Ask HN: Please review my Mac App

by nrj • 16 years ago

59 29 16 years ago

nrj7• 16 years ago

Hello HN,

In my limited spare time I have been working on a small side project, it is an application for Mac OS X called OneWay. To sum it up, it is a contextual FTP, SFTP uploader (upload only) that integrates into the Finder's Context Menu. It allows you to upload any files and folders in your Finder simply by selecting them and right-clicking. You can also easily add frequently used locations to your context menu for future use! And You don't even need the application open!

Basically my goal was to create the easiest possible uploading solution that is light-weight and doesn't require me to open a Terminal. While applications like Cyberduck and Transmit are great, they really offer way more functionality than I need. I found that 90% of the time when I use FTP/SFTP I am only uploading, and secondly I find that I am often uploading to the same places (host, directory).

Of course, there are bugs... But how will I find them if I don't push it out the door already! With that said here are some helpful things to keep in mind.

#10.5 (Leopard) Users#

Unfortunately there are a few known issues for you. Firstly, it is out of my control but your contextual menu items will be added to your Finder under the "More -> OneWay" menu. If you do NOT see them there at all for some reason, please try restarting your Finder. You can do this by opening a Terminal, and typing `killall Finder`.

#10.6 (Snow Leopard) Users#

Your contextual menu items will live in the top level of your Finder menu! Though please note that in order to SEE the menu items you MUST have at least 1 file or folder selected. Also note, that if you add enough menu items, OSX will group them all under the "Services" menu instead of in the top level.

Thanks for checking out my app guys. Please post any feedback or bugs that you find.

Nick

acid_bath• 16 years ago

I will definitely use this. Going to install it when I get home [no Mac at work :( ].

onewland• 16 years ago

I'm sure those example files were legally obtained if you're posting them publicly :)

nrj7• 16 years ago

Of course! :)

naish• 16 years ago

Nice! This is a perfect little utility for uploading files to a backup server. I regularly post family photos to a remote server via sftp. ExpanDrive has been my goto solution for ease of use, but OneWay presents even less friction. When my needs are a little more complex I tend to hit the command line.

nrj7• 16 years ago

I use it for this as well. I've also been thinking about adding support for a one-directional rsync.

noonespecial• 16 years ago

If you were to add a "rsync to" context item to a folders ctrl-click, you'd officially be my hero.

1tw• 16 years ago

Same here - I can really see myself turning to OneWay instead of Expandrive for a lot of those regular, simple little tasks.

Nice work , nrj.

clammer• 16 years ago

I'm not a mac user, but I really think this is a great idea. Your website does a good job at informing the visitor about the software and I think the benefit is clear to the right visitors.

Good luck.

pclark• 16 years ago

Neat idea. Honestly? I'd find it more valuable to have a "copy to dropbox public folder & copy public url" shortcut.

eande• 16 years ago

tried OneWay out, works great, really easy to use. Great work. Thank you.

juliend2• 16 years ago

I tried your app -- nice app. I like the idea.

A suggestion: One thing would be nice is the ability to have the url of the file copied into the clipboard once the file is uploaded. Like with TinyGrab, when you take a screenshot and it uploads the image. It would probably mean adding a new textfield (for the base url) in the form for adding a new bookmark. Might be useful for sharing files that you just uploaded.

Edit: i didn't think about when you upload multiple files, though. Maybe it would be the last file uploaded?

nrj7• 16 years ago

Yea, I have been thinking about how to do this right. It would be easy to allow a user to optionally add a "Public Base URL" for a bookmark that you upload to, but like you said, that would really only work if you are uploading 1 file.

Definitely open to suggestions on this one.

Pheter2• 16 years ago

Automatically copying the URL to the clipboard could irritate some users. They may be using the clipboard for something else. A couple of alternatives:

* Right click on an item in the list and have an option to 'Copy URL'?

* Hover over an item in the list and a 'Copy URL' button appears? (Similar to how more information is provided when you hover over a youtube comment.)

anotherperson• 16 years ago

For those who have just purchased Transmit 4, it has been overhauled with many Applescript additions. Using that on Snow Leopard, it would be very easy to create your own contextual items with Automator.

That being said, if I didn’t already have a nice FTP solution, this would be a great little app.

nostromo• 16 years ago

This is cool, thanks! I wish it supported Amazon's S3 -- the tool I'm currently using is terrible. :-)

nrj7• 16 years ago

Be sure to "Check for Updates" in the "OneWay" menu. Amazon S3, and SCP will be coming soon.

notmyname• 16 years ago

Looks like a great app. I'm a dev for Rackspace Cloud Files, and I'd love to see Cloud Files support in OneWay. Let me know how I can help. My email address is in my profile.

Sidnicious• 16 years ago

It'd also be awesome to see WebDAV support. The application I use to store files on my phone uses WebDAV, and OneWay would be perfect for adding files.

slig• 16 years ago

Thanks for making it open source! I'm learning iPhone dev and this small app will be great to me to jump on OS X dev later on.

weaksauce• 16 years ago

Good show mate. I was using cyberduck for something just like this usecase and was getting annoyed at how many clicks it took to upload a couple files many times and thinking to myself I should fork it and add in my usecase to cyberduck. I will be watching this.

bdittmer• 16 years ago

I've been thinking about building something like this for years, I have just never had the bandwidth to get around to it. Thank you for doing it for me!

miles• 16 years ago

Very nice app, nrj!

Windows users can use WinSCP for similar functionality:

http://tinyapps.org/blog/windows/200710220700_send_to_sftp.h...

magic5227• 16 years ago

One suggestion, an option to use it like tinygrab. Right click, 1) it uploads the file 2) Moves it to trash 3) copies a bit.ly URL to the file

Like TinyGrab for files, this would make large file sharing much easier

csytan• 16 years ago

Somewhat off topic CSS suggestion. Add this to your header :)