New Web Utility Test Site

[FearlessFreep]

I'm beta testing/demoing/proto-typing/whatevering a new web utility I created.

Right now, the utility is at FileSaver

What the utlity does is that you enter a URL to a file you want (and an email address) The utility then goes out and gets the file and copies it to my server. Then you have the option of downloading it from my server, having the file split in parts and downloading the parts individually, or having the parts mailed to you.

The idea behind this was someone was having trouble downloading a largish file over their connection and thought it would be easier to have the file split in several pieces and emailed to them. I thought that might be useful so I wrote the utility to do so.

If this is a workable idea for others, I will take the proto-type code and improve some error handling and maybe add some 'user account' features for managing downloaded files. I am also looking to monetize the utility by a) charging a small fee based on download traffice b) putting up Google AdSense links c) selling the code to others for their own personal use (for people who have their own server)

Anyway, I would appreciate people checking it out and giving me feedback and/or ideas

 

[mantis]

so far there's at least an HCI problem
I clicked the "submit query" and nothing happened, or maybe something happened but it didnt tell me that it was doing something.
My email is still empty after 5 min's.
here's the link to my file
http://media.naturalpoint.com/software/TrackIR_4.1.027.exe
use an email of your own.
but the idea is good though.. some other sites (from overseas) used to do that to send you chops of cracked software to gmail (since it handles big attachments and big inboxes) and they drove google nuts doing that.
good job (if it works haha )

 

[OUMoose]

Might want to be careful with that. Definitely need some user identification or trace logging enabled to CYA. Otherwise, I could go to some random movie rip site, download a movie, and plead ignorance because it's basically hosted on your server for me to download at that point. I know, lame, but it could happen. There are definitely some nefarious uses that I could think of, and I'd hate to see you get burned for it.

Just some food for thought.

 

[FearlessFreep]

I clicked the "submit query" and nothing happened, or maybe something happened but it didnt tell me that it was doing something.

Hmmm...first off, thanks for trying it out.

More importantly, define 'nothing'. Did you go to a page that said you would be sent an email? Or did it just not do anything? I mean, you press the button and there was no response or anything?

Again, thanks.

 

[mantis]

I clicked the "submit query" and nothing happened, or maybe something happened but it didnt tell me that it was doing something.

Hmmm...first off, thanks for trying it out.

More importantly, define 'nothing'. Did you go to a page that said you would be sent an email? Or did it just not do anything? I mean, you press the button and there was no response or anything?

Again, thanks.

nothing means nothing happened like a page referesh, or a postback or anything. and i did not get any feedback telling me what happened. the url i provided is still there, and my email address is still there, and i still didnt get any email.
to me it looks that the button is not submitting anything to the server at all yet.

 

[FearlessFreep]

OK, that was my fault. I rearranged some stuff on the page this morning and accidentally moved the button outside the form so the button wasn't working. Stupid, stupid mistake. Should work fine now

 

[FearlessFreep]

ust some food for thought.

Good thought, thanks.

And I was mostly concerned that people would use it for downloading massive amounts of porn...

 

[mantis]

how long does it take to send the email?
and i think people will use it to download illegal stuff most of the time.
good job man

p.s. in the future add some javascripts for form validation

 

[arnisador]

And I was mostly concerned that people would use it for downloading massive amounts of porn...

They will. Music too.

 

[FearlessFreep]

how long does it take to send the email?

It should go out as soon as the file is fetched, and by looking at the website, I see that your file was downloaded properly. About the time, I said "it should work now" I was testing with the file ou indicated and realized I had a bug in the 'send mail' code. That's really embarrasing because it was working all cool up until this morning and I made a few minor tweaks (nothing even functional, just cleaning up some code) and I accidentally broke some things, like you noticed.

So...if the mail didn't get to you yet, you may have caught the bug before I managed to patch it.

However, it sometimes takes a few minutes for mail to go through the systems (ever ask for new login/passwd from a site?)

Anyway, looking at the error log, yeah, you tripped into the problem.

Man, I should've retested before I told everyone 'check it out'

 

[FearlessFreep]

Music too.

Music doesn't bother me, as long as it's music you are legally entitled to. For example, I have some of my band music up at http://www.r4h-music.com/music. I would *love* more people to download them However, copywritten material could be a problem...

 

[mantis]

Sir
i still didnt get an email yet!
you should definitely have some policy against copyrighted material...
are you giving this to your buddies, or actually letting people use it?
do you keep copies of our stuff then? nice, u'll have ur free music now!

 

[mantis]

how long does it take to send the email?

It should go out as soon as the file is fetched, and by looking at the website, I see that your file was downloaded properly. About the time, I said "it should work now" I was testing with the file ou indicated and realized I had a bug in the 'send mail' code. That's really embarrasing because it was working all cool up until this morning and I made a few minor tweaks (nothing even functional, just cleaning up some code) and I accidentally broke some things, like you noticed.

So...if the mail didn't get to you yet, you may have caught the bug before I managed to patch it.

However, it sometimes takes a few minutes for mail to go through the systems (ever ask for new login/passwd from a site?)

Anyway, looking at the error log, yeah, you tripped into the problem.

Man, I should've retested before I told everyone 'check it out'

im always eager to show my work even before i test, which embarrasses me coz it fails!
integration has its power when it comes to showing hidden bugs.
i tried to provide the link for a small program is size an issue?
maybe the way you handle chopping the software?

 

[FearlessFreep]

Thanks for helping me test/debug it. My biggest problem as a developer some times is I only know to test what I programmed so sometimes I don't think to test what I don't know wto test

Well, I put in your file (TrackIR) and got it mailed to me with no problem. So...I know the general infrastructure is working and file size is not an issue (and I had tested with almost 6M files of my own)

Do you possibly have a spam filter? Could that be blocking the email?

I'm thinking of re-writing the scripts a bit to be a single user setup and then sell it to people who want to put it on their own server (like the guy who asked me about this in the first place).

Right now there is no good admin of the files, other than that I can see/access them through FTP to my server, but I'm thinking of going with a login capability, not just a simple email address, so you specify how you want the file delivered, and other ways of accessing the files you downloaded so as not to rely on an email that may not get through, fr example.

I just used your address and a file of mine to test, let me know if you get anything

 

[mantis]

I just received the emails..
good job man (12:24 pm pacific time)

 

[FearlessFreep]

Thanks!