FP2000 SSI, webbot, and changing code

[TechnoShroom]

I'm having trouble trying to figure out a way around FP2000 changing my
code. I work on my site live. Most of the page is brought in through SSI.
Since I don't publish my site I have standard tags for SSI along with the FP
webbot includes. The standard SSI tags for the server and the webot so I get
a WYSIWYG view when editing content that isn't brought in through SSI.

The problem is, because of the site layout, the includes can't be broken
down into neat tables. There are several includes that end with an open tag
(example <td>) followed by content and then finished with an include that
starts with the corresponding close tag (example </td>). However, even with
preserve HTML selected in the options when you open the page in FP it
modifies the original code stripping the original tags and adding <table>.
This breaks apart the page in normal view.

To make matters worse, if you open one of the include files in FP it alters
(deletes the end tags and replaces it with table) and saves the page without
my specifically telling it to save.

So is there a work around for this behavior?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Your current method doesn't allow FP that ability to parse the page correctly when viewed in Normal
View.

If you can't change the way the pages are coded, then you have to work in HTML View or set FP to use
Notepad as the HTML editor.

You should be able use SSI to insert content into individual cells without breaking the tables.

The only workaround is to code the pages in a way that allows FP to parse the pages correctly.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
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[TechnoShroom]

Thank you for replying.

Working in HTML view is not an option either because FP changes the code
even when in HTML view and the preserve existing HTML box is checked.

Inserting SSI into a single cell is no problem. The problem is the cell tags
need to be in the surrounding SSI and not on the page from which they are
called.

If I set Notepad to be the editor there doesn't seem to be a reason to use
FP in the first place.

Some additional things I've tried...

I've tried inserting the HTML via the Insert>Advanced>HTML dialog and even
though it says it will not be checked for correctness it still "corrects"
and breaks the page.

I've tried making the included pages .txt and treating them as text or html
but they still are changed.

Is there anything else I can try?

Your current method doesn't allow FP that ability to parse the page

correctly when viewed in Normal

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

FP2003 may handle this better, but FP will still see this as invalid HTML code, since FP can not
display SSI.

I use FP2000 for all development and work with ASP and use ASP's version of SSI, as well as the FP
Include Page component. I have yet to come across a reason where a HTML code blocks needs to be
split between a include and the container page.

When you split HTML code blocks, you reduce the ability to reuse the include content anywhere on a
page or another site, because you have to be concern about breaking HTML code blocks.

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

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

 

[TechnoShroom]

Maybe a different overall approach is required. I'm separating out the
content from the surrounding design so that the look of all the pages can be
changed without editing all of them individually.

In the unmodified pages, I do have some SSIs that deliver a header, a
navigation bar, and a footer. However these are held in a table. The change
I'm trying to make is to get that table into the SSIs. So, you would, say,
have the top half of the table in a header SSI and the bottom half of the
table in the footer SSI. Since the content is in a cell in the middle this
means there is at least a <td> at the end of the header and a </td> at the
beginning of the footer.

Currently the test page where I've created the SSIs with table included
works fine from the server. Everything is placed where it is supposed to be
and looks fine. The resulting page validates when runs through the W3C
validator. The only problem is that it becomes annoying to work with in FP
because of the problems stated earlier.

What other method can I use to separate out the design of the site from the
content that FP will find more appealing?

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Yes, you are generated valid HTML as far as the browser can see, and the validator, however any HTML
editor that validate HTML when editing a page would fail since it can see a complete set of tags.

The easy solution is to create a complete table for the top banner content in the Header SSI, a
complete table for the footer content in the footer SSI, and then on the container page a complete
table to hold the unique page content.

You could also use the FP Include Page component in place of SSI, if you are only doing headers,
footers, and navigation, this way FP could be using to manage any hyperlinks contained in the
Includes relative to the page the include is included in. This would also allow you to see all the
content of the Includes in Normal View.

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

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