WebDAV on BEA WebLogic (in support of WebCT Vista)

We use a Courseware Management System (CMS) called WebCT Vista which 
relies on the BEA WebLogic webserver and an Oracle DB.  One 
platform-specific problem that we've seen with WebDAV in this 
environment is that files uploaded via WebDAV from MacOS X machines 
using the OS-level WebDAV support is that the file arrives in two 
parts as per this report:

>  when I use the OS X built in WebDAV feature to upload files, a
>  "ghost" is created of the files I upload. For example, I uploaded a
>  file called rcurry.greece.doc.
>
>  This file is a 28 KB file on my computer. In the File Manager of
>  Vista it says the file I uploaded is 0Bytes and a second file,
>  ._rcurry.greece.doc was also created and is listed as being 82Bytes.

The explanation offered by WebCT support uses a reference to 
webdav.org as follows:


>In the MacOS every file has two components, a data fork and a 
>resource fork.  This extra file that you are seeing is not a bug 
>within Vista (in fact you would have this extra file in almost any 
>WebDAV connection when you are using the MacOS (X or otherwise). The 
>specifics of what is occurring here is very well explained in this 
>web page:
>
>http://www.webdav.org/goliath/help0.9/chaps/rezforks.htm
>
>I say that you would have this is "almost any" WebDAV connection 
>because Goliath, a WebDAV client for the MacOS does have a 
>preference which allows you to turn off the copying of the resource 
>fork over to a WebDAV server which will prevent this file from 
>showing up.


However, I am curious about whether this reasoning applies equally to 
MacOS X as it does to the preceeding operating system called MacOS 
Classic.

Can anyone here comment on the aptness of this "reason" for this 
phenomena.  After all, the built-in MacOS X facility for WebDAV does 
not exhibit these symptoms under Apache or WebSTAR webservers.  I was 
of the impression that MacOS X did not use forked files as Classic 
did.



-- 
=====================================================================
Dr. Frank Lowney  frank.lowney@gcsu.edu
     Director, Electronic Instructional Services, a unit of the
     Office of Information and Instructional Technology,
     Professional Pages: http://www.gcsu.edu/oiit/eis/
     Personal Pages: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~flowney
Voice: (478) 445-5260
=====================================================================
We don't make instruction effective, we make effective instruction 
more accessible.

Please note that my new e-mail address is: frank.lowney@gcsu.edu

Received on Monday, 6 October 2003 21:17:55 UTC