The Document Library and Journal portlets now provide support for the WebDAV protocol so users can upload and organize resources from both a web interface and the file explorer of their desktop operating system. Starting with Liferay Portal 5.0, Image Gallery will also be accessable via WebDAV.
What is WebDAV #
WebDAV provides functionality to create, change and move documents on a remote server (typically a web server or "web share"). WebDAV is supported by all major Operating Systems and Desktop Environments including Windows, MacOS X and Linux (KDE and GNOME).
For more information visit:
Determining the WebDAV URL #
- Document Library - In the Document Library portlet, navigate to the specific folder and edit it (click the edit button to the right). In there you will see the direct WebDAV URL for that location.
- Image Gallery (v5.0+) - Pretty much the same as the Document Library.
- Journal - In the Journal portlet, navigate to the specific Journal Template and edit it. You should see the direct WebDAV URL for that template.
Login Credentials #
You can login using the login credentials you use to access the portal. In fact, you can use the email address, user ID or screen name -- all three will work.
In earlier versions of Liferay, you could only use your user ID. You can find your User ID by clicking My Account. It should be one of the first entries in the Profile tab that comes up. So if my User ID is 12345, then my login information would be:
Login = 12345
Password = ****
Configuring WebDAV support #
By default Liferay Portal allows WebDAV connections from any server using HTTP or HTTPS. It is possible to have a more secure configuration through the following properties of portal(-ext).properties:
webdav.servlet.hosts.allowed=
webdav.servlet.https.required=false
Note: this configuration is not currently available in 4.3.0
Accessing a WebDAV URL #
Each WebDAV accessible resource of Liferay has an associated URL. Copy that URL and use it to configure the file (or WebDAV) browser that you prefer. You will be asked to authenticate with your userId and password.
Following are specific instructions of how to configure access to the folder using WebDAV once you have the URL:
Windows #
Linux #
- Konqueror (KDE)
- Change the protocol of the URL so that instead of http://... it says webdav:...
- Write the URL in the location bar and click enter.
- Nautilus (GNOME)
- Change the protocol of the URL so that instead of http://... it says dav:... (davs:... when your site is using SSL).
- Write the URL in the location bar and click enter.
Mac OS X #
- In the Finder select the menu Go->Connect to Server.
- Type the address of the WebDAV server in the Server Address field.
- Click "Connect."
Known Issues #
General #
- When viewing folders in the Document Library, files exist beginning with "._" (e.g., "._test.txt"). This is due to the implementation of OS X's WebDAVFS client. OS X creates a resource fork for every file it creates or modifies, storing it in a file that has a name prepended with "._". Though this is invisible on OS X, most other clients (including the Document Library portlet) display this file as present. Deleting this file will not cause any harm but will be regenerated when OS X finds the need to do so.
Windows #
- When adding a Network Place, you get the error message "The folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another." This may occur if your URL has a %20 in it. If so, replace all %20 strings with a single space " " (c.f., KB888039).
- Vista/Windows 7 users may have problems logging into Liferay's WebDAV (or any other WebDAV for that matter) because Liferay and many other servers only support Basic Authentication. Though this is changed for 6.0EE/6.1CE (LPS-10606), a workaround is to set your registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters\BasicAuthLevel to 2.
- Vista/Server 2003:
Mac OS X #
- Files do not seem to be editable from within MS Office. The reason for this is the fact that, when editing a file, Office generates a series of temporary files, moves and renames them, and tries to create random directories. Due to the extensions of files generated and location that they are made, this causes problems with the business rules around document library. A few outstanding issues exist, but even with these things fixed (http://issues.liferay.com/browse/LPS-3604 and http://issues.liferay.com/browse/LPS-3605), it seems that many users of OS X/MS Office on WebDAV servers run into speed issues.
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