Expression® Web Design
FrontPage Server Extensions
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
I realized that I never spoke too much about FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) except in one post (Publishing from Remote Server to Local Computer). Now, most of what I will say - you can find in the other post. However, FPSE are really important to users that use Microsoft FrontPage to publish their website, I thought I should have a specific post regarding them.For some users, FPSE are not even thought about. The user goes to File - Publish in FrontPage and sets up FrontPage to publish to their server relying on FPSE and http (other webmasters usually use FTP and FrontPage will support FTP, though not as reliably as some other programs (like FileZilla)).
Also,
keep in mind that using FTP could corrupt the FPSE, and any of the bots that you
have used might not function properly. FrontPage creates some hidden files
and folders. One of the folders is _vti_cnf - you won't see this folder in
FrontPage,
but if you look in explorer, you should see the folder (if you have show hidden
folders turned on). In the _vti_cnf folder, you will see the same file name
that you created in
FrontPage.
For example, if you created index.html, you would see index.html in the _vti_cnf
folder. However, if you open this index.html file via Notepad, you will not
see HTML source code, but rather information regarding the specific file.
There will be information that helps
FrontPage
to manage / maintain the website. You might see text like vti_timelastmodified,
vti_timecreated, vti_author, vti_filesize, vti_extenderversion, etc. These
files should not be edited unless you know exactly what you are editing and what
the consequences might be. Of course, you can always create a
backup copy of the website before beginning anything like this.
FrontPage Server Extension Components
Here is a list of components that require FrontPage Server Extensions to be installed on the server:- Confirmation Field
- Discussion Form Handler
- FrontPage created server-side Image Maps
- Registration Form Handler
- Save Results Form Handler
- Scheduled Image
- Scheduled Include Page Component
- Search Form
- WebBot Registration component
- WebBot Discussion component
- WebBot Save Results component
- WebBot Search component
- WebBot Scheduled Include component
- FrontPage created server-side Image Maps
- WebBot Confirmation Field component
- WebBot Scheduled Image
- Nested subwebs
- Lightweight Source Control (document check-in/check-out without Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for Windows)
- Categories component
- StyleSheet links to multiple files or Active Server Pages (ASP) files
- Hit Counter
- Guestbook
(You will see that it is a FrontPage Scheduled Include File that requires FPSE, not a FrontPage Include.)
FPSE Versions
Microsoft has several pages that will tell you exactly what component requires what version of FPSE:- List of FrontPage Components That Require Server Extensions (FPSE 98)
- List of components in FrontPage 2000 that require FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions
- Lists of components in FrontPage 2002 that require FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions
Check to See if FrontPage Server Extensions Are Installed and Working
Sometimes, FPSE need to be re-calculated. You can sign onto the server by going to:http://www.example.com:port/fpadmdll.dll?page=fpadmin.htm
Replace www.example.com with the domain name. The port is 80 (or 8080) if I remember correctly - sorry it has been awhile since I used this. An easier way is to sign onto the server with FrontPage (File - Open Web - http://www.example.com). Once you have done this, go to Tools - Server. This will open your default browser and you can easily check the FPSE and repair them. This is usually one of the things that might need to be done when you are having problems with FPSE web-bots.
To check to see if FPSE are install and what version, go to:
http://www.example.com/_vti_inf.html
If FPSE are installed, you should see something like this:
FrontPage Configuration Information In the HTML comments, this page contains configuration information that the FrontPage Explorer and FrontPage Editor need to communicate with the FrontPage server extensions installed on this web server. Do not delete this page.
If you do not see this information on the _vti_inf.html file, you should contact you webhosting provider to verify FPSE are actually installed. If this page comes up, you can get a little more information on FPSE and your server if needed.
Reading the _vti_inf.html File
After you have this page opened (in Internet Explorer), go to Tools - View Source. Now you will be able to get a little more information about the FPSE version and server. Here is an example:FrontPage Configuration Information FPVersion="5.0.2.6790" FPShtmlScriptUrl="_vti_bin/shtml.dll/_vti_rpc" FPAuthorScriptUrl="_vti_bin/_vti_aut/author.dll" FPAdminScriptUrl="_vti_bin/_vti_adm/admin.dll" TPScriptUrl="_vti_bin/owssvr.dll"
FPVersion of course is the FPSE version. This server has FPSE version 2002 installed (5 is 2002, 4 is 2000, 3 is 98). If you look at FPAuthorScriptURL / FPAdminScriptURL, you see author.dll / admin.dll. This means the FPSE are installed on a Microsoft (IIS) server. If property is author.exe / admin.exe, it is not a Microsoft (IIS) server, probably (some version of) *NIX server.
Consider using some type of server side language to accomplishment whatever FrontPage web-bots you are using now. There is some code available to help you with whatever it is. You might need to change the file extension (from .html / .htm to something like .asp / .aspx / .php / .phtml / .phtm etc.) unfortunately. One example - form processing - if you are on a Windows server with the JMail e-mail component installed.
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