Problen knowing when Firefox completed a download

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Moderator: Mr_Noodle

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Hi.
I have Firefox set to download all files to a specified download folder (so it doesn't ask me where to download each and every time).
I have Hazel monitoring the Firefox download folder and I put a rule to move pdf files to a documents folder.

The result is that if Hazel springs into action during the download then the download is botched. This sometimes results in a Firefox error message and sometimes results in a bad file (without a Firefox warning).

When I look carefully at what is happening I notice that Firefox displays a variety of different behaviors during a download:

Sometimes it creates two files, one with the downloaded file's name and another with a .part extension. The second file is removed when the download is complete. When this occurs everything goes smoothly. (I believe Hazel uses this scheme to avoid yanking the file prematurely)

Most of the time, Firefox creates a temporary file with a random name, preserving the pdf extension. This temporary file is renamed when the download is complete. In this case, Hazel recognizes the extension and usually yanks the file away while the download is in progress, resulting in a Firefox error.

One possible workaround is to add another rule requiring that the file's last modified date is not in the last couple of minutes. This solution has some drawbacks. First, the specified time may not be long enough to complete the download and once the download is complete I wouldn't know where to look for it (in the downloads folder or the documents folder).

I tried to tweak Firefox into always using the .part scheme but failed (adding a FlashGot extension didn't help. Nor did upgrading to Firefox 2.0.0.1).

At the moment I'm setting the delay to be greater than one day so my documents folder is more of a "storage" folder, but this is not what I originally wanted.

Ideas anyone?
shpigi
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:04 am

Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:38 pm • by Mr_Noodle
Are you the same person who emailed me about this? Just want to know whether I should email as well as post here or, if you are the same person, just post here.

I chatted with some of the Mozilla devs. Some had not seen this behavior and seemed a bit surprised. One person said it happens when you do a right-click download but did not elaborate more (the problem with IRC is people tend to go silent in the middle of conversations).

So, my recommendations are:
- Make sure "Save all files to this folder" is selected.
- Maybe check "Show Download Manager when a download begins". It seems to work for me.
- Avoid using right-click downloads?

I have no definitive answer or workaround beyond the above. I'll post here if I get any more info but I say try the above and see if that helps.

Also, about the rule, I think just making it check last modified in the last few minutes should be sufficient. Unless a download is paused or just stalls for long periods of time, the modified date should constantly be updated as the file is being downloaded.
Mr_Noodle
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Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:39 am • by shpigi
I am the same person who emailed you. Strange that this problem hasn't come up before in the forum (I bet I'm not the only one using Hazel and Firefox on a Mac :wink: ). I'll try to see if I can reproduce my Firefox's behavior on other machines.
shpigi
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:04 am

Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:08 pm • by Mr_Noodle
I think the case is replicable so you probably don't need to do anymore on that front. I say try futzing with the things I outlined to see if you can get it to stop happening. With the settings I outlined, I don't seem to be getting the "random name" problem (though I admit I probably need to do more testing).
Mr_Noodle
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