, I dont know if I even need any of the capability of paid version
Presumably new plugins (paid or free) will work with the free version

[tinjaw]

I like what they are doing and the +Plus additions are useful. I just threw $19.95 at them for a lifetime license. 

[tinjaw]

And is possible to setup that instead of versioning each time I save the file, I can push the program to capture it? I mean, like a CVS or something but locally and faster. If not, exists some other program that does that?

-Dr-Leech (February 23, 2007, 01:44 PM)

I see that this is a question from 8 months ago, but just for the record, Subversion can run locally, and with TortoiseSVN it works beautifully. 

[Beth UK]

I like what they are doing and the +Plus additions are useful. I just threw $19.95 at them for a lifetime license. 

-tinjaw (October 18, 2007, 07:19 PM)

Tinjaw, I am thinking of also purchasing the + version. Could you say which of the extra features you consider to be most useful?

[tinjaw]

Tinjaw, I am thinking of also purchasing the + version. Could you say which of the extra features you consider to be most useful?

-Beth UK (October 18, 2007, 07:29 PM)

Ooh, that's tough. There all so yummy! I guess "All of them!" isn't a proper answer. And "ALL future features and enhancements..." probably isn't either. So, since you are holding a gun to my head, I will say... I can't! I can't choose!

[tomos]

I like what they are doing and the +Plus additions are useful. I just threw $19.95 at them for a lifetime license. 

-tinjaw (October 18, 2007, 07:19 PM)

Tinjaw, I am thinking of also purchasing the + version. Could you say which of the extra features you consider to be most useful?

-Beth UK (October 18, 2007, 07:29 PM)

I haven't got the plus version but
I presume it gets rid of the annoying flashing advertising in the current version   

[justice]

If you need UNC support in the free version just work around it by mapping the share to a network drive. Seems to work fine.

[sri]

A revision creation is currently being triggered by ctrl+S of watched item.

Is it possible to have this program create a revision only when I select a button (that would be visible in the alert upon ctrl+S)?

[tomos]

A revision creation is currently being triggered by ctrl+S of watched item.

Is it possible to have this program create a revision only when I select a button (that would be visible in the alert upon ctrl+S)?

-sri (October 19, 2007, 05:04 AM)

dont think so
but they're very open to new ideas if you contact them -
also if you dont make any comment to go with the save it's unprotected so
you can very easily in Fh context menu delete unprotected - that's what I doing,
especially because I have the habit of saving very often...

[tinjaw]

Is it possible to have this program create a revision only when I select a button (that would be visible in the alert upon ctrl+S)?

-sri (October 19, 2007, 05:04 AM)

I don't know, Sri, but my guess is no because that would kind of go against the whole philosophy of the product, which is to version your saved files.

Could you provide an example of why you wouldn't want to keep a versioned instance of the file? I mean, if you were so clairvoyant as to know which particular versions of a file you would never need, no need to use a version control system because you are, well, clairvoyant. One of the major benefits of having versioned files is that you can go back to a version that you thought you would never need. Heck, don't forget that dodo happens.

[tomos]

A revision creation is currently being triggered by ctrl+S of watched item.

Is it possible to have this program create a revision only when I select a button (that would be visible in the alert upon ctrl+S)?

-sri (October 19, 2007, 05:04 AM)

I've been looking for this too for a while - they have implemented something in the latest update (1.7.0.3761). You need to have the pop-up bubble notifier activated:

if you close the popup bubble before it fades away, the revision will not be saved - I'm doing this with files that take a while to get saved (couple of seconds). I havent tested it with instant saves e.g. text files. You can extend the time the popup bubble will show so as to make it easier to close.

This is a big plus for me as I backup my Filehamster backups online. Also a big plus if you're working on big files.

[Mogware Support]

You can also have the ftp feature in FileHamster include a "SendFtp" upload button in the bubble so you still get the revision locally but then make a contious decision when you want the file to be uploaded to the ftp.

To enable this, simple configure your ftp settings but set the 'AutoUpload' option to false and you will begin to see the additional "SendFtp" button in the bubble.

[tomos]

if you close the popup bubble before it fades away, the revision will not be saved - I'm doing this with files that take a while to get saved (couple of seconds). I havent tested it with instant saves e.g. text files.

-tomos (August 12, 2010, 11:11 AM)

Some clarification from the Mogware forum on files that get saved quickly:

Actually, prolonging the bubble doesn't change the time period of when the bubble can be closed to cancel the revision.

When we implemented the new feature we simply popped up the bubble earlier; On the very first file change event;

As you noted earlier, the comment button was in a disabled/grayed out state for a little bit...The revision is only canceled when the bubble is closed BEFORE the file is finished being saved ( i.e. BEFORE the comment button becomes enabled )...Once the comment button becomes enabled, the revision has finished being copied so there is nothing to cancel.  We felt this design would be acceptable because the larger the file, the longer it takes to be saved subsequently increasing the window where the user can choose to cancel the creation of a particular revision; This feature was mostly being requested for the larger files so it seemed to work well...

However, in reading your post, you did give me an idea about how you can delay the revision creation process longer.  This is done via the 'Delay_CreateRevision' option where you can specify how much longer you want FileHamster to wait after the last file event before it begins the actual revision creation...Changing this setting should be what you want so you can have the bubble linger longer in the mode that will allow you to delete a particular revision.

To test this you will want to watch the revision list of the document and notice that no revisions are being created when you close the bubble before the revision has been finished.

-http://support.mogware.net/index.php?topic=1137.msg4719#msg4719

my emphasis

[tomos]

You can also have the ftp feature in FileHamster include a "SendFtp" upload button in the bubble so you still get the revision locally but then make a contious decision when you want the file to be uploaded to the ftp.

To enable this, simple configure your ftp settings but set the 'AutoUpload' option to false and you will begin to see the additional "SendFtp" button in the bubble.

-Mogware Support (August 12, 2010, 12:01 PM)

I know nothing about ftp myself but was wondering can FileHamster use that to upload directly to Amazon S3 ?

[Mogware Support]

Funny you should ask that; At one time we were building a plugin to support that but we just never finished it...

Once we had finished the ftp plugin there were services already comming out that allowed folks to simply map a drive to that service and some of our existing users were using a combination of FileHamster technology ( features in the replication plugin and script plugins ) to accomplish the same thing so the emphasis on completing that was dropped.

Hooking that up to work like the ftp plugin would not be very difficult using the FileHamster SDK.

[tomos]

Funny you should ask that; At one time we were building a plugin to support that but we just never finished it...

Once we had finished the ftp plugin there were services already comming out that allowed folks to simply map a drive to that service and some of our existing users were using a combination of FileHamster technology ( features in the replication plugin and script plugins ) to accomplish the same thing so the emphasis on completing that was dropped.

Hooking that up to work like the ftp plugin would not be very difficult using the FileHamster SDK.

-Mogware Support (August 12, 2010, 06:41 PM)

I've got my own solution now but I'd say there would be interest in it - if it was available I'd certainly try it out..

Nowadays with apps like Cloudberry S3 Explorer (dc thread) and the online Amazon S3 Console (same thread link) we're able to easily see what's there on S3. I used to have JungleDisk which is good too and shows S3 as a drive, but at some stage you gotta wonder how many backup apps you want to have running in the tray - I had three (including FH) but I decided to remove jungledisk when Super Flexible File Synchronizer introduced direct to S3 backup