FrontPage Explorer is one of the main reasons why so many Internet magazines have described Microsoft FrontPage as the best website development tool on the market. Once you've learned how to use it, you'll never want to be without it. There are any number of things which you can control with it, and when it's used according to "the rules," it's fantastic. When you circumvent FrontPage Explorer by trying to mange your webs in some other way, though, watch out! It can be like "a woman scorned!"
Why is this? Well, you may have noticed that the interface for FrontPage Explorer looks a lot like Windows Explorer, and it should. In many ways, it behaves exactly like Windows Explorer. You can create directories (or folders), move, copy and delete files and folders, get and set properties of files and folders, and all that good stuff that you can do with Windows Explorer. But, just as there are things going on under the surface with Windows Explorer, things you don't see (and don't need to), so there are with FrontPage Explorer. But they are different things.
Remember that the Internet is a form of peer-to-peer network. In a network, file and folder management and access is managed by a server. On the Internet network, it's the same way. File and folder management and access, permissions, etc. are managed by a web server. Windows Explorer is designed for file and folder management on a local computer, and on a LAN (local area network). It is not specifically designed to manage files and folders on the Internet. FrontPage Explorer is designed for just that purpose. It communicates behind the scenes with your web server, telling the server everything it needs to know about what you're telling FrontPage Explorer to do.
In addition, if you read my last article, you remember that FrontPage uses _vti configuration files, to keep track of your web management. It writes down when the last time someone worked on a file was, who worked on it, the last time a particular web was published, where it was published to, who published it, etc. It keeps track of a lot of things which provide FrontPage with its' smart functionality, and saves you a bunch of work and time in the process. Well, guess who's responsible for writing all this stuff down in those _vti files? You guessed it: FrontPage Explorer.
So, let's say you move files around in your webs using Windows Explorer. What happens? Well, those _vti files don't get updated, the server doesn't get updated, in fact, nothing gets updated. You've been sneaking around behind your web management software's back! All of a sudden, FrontPage doesn't know what's going on any more! What happens when you use FTP to upload your files to a remote web? Same thing! Now you're in a pickle!
So, what can you do to fix all of this mess? Simple. Refresh your web's memory. How is this done? Well, in the case of a local web, the best thing to do is copy the entire web's (not the root web, just the child web you need to fix) directory structure and folders into a holding folder, somewhere else on your computer, using Windows Explorer. It's okay: FrontPage Explorer and the server aren't concerned about anything off the server, in most cases. Then, open the web you've just copied in FrontPage Explorer and delete it. Yes, that's right. Delete the sucker. Remember, you've got a copy of it somewhere else.
Now you're going to create a brand new FrontPage Web, using the Import Web Wizard. In FrontPage Explorer, select File|New|FrontPage Web|Import Web Wizard from the menu. Follow the instructions regarding the naming of your web. Then browse to the place you've stored the web, and import it into your server, and FrontPage Explorer. What happens is, FrontPage Explorer copies the file/folder structure and sets up a whole new set of _vti files for it. In addition, it lets the server in on the whole deal. Now everything's back in shape again.
Fixing a remote web is even easier. Just publish your local web to the remote website, and uncheck the "Changed Pages Only" checkbox. It will publish the entire web, and rewrite all of the _vti files on the remote server, as well as informing the remote server of which virtual directories to set up. If you have any executable folders on the remote web, check to make sure that they are still executable. They should be.
Now, before I go, I'd like to let you in on a few "Tips and Tricks" for web management with FrontPage Explorer. Remember that I said that it works almost exactly like Windows Explorer? Well, it does, at least as far as what you can do with files and folders. For example, you can left-click and drag a file or folder in the right-hand pane into a folder in the left-hand pane to move it. To copy it, right-click and drag it. When you release it it will give you the option of moving copying, or cancelling. Simple, eh?
You can also do the same with blocks of files. Want to move a bunch all at one time? Well, you can click on the first file, use the SHIFT-click on the last file, and they will all be selected. Then right- or left-click and drag to perform your operation, just like with a single file. CNTRL-click to select or de-select one file at a time. Or you can click and drag a box around a block of files instead of the SHIFT-click method. I'm sure you can figure out the rest.
Another topic which seems to have a lot of people confused is the issue of "importing" and "exporting" files. And FrontPage 98 isn't going to make it less confusing, because the rules will change. But let's deal with FrontPage 97 for now. Basically, "importing" a file means importing it from your local computer, to a web either on your local server, or a remote web. "Exporting" is the opposite. It copies a file from a web on a server to your local computer somewhere. In FrontPage 98, this ability will be enhanced to allow files to be imported and exported to and from one server's web to another as well.
That's probably enough to chew on for the present. I will cover more on website management in future articles. Until then, let's be careful out there.
Author: Kevin
Spencer
Date: 9/26/97
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