Expression® Web Design

Losing FrontPage Server Extensions

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Maybe you received an email from your hosting company stating that FrontPage Server Extensions are no longer being supported.  Hopefully they will give you a thirty day notice - but some web hosting companies are seeing that "supporting" FrontPage Server Extensions is not as profitable.  Unfortunately, Microsoft® dropped FrontPage Server Extensions like a hot potato when it discovered webmasters were looking to develop a website that was valid by the W3 standards (well it did take them a few years).

So now what does a webmaster do?  Maybe you have relied on FrontPage Server Extensions to process a simple contact form on your website - this was one of the better (and worse) things about relying on FrontPage Server Extensions.  Worse - because your email address was displayed in plain text when you looked at the source code.  Better because it was real easy for small businesses to set up a website and have their users contact them.  If you have stopped relying on FrontPage Server Extensions, you just need to make sure you are not using any other webbots that require FrontPage Server Extensions.  The second, if not first, webbot that most webmasters used was the publishing feature.  This is basically where you used http:// instead of the FTP process that is most supported by web hosting providers.  Even still today, Expression Web is lacking on its FTP client.  You will see Expression Web time out on you when you have made only one change to your website and attempt to rely on Expression Web as an FTP client. 

If you are now using FTP to upload / synchronize your website, either with FrontPage or Expression Web, chances are very good you do not need to worry about losing FrontPage Server Extensions.  However, if you are still using http as a way to manage your website, you need to look at using FTP before you inform your web hosting provider to turn off FrontPage Server Extensions.  You can check out downloading a website with Expression Web and FTP as a guide.

FrontPage WebBot Components

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Even though most FrontPage WebBot Components require FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) to work properly, there are three FrontPage WebBot Components that are in design-time and do not require FPSE to function:

1. WebBot Include component
2. WebBot HTML Markup component
3. WebBot Substitution component

WebBot Include Component

This is probably one of the most used and misunderstood FrontPage WebBot Components.  It is sometimes thought that FPSE are required for the Include Component to work, however this is not the case.  FrontPage helps to create this component.  Unlike server side includes (which requires you to only publish one changed file), you have to publish all the pages that you have webbot include component.  The code will look something like:

<!--webbot bot="Include" U-Include="nav.html" TAG="BODY" -->

If you look at the date on any of the pages when you change the include file (in this case nav.html), you will see all the pages that have the include webbot component have the current date and time.  This helps to affirm that the FrontPage include webbot component is created and maintained by FrontPage, not FrontPage Server Extensions.

WebBot HTML Markup Component

This component is probably not needed as much as it was in earlier versions of FrontPage.  Earlier versions of FrontPage had a bad habit of your HTML code into code it thought was correct.  Enclosing your HTML source code in this component was to prevent FrontPage from checking / changing your HTML code into something that it thought would be better (or correct). 

The source code looks something like:

<!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan -->
<a href="http://www.loudexpressions.com" title="Microsoft 
Expression Web Blog">Expression Web Blog</a>
<!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" endspan -->

FrontPage 2000 was notorious for changing HTML source code, especially in ASP pages.  I remember having a ton of problems back then when I was inserting ASP code into the code view.  FrontPage 2002 seemed a lot better and FrontPage 2003 I don't think I ever had a problem with it changing the code.

WebBot Substitution Component

This component allows the FrontPage webmaster to automatically enter some default information about the web page or web site.  For example, the component will show the author, description, last changed date, or URL.  The Author and Modified By comes from the logon username of the system - it might be Administrator.  This might be helpful if you have a number of individuals that make updates and changes to your website.  It will show who made the last change through FrontPage - in case something is incorrect.

The Description can be changed pretty easily.  In the FrontPage folder list, locate the page you wish to change the description.  Right click the file name and choose Properties.  A Properties dialog box will come up - go to the Summary tab.  Here you should see a field named Comments.  Enter the description here and hit OK.  You might need to refresh your page or close it to properly see the Description on your web page.

And as we discussed earlier about FrontPage Server Extensions and the meta data (or meta-key), the "hidden" folder (_vti_cnf) has an index.htm file and this file contains another line: 
vti_description:SW|FrontPage is a WYSIWYG HTML editor

Hopefully in this small example above, you can see how very important the meta data (meta-key) is for FrontPage.  This is why you need to publish a FrontPage website if you are going to use any components that relying on FrontPage Server Extensions. 

This is why when you need to change servers, you have to publish the FrontPage website with FrontPage - you cannot just copy the files over.  If you copy the files over (maybe via explorer), and attempt to run a component that relies on FPSE, you might get an error message (something like: The server administration programs and the server extensions on the web server are not compatible. The administration program is too old to use with this server).

Changing Files in the _vti_cnf Folder

Changing information in these files is usually not recommended.  I did go in and change line two from:
vti_author:SR|BRYANT-01\\Administrator

to:
vti_author:SR|BRYANT-01\\Corey R. Bryant

Now if you look at the new Properties dialog box (on the right), you will see the Created by field has changed from BRYANT-01\Administrator to BRYANT-01\Corey R. Bryant. 

Compare it with the one above to note the change to see the changes.

There are more fields that can be added to these hidden files, but again, it is not recommended.  You should let FrontPage make these changes.  For the most part, FrontPage makes the changes when you save the web page and you never know.

By the way, Expression Web will support the Include and Substitution Components some.  It seems though the WebBot HTML Markup Component though is not completely supported by Expression Web.  You can enter HTML source code between the comments and Expression Web will not show the results in Design mode, however when you view the page in a browser (like Internet Explorer / Firefox), the code will be seen properly.

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

The version of FPSE that is installed on the server might affect some of the web-bots above since some might require another version of FPSE.  It's not always good, but if a web hosting provider is offering FPSE, you might assume that it is FPSE 2002, since this is the latest (probably last) version of FPSE from Microsoft. 

(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.

Godaddy and Frontpage Forms

Friday, December 26, 2008

Since some users are still relying on FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) to process their Frontpage form, you might still have problems from time to time.  You might get a specific Frontpage error when you hit submit.

As pointed out earlier when publishing to a Godaddy server, you need to make sure you publish with the www in your domain name (Problems with FrontPage Forms). 

Chances are, you will need to make sure the FrontPage form is also brought up with the www in your domain name as well.   For example, instead of http://example.com/contact.html it should be http://www.example.com/contact.html.  Otherwise the user  might receive an error message

The server example.com at : requires a username and password.

Warning, this server is requesting that your username and password be sent in an unsecure manner (basic authentication without a secure connection).

Once the submit button, you are probably expecting an email to arrive with the information you entered into your FrontPage form.  After a few minutes, it is still not there.  So you try again (and again) with nothing in your email box.  Check the email address that you are using.  Some mail servers (both incoming and outgoing) will require that you use an email address that is attached to your domain name, so that gmail or hotmail address might not work.

A Possible Work Around

One way to maybe get around this is to set up a forwarded email account.  For example, set up expressionweb@example.com to forward to example@gmail.com.  This way, the FrontPage form will send the email to expressionweb@example.com and you should get the email in your gmail account.

New Computer with FrontPage

Saturday, December 13, 2008

More and more users are buying a new computer.  Unfortunately there are some hassles that come with this purchase - like moving your data over from your old system to the new system.  If you copied the FrontPage website from one computer to another, you might see a few problems, like FrontPage is not able to open the website or it does not recognize it as a website.

One of the ways to get around this is by creating a new website in FrontPage.  Once this is done, delete the index.htm page (or any page that it might create).  Now locate your "old" website and highlight all the files / folders (CNTL-A).  Then copy or CNTL-C.  Go back into FrontPage and right click on the folder where it says the location of your "new" website.  When you right click on that folder, one of the choices should be Paste as a choice.  Choose this and FrontPage will copy (import) your files and folders to the website. 

You might get an error message about no files to import, choose OK - this is just the meta data that FrontPage uses to help maintain the website.  FrontPage will re-create this data for you on the new website.  When you are finished "importing" the website, go to Tools - Recalculate Hyperlinks in FrontPage.

When you are ready to publish, the time stamps might be incorrect unfortunately and FrontPage might need to overwrite some or all the files on the server.

You can also watch a video tutorial of creating the website and copying the files to your new FrontPage website.

Problems with FrontPage Forms

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Users will encounter problems with a FrontPage form they want to be processed by FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) if they FTP it to the server.  FrontPage forms need to be published to http://www.example.com (of course changing this to your domain name). 

Some users will tell you to publish to http://example.com (notice there is no www).  This might work on a number of servers and hosting companies but it seems GoDaddy does require the www in the publishing.

FrontPage forms require special handling.  If you FTP your FrontPage form, there will be numerous problems.  Check out FrontPage Form Errors for some more specific information.  And don't forget the FrontPage Section!

Embed Flash with FrontPage

Thursday, January 17, 2008

If you do not wish to use HTML code when embedding Flash, FrontPage will help you some. 

Go to Insert - Web Components.  In the dialog box that comes up, scroll down on the left to Advanced Components.  Now in the right window, you should see Movie in Flash Format.  Choose this and then hit Finish.  Now locate the SWF file in your FrontPage website to embed the Flash.

If you have questions, you can also watch the video tutorial on Embedding Flash with Frontpage.

Also keep in mind that if you are on a *NIX server, file names are case sensitive - meaning filename.SWF is not the same as filename.swf. On a Windows server, it does not matter.

Frontpage Form Errors

Thursday, October 11, 2007

A lot of times, you might see this message when you are working with Frontpage Forms.  Chances are, you did not publish the site using http - you use FTP.

Frontpage Forms

When working with Frontpage Forms, you need to publish to http://www.example.com (replacing with example.com with your domain name).  Don't use FTP.  If you FTP your site, especially a Frontpage form, chances are very good that the form will not work.

Frontpage Form Errors

There are different errors when using Frontpage forms.  Sometimes, this will help you to determine what you need to do to get your Frontpage form working properly.

_derived/nortbots.htm and --WEBBOT-SELF--

If you hit Submit on your Frontpage form, and you see _derived/nortbots.htm in the URL or --WEBBOT-SELF--, chances are FrontPage Server Extensions are not even installed on your domain.  You will need to check with your hosting provider for more information.  Chances are also pretty good that you used FTP as well.

Would you like to remove the e-mail recipient?

When working with a FrontPage form, you might want to enter and email address.  However, you might get a message:

This form cannot be configured to send results via e-mail. The Web site maybe be located at a disk-based location, or on a server that has not been configured to send email. Contact your system administrator or Internet Service provider for more information.

Would you like to remove the e-mail recipient?

The answer to this question is no. If you choose Yes, it will remove the email address that you just entered.  Choose no and publish your Frontpage website.

Frontpage Server Extensions (FPSE)

A good way to check to see if FPSEs are installed is to go to your domain name and the file _vti_inf.html.  So if your domain name is www.example.com, you would go to www.example.com/_vti_inf.html.  You should get this message:

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 get Page not Found or a 404 Error, Frontpage Server Extensions are not installed or possibly damaged.  You need to contact your hosting company and ask them to repair the FPSEs.

Frontpage is Running Slow

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

A lot of times you will see that Frontpage is sluggish, running pretty slow.  There are a few things that you can do.  One of them is to go to Tools - Site Settings. In the Advanced Tab, you will see a button under Temporary Files that says Delete Files. Click on this button and then hit OK. You can also see a video tutorial.

Now, shut down Frontpage.  And then you can also delete the temporary Internet cache from Microsoft Internet Explorer.  Now, do a search for files with the web extension:  go to the My Computer icon on your computer and hit F3 (to search).  Type in *.web to search for the files.  Delete any files with this extension.

You can also consider removing the Temporary Internet Files via Internet Explorer.  On Internet Explorer, go to Tools - Internet Options.  In the General tab, you will see a section labeled Browsing History.  Hit the Delete button and this opens a new dialog box that says Delete Browsing History.  Now you should see a section labeled Temporary Internet Files.  Hit the Delete files button here and a new dialog box pops up labeled Delete Files, asking if you are sure you want to delete all temporary Internet Explorer Files.  Choose Yes and the temporary Internet Files will be deleted.  You might also consider running a scandisk and defrag of your system if you have the time.

There is also a program called Frontpage Cleaner.  This program will do some of the above mentioned ideas as well as a few others. 

Frontpage Includes

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Frontpage Includes is one of the few FrontPage WebBot Components that do not require FrontPage Server Extensions to work.  You can make changes to the included page and not even have to publish the page to work.  You have to publish all the other pages though to see the changes.

To Include a Page using FrontPage

On the page you wish to see the include, go to Insert - Web Component.  In the new dialog box that opens, choose Included Content on the right and now choose Page on the left.  Hit the Finish button and another dialog box will open.  Locate the page you wish to include and hit OK. 

Once saved, you only need to publish the pages that you have changed.  Usually though, this is time consuming which is why I recommend server side includes.  You only need to publish one page and the content is parsed on the server before the browser renders the page.

Frontpage Web Components

A schedule include is a web component that requires FrontPage Server Extensions.  A regular page include only requires Frontpage.  It will insert some code into the pages that looks something like this:

<!--webbot bot="Include" U-Include="included_page.html" 
TAG="BODY" -->

I know I just wrote about this the other day: Working with Frontpage Includes, but I don't remember writing it (as some of you might remember my memory issues).  I listened to the recording and it seemed to echo so hopefully this recording is a bit better.

Working with Frontpage Includes

Monday, October 08, 2007

Frontpage Includes are one of the very few features in FrontPage in which FrontPage handles by itself - without the need for FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE).  As you can seen from the screen captures, even any changes made by the Include file are automatically updated locally.  It seems that you do not need to re-save the files, but you will need to re-publish all the files since the files have been changed locally.

To add a page in Frontpage, go to Tools - Web Component.  Now choose Page and hit Next.  Hit the browse button and locate the page you would like to include.  Unlike using server side includes, a FrontPage Included file must be a complete page (having a html, head, and body elements).  Frontpage will handle the includes code as necessary.

The biggest difference with using Frontpage Includes and Server Side Includes, you will need to publish all pages that have the included content.  With a Server Side Include, you only need to publish one page.

Creating a Hotspot in Frontpage

Saturday, October 06, 2007

To create a hotspot with Frontpage, the easiest way is to use the Picture toolbar.  This will help you create the source code you need if you have one image but need to direct users to different pages when they hover over a particular place on the image.

Once you have the image in your web page, right click near the tool bars to bring up the dropdown and choose the Pictures toolbar.  Now if you highlight your image you will see that you are able to choose the Rectangular Hotspot.  Go to your image, draw a rectangle over the image you wish to direct users to.  When you lift up on the left mouse cursor, a hyperlink dialog box will appear.  Locate the page that you wish to associate with that hotspot.  And then repeat as necessary.

You can also see it in action to make sure you know where everything is.

How to Link to a PDF File in Frontpage

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Linking to a PDF in Frontpage is just like linking to an HTML file.  I would insert the PDF file into your Frontpage website first. 

Now highlight the word(s) you wish the user to click on to download the PDF file.  Now in Frontpage, you can go to Insert - Hyperlink and the Hyperlink Dialogue box will appear.  (You can also press CNTL-K to insert a Hyperlink.)  Now since you have the PDF already in your Frontpage website, locate the PDF and click on the PDF to get that file in the Address bar and hit OK.

When all is said an done, your code should look like:

<a href="pdf/Document1.pdf">Click here</a>

You can also catch a video cast of how to link to a PDF file in Frontpage.  There is also the instructions on how to link to a PDF file in Expression Web.

Creating an Anchor or Bookmark

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Frontpage and Expression Web will allow you to easily create destinations in a web page. These are called anchors.

To create an anchor / bookmark in Frontpage, locate the area that you which to direct users to and press CNTL-G (or Insert - Bookmark).  A dialog box will come up and you will enter a name.  For example, if you are on a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page and one of the FAQs is Why Us?, you might name the anchor why.

In the source code, you will see:

<a name="why"></a>

Now to create a link to this bookmark / anchor, highlight the word(s) you wish, and press CNTL-K (or Insert - Hyperlink).  In the dialog box that opens, you will see a few choices on the left side: Existing File or Web Page, Place in this Document, Create a New Document, or E-mail Address.  Choose Place in this Document and you should see the bookmark(s) / anchor(s) that you have created.  Choose why and hit the OK button.  In the source code, you should see something like

<a href="#why">Why Us</a>

You can also link directly to an anchor from another page.  For example, let's say that the FAQ page is called about.html.  And you want to have a hyperlink that goes right to the why section on the FAQ.  The source code would look something like

<a href="about.html#why">Why Us</a>

For more information, please see syntax of anchor names. You can also see an on-screen demonstration of how to create an anchor or bookmark in Frontpage.

Center a Website in FrontPage

Monday, September 10, 2007

To center a website in FrontPage (assuming you are using tables), right click in the main table and choose table properties.  In the layout section choose Center in the selection.  This should add

<div align="center">

above the beginning main table and

</div>

at the end of the closing table element.

A Much Better Way to Center a Website

A much better way to center a website would b Centering in Firefox and Centering (One more time) using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

CSS Code to Center a Website

HTML Example (2,057 bytes) | Text file (2,060 bytes) | Zipped file (1,815 bytes)

Publishing Option is Grayed Out

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Chances are when you cannot publish, you are not working in a Frontpage website (or Expression Website).  You can easily check to see if you have converted this folder to a Frontpage (or Expression) website by going to the location on your computer and drilling down to where the website is.  Usually in Windows XP, it is something like C:\Documents and Settings\-USER-\My Documents\My Web Sites.  (In Vista, it might C:\Users\-USER-\Documents\My Web Sites).  My Web Sites might even have a globe on it .  This is ok.  To one extent, this basically means that all the Frontpage (or Expression) Websites that are under this is a sub-web (or sub-site).  It really does not matter since chances are you are going to be publishing it to a specific website on the Internet.

If you open the My Web Sites with the Frontpage - Open Website tool and see that the folder you are working in does not have a globe on it, you can right click on the folder, choose Convert to Web. This will then allow you to open the Website via Frontpage - Open Site.  You can also double click on this Frontpage Website and a new Frontpage Window will open as well. 

You can also see an online tutorial as well on how to convert a folder to a web.

Microsoft Frontpage MVP

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

I was nominated this year for the Microsoft Frontpage Most Valuable Professional and accepted for this award.

I know that a lot of people do not care for Microsoft® but I have always enjoyed their products and have used a version of Frontpage since the Frontpage Express days.