Recurring FP Server Extensions Problem

[Guest]

I'm running FP2003 version 11.5516.5703. My host, Yahoo, is running System
Extensions version 5.0.2.2623. The form in question is
www.ewillsandtrusts.com/test.htm.
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I've been having problems with my FP site, so I created a simple test form
with just one field. What happens is the following:

1) I reset my FP Extensions and reenable publishing by adding an author.

2) I test the form five or six times, and verify that new rows have been
added to form_results.csv on the server.

3) I go away for a while, generally overnight.

4) When I try the form again, I get the following error message:

-----
FrontPage Error.
User: please report details to this site's webmaster.
Webmaster: please see the server's system log for more details.
-----

6) I repeat steps 1 through 5.

I do not believe that Yahoo provides access to the system log.

I have also tried resetting the FP Extensions, deleting the entire site via
FTP, and then republishing in full. The problem described above eventually
recurs.

FWIW, when I republish in full, I sometimes get an error at the very end of
the publishing process itself. Immediately republishing in full doesn't
produce an error.

Does any of the above sound familiar? Can there be something about my site
that poisons the extenstions?

Thanks again in advance for your help.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

First, never delete a site via FTP once you have applies the extensions, instead open the site in
FP, and make sure that you can see all hidden folder under Site Settings. When deleting folder,
never delete the _private or images folders, instead delete any content within them.

Try renaming form_results.csv to form_results.txt or just have the form data sent to your email
address instead.

You will not have access to the server log files, however Yahoo can view them to help determine the
error. If they are un-willing, then I would suggest you find a web host, that only does web hosting
with support of the FP extensions.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Guest]

I deleted the entire site via FTP after I had removed the extensions with
the full knowledge that I would be reapplying the extensions and fully
republishing the site. I can see most of the hidden folders through FP for
both the local and remote site. In the process of recklessly deleting the
folders, I deleted as well the form results, which were recreated
automatically.

What continues to puzzle me is the following:

1) Why would the same form work six times in a row, but not work the
following morning, without any publishing event taking place in the interim?

2) Is it significant that publishing the full site frequently fails the
first time I try it, but succeeds subsequently? (This could be related to
the fact that I deleted all files and folders, but again, deleting
everything, resetting the Extensions, and enabling publishing should just
restore the site to the exact virginal state in which Yahoo first presented
it to me.)

I've also sent this question to Yahoo support, but I know that you guys here
are both more informed and more interested in FP; they seem kind of FP-shy.
The Yahoo help pages warn repeatedly to ask Microsoft, not Yahoo, about
FP-related issues. Since it's not really my site, I'd rather not ask for a
change of hosts if I can possibly avoid it; I'm doing this for a friend who
realized that I know just a little more about computers (a lot, actually)
than he does, and I've enjoyed learning FP.

Thanks again for any further suggestions.

 

[Guest]

By the way, I didn't ignore your suggestion. Renaming the results file did
get the form working again, but I need to see whether it's still working in
the morning. The problem has been that it just stops working for no reason
that is yet apparent.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

If the form continues to stop working, then this points to an issue of how Yahoo has modified or
configured the extensions on their servers. If the form works after publishing, then it should
continue to work, unless you do something to the form or the extensions are not configured properly
on the server by the host.

If the form stop working again, try no use the feature to write to a file, instead just have it sent
to an email address, if Yahoo supports that, instead of your friend have to open the site in FP to
access the text/CSV file.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Guest]

Yahoo really messes with the extensions. I finally gave up and moved the form to another hosted site.

 

[Guest]

Last night both my main form and simple test form both worked. This
morning, the test form gives the FrontPage Error. Yahoo has yet to respond
to my inquiry.

 

[Guest]

In case anyone's still interested, here's what I learned after a month's
back-and-forth with Yahoo customer support via phone and email:

FrontPage form server extensions are unreliable when the page containing the
form is loaded with a "www" prefix; that is, www.mysite.com/mypage.htm is a
no-no, but mysite.com/mypage.htm is fine. Overriding FrontPages's default
insertion of the "www" in the hyperlinks loading my forms did indeed fix the
problem. All that remains is the occasional 404 error, which I assume is
due to overloading of the Yahoo servers.

I trust that this is a Yahoo idiosyncracy.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

That is truly a issue based on the configuration of the FP extensions on the Yahoo servers, as forms
should work either with www or without the www.

I always type http://www.domainname.com, unless clicking a link in an email, etc.

So what happen when someone comes to your site via www.yourdomain.com ?

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Guest]

The forms are not on my home page. So long as I exclude the www from the
link to the page that does contain the form, there's no problem.

I have suggested that Yahoo document this in their FP FAQ and add it to the
knowledge basis available to front-line support personnel. It should not
have taken a month to unearth this.

 

[Guest]

That's knowledge BASE, of course.

The forms are not on my home page. So long as I exclude the www from the
link to the page that does contain the form, there's no problem.

I have suggested that Yahoo document this in their FP FAQ and add it to the
knowledge basis available to front-line support personnel. It should not
have taken a month to unearth this.

containing fix test

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Ok, so if I come to your site as http://www.yourdomain.com, then any page I access in your domain
will prefixed with http://www.yourdomain.com not http://yourdomain.com, unless I actually accessed
your site that way. With that, I would think your form would not work, if the www can't appear in
the URL.

Were you using a Absolute URL to the form page, like http://www.yourdomain.com/formpage.htm?

If so, you should be using just <a href="formpage.htm">, if the form is on the same level as your
link. If the form page is one folder below the page with the link, then it would be <a
href="../foldername/formpage.htm">

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Guest]

The page containing the form is in the same folder as the page calling it.
Therefore, as you indicate, taking the default href="formpage.htm" did not
work, because users enter the site using the www prefix. Instead, I have
now coded an absolute reference of http://yourdomain.com/formpage.htm into
the link that calls the form-containing page, which solved this peculiar
little Yahoo problem.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Ok.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================