FrontPage 2000-2002 Extensions

What are FrontPage Server Extensions?

They are a set of server-side applications that enable you to incorporate the following advanced features without having to write the complex server-side programs typically required.

Include these FrontPage components on your sites: link bars, top 10 lists, form handlers, discussions, full text searches, hit counters, and categories.

Note: When uploading files to the server using FrontPage Publish Wizard, do not specify the folder mainwebsite_html

How do I publish my website using FrontPage

When publishing with Frontpage, your domain name needs to have propogated and be working correctly. Make sure that your domain is either registered with or transferred to Display Hosting's DNS records. Otherwise FrontPage will not be able to find your Display Hosting account. You may check to see if your domain has Display Hosting's DNS records registered by searching the following database for your domain name:

http://www.internic.com/

Look and see if the name servers are correctly set to the ones that we provided you in your Welcome email.

There is a difference from publishing your web site and connecting live and making changes right on the server.

The following instructions describe one method of publishing your Website files using the FrontPage "Publish" feature. Please read below to learn how to connect to the server live.

For further help with FrontPage please consult the help index within the software, Microsoft's online manual, or their extensive knowledge base at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage. For tech support phone numbers at Microsoft, including those for non-registered users, please see
http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp.

I. The Publish Feature

Step 1
Make sure you are connected to the Internet and then open FrontPage.

Step 2
Click on "File" and then "Open Web" to open the web you have created on your desktop. The "Look in" field will then prompt you to browse to the web folder you have created on your computer. Select the web that you would like to publish and click on "Open" in the lower right hand corner of the screen.

Step 3
Once you click on "Open", your Website and all files and folders contained therein should appear in the format below. You will see a list of files and folders on the left panel. These are the files that comprise yourWebsite and when you publish the web, all the files and folders will be sent to the Display Hosting web server where your remote Website account is located. To make sure that you have successfully opened your web, go to "View" and then choose "Folders".

(Note, you may exclude some files from the publish feature if you wish. Please see the online FrontPage help section and click on "Microsoft FrontPage help". In the answer wizard area, type in "Publish web using HTTP" and this will provide you with the proper instructions on excluding files from the publish.) When you are ready to publish your web, simply click on

"File" and "Publish Web".

Step 4
Once you click on "Publish Web" a screen will popup with title "Publish Web".

Enter in the full URL of your website:

http://www.yourdomain.com

Then click ok.

FrontPage will find your remote Website account on our Display Hosting web server using your domain name.

Step 5

You should then be prompted for your FrontPage username and password. You will find these on your Welcome To DisplayHosting.net! message. Type in your username and password and click "Ok". Then click "Publish" and FrontPage will begin publishing your Website.

Please note, this is one case where you do not need to put username@domain.com for the username. You only need the username for the login.

Step 6
Depending on the size of your Website and the rate of your Internet connection, this process may take a while. Once the site is successfully published, you should receive the following message:

"Web site published successfully!"

You may click on the link highlighted in blue to view your newly published site on the Web.

Connecting Live

In order to work on your pages live, you will need to have a connection to the server on your local computer. Lets create your network place.

Step 1
Go to your desktop and open "Network Neighborhood". Click on Add Network Place. The Wizard should automatically begin. Click next and click "Choose Another Network Location".

Step 2
You will be promted to enter an Internet or Network address. Here you will enter the full url of your site: http://www.yoursite.com. Click next. You should then be prompted for your FrontPage username and password. You will find these on your Welcome To DisplayHosting.net! email that you got when your site was setup. Type in your username and password and click "Ok".

Please note, this is one case where you do not need to put username@domain.com for the username. You only need the username for the login.

You will then be asked to give your new connection a Name. Give it any name that you like. And click on next. It will confirm your new site. Click finish and your done!

To open your new site. Open FrontPage and go to File > Open and go to "Network Neighborhood" and choose your new Network Connection!

Please note: When connecting to the server live, you are working on live pages. If you save or delete anything, those changes can't be recovered or fixed. Whatever changes you make will be final.

FrontPage FAQ and Other Information

What are extensions, why do I need them?

FrontPage extensions are folders added to your directory that make FrontPage components easier to use and allows use of the FrontPage "Publish" feature instead of FTP. . For instance, all those handy little WebBots like hit counters, discussion groups and the like usually have to be added using a CGI script, and CGI can get messy. With the help of extensions, the WebBots take care of that for you.

What does it cost to use FrontPage Extensions?

There are no extra charges to use FrontPage Extensions. You can simply enable them from your Control Panel.

Do you support ASP pages?

No we do not. We may offer an apache version of ASP in the future if there is a demand for it.

Can I create a FrontPage-based Web site without using Server Extensions?

Yes. With the exception of the functionality mentioned above, there is no difference between a Web site that uses server extensions and one that does not. If you are publishing to a nonextended Web server, you can use the Compatibility Options dialog box to automatically disable features that require the server-side processing enabled by the server extensions.

Will all earlier versions of FrontPage be able to operate with FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions?

Yes.

What browsers does FrontPage 2002 support?

FrontPage-created sites can be viewed in any browser. FrontPage also offers cross-browser support for Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML). Users can preview a site in any browser loaded on their computer by using the Preview in Browser feature in FrontPage.

How do I make .exe files execute with a Frontpage web?

If you want your visitors to download .exe files from your site, there is a small amount of work involved. First, you must place the .exe files in a subdirectory of your root or sub-web. They cannot be in the root directory of a web or the frontpage web bots will not work. Second, you need to create a file named .htaccess in the subdirectory containing the .exe's . The only contents of the file will be:

AddType application/octet-stream exe EXE

This can also be done in your /docs directory if you wish to keep the files out of your frontpage directories.

Can I use FTP with my Frontpage website?

Yes and no (BE CAREFUL). Occasionally you may wish to FTP to your website to edit your .mreply.rc file or publish something to your cgibin and that won't effect your FrontPage website in your wwwfp directory because you'll be working in the directory above it. But don't be tempted to FTP your FrontPage designed file in to your wwwfp directory. Remember FrontPage does more than move files, it recalculates all your hyperlinks and enables all your webbots and other cool FrontPage stuff.

Using Forms

Feedback forms can be an extremely powerful, helpful and hectic addition to your FP Web. To create a whole form, it's easier to use the FP Form Wizard found by clicking on "File" in the FP Editor, then "New," then selecting "Form Page Wizard" from the list. It will ask you a series of questions and create a custom page for you. But if you only need a few fields, it's just as easy to add them yourself.

First, select the type of field you want by clicking on "Insert" in the FP Editor, then selecting "Form Field", then selecting the type of field you want. After this field is added, you have to decide how you'd like to receive the output of that field. By right-clicking anywhere in the form, you can choose to have it sent to a Web page, which will automatically be made for you, a text file that you designate, or -- the most convenient option -- sent to an e-mail account.

To do this, simply right-click anywhere in the form. Click the option "Form Properties" that will open a window of the same name. As you will see, the default is to have them sent to a Web page. Delete that and go to the "Send Results By E-mail" box. Enter the e-mail address of your choice, and click "OK" to close the box. When the box closes, it will tell you that the mail server is not configured, or something like that, and will suggest that you remove the "e-mail client." Click "No". After you publish your site to the server, it will work correctly -- another magical job of the extensions.

Here's another mystery of FP. You have your form all set and uploaded, and you decide to test it. You fill in the fields and click "Submit" but instead of getting a confirmation page, you get a page telling you that an error occurred. What to do now? Well, for some reason, if you log on to the root Web on the server and re-calculate your hyperlinks, it usually helps.

All about Child Webs

A Child Web is actually a complete new Web, just made inside another Web. It has a separate navigation system, and is the only way to successfully create multiple directories without messing up your extensions. To create a Child Web, simply open up the Web that you'd like the Child Web to become a part of and, in FP Explorer, click "New" then "FrontPage Web." Select the type of Web you want, and the name you want it to have, and you're done. It's that simple. To publish a Child Web, simply open the Web you chose to make it in and select "Publish". In the "Publish FrontPage Web" window, click the check box marked "Include Child Webs" and you're set.

Problems with hover buttons

Hover buttons are no trick of FrontPage. They use simple, straightforward JavaScript. However, the class (file) that's needed to run the applet (applet is a java program) is found within the FP extensions. So if your extensions don't work, your hover button won't either. But it's not always that. Even though most browsers made today support JavaScript, every user has the option of shutting off the JavaScript on their page. So, if yours is off, you won't be able to see it. That's why it's not good to have hover buttons as your only means of navigation. You'd be cutting off a large portion of your audience. If you have repeated problems with your hover buttons, try re-calculating your hyperlinks. This seems to fix many problems found in FP.

Marquee problems

The Marquee supplied by FP will only work in Internet Explorer 4.x and up. It currently doesn't work in any version of Netscape Navigator. All you can do is use a separate JavaScript that will work on all browsers and platforms (if they have JavaScript enabled.)

Hit counters

The hit counter that FP provides is, for the most part, reliable. Its function comes from FP extensions. Sometimes you run into problems, but they are usually internal (the software and extensions) and can't be easily fixed. The first thing you can do is right-click on the component in FP Explorer and make sure you don't have it set to any default number. If it doesn't work, ask other people to check it in other browsers. The problem could be in your browser. If you get "no's" across the board and confirm that it doesn't work, try deleting it and adding a new counter to the page. Chances are that the problem, unless it lies within your extensions, won't reoccur. If you think it is your extensions, simply re-enable them.