Fetch Help > Using Fetch > Setting up WebView

WebView lets you set up a correspondence between files you are viewing in Fetch and the address of the webpage they are part of, so that you can easily view changes to your website in a web browser and copy the web addresses of those files.

Once you've set up WebView for a server, you can then click the WebView button in the toolbar of transfer windows to show the selected files or folders in your web browser. You can also use the Copy Web Address command to copy a web address (also called a link or URL) of the selected items in Fetch.

For more information about the concepts and features of WebView, see the in-depth WebView help topic.

Before you can use WebView, you must tell Fetch the web address of your server. (In most cases, Fetch cannot figure out your web server's address automatically; see below for an explanation.)

To set up WebView for a server:

1. Connect to your server using the New Connection dialog or by opening the shortcut for that server.
2. Go to your home folder, or the folder containing your webpages, if you are not already there.
3. Click the WebView button in the toolbar.
4. The WebView dialog should appear. (If it does not, and a webpage opens instead, WebView is already set up for this server — either you set it up already, or you are on a server whose information is built into Fetch already. In either case, you're done.)
5. Look at the server and folder name mentioned in the dialog, or displayed in the window's title bar. You are setting up WebView for that folder.
6. Enter the web address corresponding to this folder and server in the edit field.
   1. Usually you should enter your domain name, or the address for your website's homepage.
   2. Examples of web addresses are: `http://www.example.com/myusername/` or `http://www.MyDomainName.com`
   3. You can use the Get From Safari pop-up menu to get the web address of a webpage currently open in Safari.
7. Click the OK button. Fetch should show the selected file or folder in your web browser.

If the webpage that opens after you have entered a web address is incorrect — that is, it doesn't show you the page you expected, or it shows you an error — you may have entered an incorrect web address and need to try again. To edit a WebView entry, either hold down the Option key and click the WebView button, or use the WebView Preferences pane.

Once you have set up WebView for a server, you do not have to go through the set up process again.

The next time you choose WebView when connected to the same server, Fetch will show the selected files or folder in your web browser instead of the WebView dialog.

If you work with multiple servers, you can set up WebView entries for each server.

Why doesn't Fetch automatically figure out the web address for you? Unfortunately, there's no standard for specifying the web address of files on a server; each server uses its own method, and the method used by one server may not apply on another. There is no way for Fetch to ask your server which method it uses, so Fetch has to ask you instead. While the information for some popular servers is built into Fetch, in most cases Fetch needs your input. If you are not sure what the corresponding web address should be, you should contact your hosting provider or server administrator.

Related topics:

- WebView
- WebView Preferences
- WebView dialog (web address only)
- WebView command