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:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV
• http://www.webdav.org/

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 = ****

Note: Any time you change your password, emailaddress or screenname, you may need to re-login to the server via the portal. This includes when you first upgrade or use a clean installation of Liferay. Otherwise, when you login, you may see in your stacktrace something like the following: "User must first login through the portal 1234".

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 #

Connecting to WebDav from Windows GUI may not always work as expected. It is recommended to use "net use" command from command line.

Mapping Network Drive (Vista or 7 only) #

1. Right click on the Network icon and select Map Network Drive.
2. Select a drive and enter the WebDAV URL and click Finish. Enter credentials when prompted.

Using "Add Network Places" Wizard (XP, Vista or 7) #

1. On Vista or Windows 7, right click on the Computer icon and select Add Network Location. On XP and Server 2003, open My Network Places in Windows Explorer and double click Add a Network Place.
2. Select "Choose another network connection" and click Next.
3. Enter the WebDAV URL and click Next. Enter credentials when prompted.

Windows 98 #

1. Using Windows Explorer go to the menu option "Web Folder...".
2. Introduce the WebDAV URL and click enter.

Linux #

Konqueror (KDE) #

1. Change the protocol of the URL so that instead of http://... it says webdav://...
2. Write the URL in the location bar and click enter.

Nautilus (GNOME) #

1. Change the protocol of the URL so that instead of http://... it says dav://... (davs://... when your site is using SSL).
2. Write the URL in the location bar and click enter.

Mac OS X #

1. In the Finder select the menu Go->Connect to Server.
2. Type the address of the WebDAV server in the Server Address field and click "Connect". Enter credentials when prompted.

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.
• If you are using TortoiseSVN or TortoiseGIT, it will constantly query the WebDAV for .svn or .git folders. To skip the checks against these folders, add to your portal-ext.properties: webdav.ignore=.svn,.git
• Setting GMT timezone on your application server may be critical! When user.timezone property is not set, application servers detect timezone from locale. During the communication with the WebDav client, all times will be sent in detected timezone (like CET). Some WebDav clients (like Windows7) don't handle timezones correctly, and expect the GMT.

Windows #