WebDAV stands for “Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning”. It is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol which allows users to collaboratively edit and manage files on remote Web servers. Using WebDAV it is possible to upload files to a server or to rename files on the server.

BSCW supports the WebDAV protocol as a server so that you may use a WebDAV client, i.e. a client application also supporting the WebDAV protocol, to navigate through your workspaces, open and edit documents, write them back to the server, transfer them from one workspace to another etc.

The most relevant applications that support WebDAV include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer and the Office package. In the following we will concentrate on these applications (for other applications that also support WebDAV see www.webdav.org). They offer the following advantages if you use them for accessing BSCW via WebDAV:

• Your BSCW workspaces are represented as Web folders in Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer. You may browse your workspaces as is usual in Windows Explorer.
• You may copy, paste or delete the BSCW objects represented using ‘drag & drop’ or the right-hand mouse button.
• You may open Microsoft Office documents directly within a Web folder — the corresponding Office application is launched automatically. After having edited the document you may write the document back to the BSCW server by using ‘Save’ or ‘Save As...’. There is no need for a local save and subsequent upload.

In order to access your BSCW workspaces via WebDAV you proceed as follows.

Internet Explorer

• Open the ‘File’ menu of the Internet Explorer.
• Select ‘Open...’.
• Check ‘Open as Web Folder’.
• Enter the URL of your BSCW server (e.g. http://your-bscw-server/bscw/bscw.cgi).
• Confirm with [OK].
• Enter your user name and password.

You now have the Web folder view of your BSCW objects presented to you in the Internet Explorer.

Windows Explorer

• Open ‘My Network Places’ (either from your desktop or within Windows Explorer).
• Select ‘Add Network Place’.
• Confirm twice with [Next].
• Enter the URL of your BSCW server (e.g. http://your-bscw-server/bscw/bscw.cgi) and confirm with [Next].
• You will then be prompted for your BSCW user name and password.
• You may give a name to this network resource.
• Click [Finish].

Now your BSCW objects are available as a new network resource. Opening this resource leads to the Web folder view of the objects.

The Microsoft implementation of WebDAV is not fully compliant with the WebDAV standard and this may cause some problems. The following problems are known:

• Dialog boxes and error messages are sometimes misleading.
• Blanks and special characters in BSCW object names may not be represented correctly in the Web folder view of Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer.
• The superior folder is shown in the current folder.
• Drag & drop within the same directory results in a copy operation.

Attention:

In order to close the WebDAV connection to your BSCW server, it is not sufficient to close the browser window or to remove the WebDAV folder — the network connection is still active! Now, if other people want to set up WebDAV under their own user name, still your private workspaces will open up in spite of the other person using the correct user name and password. To avoid this, log off from Windows (‘start’ > ‘Shut Down...’ > ‘Log off your-user-name’) and log in again. This is needed, when other people have access your local system.