Rails - May 2006 - Transferring files via Windows BITS using Apache/HTTP/RoR (without the browser)

Hey everyone:

Here is a background on what I want to accomplish:
 * Have a unique URI (mydomain.com/uniqueID) and then go via a client I
developed and hit that URI.
 * Perform server side code to determine whether there are new files to download
 * Files are all web content files with the exception of .txt files (so JPEGs,
HTML, CSS, etc....)
 * If there are new files to download, I want the client to download *all of it
at once*..., effectively downloading all the files from server using the HTTP
protocol.
 * If there are not new files to download, I''d like for the client to
download nothing.
 * I would also like to upload .txt files to the server ever hour, read their
contents, and insert/update them into my database schema.
 * I''d like to use Ruby On Rails/Apache/Linux for the server
* I''d like to use Windows BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer
Service)
* I want to make sure there ia a way to accomplish these things before I really
dive into implementing them.

Here are my questions:
 * Does Apache with RubyOnRails meet the following qualifications of BITS?:
 Background Intelligent Transfer Service?  And if so, how would I accomplish
this?
* I''m a newbie when it comes to HTTP/Ruby/Apache, so please phrase your
responses in a way that someone of my level of understanding can
''get''. :P
 
 BITS supports HTTP and HTTPS downloads and uploads and requires that the server
supports the HTTP/1.1 protocol. For downloads, the HTTP server''s Head
method must return the file size and its Get method must support the
Content-Range and Content-Length headers. As a result, BITS only transfers
static file content and generates an error if you try to transfer dynamic
content, unless the ASP, ISAPI, or CGI script supports the Content-Range and
Content-Length headers.
 BITS can use an HTTP/1.0 server as long as it meets the Head and Get method
requirements.
 To support downloading ranges of a file, the server must support the following
requirements:
 * Allow MIME headers to include the standard Content-Range and Content-Type
headers, plus a maximum of 180 bytes of other headers.
     * Allow a maximum of two CR/LFs between the HTTP headers and the first
boundary string.


Thanks so much!

(If you''d like to personally respond to me, my email is membos AT yahoo
DOT com)

-chase
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