How do I include an externally generated file in a site?

[William Rayer]

Hello - I have published a website of about 20 pages using FP2003 SP2. I
designed the site on my local PC then published them to the web server, and
this all works 100%.

I now need to include other externally generated files in my website. These
will either be Word ".doc" files or HTML files (I can choose which). These
external files will be changed over time independently of FP, and I need it
to work so that when I use FP to re-publish my site, the latest versions of
these external files are included in the website and uploaded to the web
server.

I can't figure out how to do this. I know I can use Insert - File but this
just inserts the contents of the external file into the web page, so the page
will be out of date after the external file changes. Also if I use File -
Import to import the external page, this makes a copy and puts the copy in
the FP local folder structure. So again the website will be out of date
whenever the external file is changed.

So, how do I set about this?

 

[Dan L]

Create a folder in you web called "documents" and upload these files in that
folder. You can hyperlink to the files and they will be called by whatever
program their associated with (e.g., Word for .doc, Adobe for .pdf or even IE
for HTML). As the documents change, save them with the same name (after
making a backup of the old, of course) and you never have to change the
hyperlink, but it will always call up the most recent, updated version of the
doc.

 

[William Rayer]

Thanks for the suggestion. The problem is, it would require me to move the
master copy of these external files into the new "documents" folder. These
external files belong to a different part of the company and I can't really
move them.

What I am trying to do is, include these external files in such a way they
can be edited independently by other people, and whenever I happen to update
the website by re-publishing onto the web server, the current copies of these
external files are picked up. I don't mind whether FrontPage does this by
merging a copy of the external file into an existing page at publish-time, or
whether it uploads the entire external file at publish-time. But I'm not
convinced FrontPage can do either.

 

[Steve Easton]

You need to import the fie into your web using FrontPage, and tell FP yes to replace the
existing file. ( assuming it has the same name )

If you were to drop the file into your web folder using windows explorer, or open and edit
it via word or other program and save it, the FrontPage meta data has no history of the
change and therefore will not see it as changed at publish time.

One option is to open FrontPage and your web, then browse to the doc file and right click
it.
Select "Edit with" and then select the appropriate program from the list. Do what you need
to do and save the file.
FrontPage will recognize that the file has been edited and will publish it as a changed file
when you publish.



--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer

 

[Clark]

Well I don't "get" this problem. A big virtue of the web is that you
can link to things that are on other sites in other places.

So why, if those documents are at SomePageOnSomeServer.htm, cant you
just link to that page? Why does it need to be on your server, and
causing you to worry about whether you have the latest version?

A link will always bring up the latest stuff they have there -- ??

On Mon, 6 Mar 2006 07:50:29 -0800, William Rayer <William

 

[Ronx]

From the OP's post, I gather these files are on a network drive, not
on any web server, and not in the OP's development website.

 

[William Rayer]

I realize one of the main points of the web is you can link to things on
other sites But my question has nothing to do with linking to pages on
other web servers.

My problem is how to include externally generated files, ie files that are:

- on the office network and maintained by other people in the office.
- may exist in large numbers (they contain technical product information).
- will be edited by other people at times unknown to me.
- do not exist anywhere on the public internet.

I know the pathnames of all the files that need to be included. At such time
as I publish the company website (ie at publish time), the current copies of
these files need to be picked up and included in my website, when FP uploads
it to the company's web server. I don't care whether FP copies the entire
file and uploads it, or whether it merges the content into an existing page.
Eg either of the scenarios as suggested in my original posting is acceptable.

But the stumbling block with FP is I can't insert these files directly into
my local copy of my website. If I do, FP inserts a copy of the file, and if
the file is subsequently updated I will not know about it. I realize I can
delete and re-add the files each time I publish, but that's very time
consuming.

It's possible I didn't explain the situation clearly enough in my original
question, in which case I apologize.

 

[Clark]

Ahh, no need to apologize, now I understand, you explain it very well.
I should apologize for implying you might not understand linking!! But
-- will I? Just kidding -- I do.

So your boss has given you the (impossible) task of making all the
docs that are maintained by various personnel throughout the
organization publicly available on your website, whereas some of those
people doubtless view the docs as "their work" and themselves as the
place people should go to for the info. and possibly have little
incentive (or maybe even could care less) about your project.

I feel your pain. In the old days the problem would be solved by
placing all such docs in a Technical Library of some sort, but they
had the same problem of getting the docs sent to them.

IMHO it is a management issue -- the keepers of the docs need part of
their job to be making updated docs available one way or another.

Maybe in this brave new xml world there is a way to automate that, but
I would not know about that. Good luck with your project.

 

[Steve Easton]

In-line

My problem is how to include externally generated files, ie files that are:

- on the office network and maintained by other people in the office.
- may exist in large numbers (they contain technical product information).
- will be edited by other people at times unknown to me.
- do not exist anywhere on the public internet.

FrontPage is not capable of doing this on it's own accord.
All files to be published must be physically located "within" the web site

I know the pathnames of all the files that need to be included. At such time
as I publish the company website (ie at publish time), the current copies of
these files need to be picked up and included in my website, when FP uploads
it to the company's web server. I don't care whether FP copies the entire
file and uploads it, or whether it merges the content into an existing page.
Eg either of the scenarios as suggested in my original posting is acceptable.

When publishing, FrontPage only has the capability of "overwriting" ( replacing ) an exising
file.
It does not and can not "merge" files.

But the stumbling block with FP is I can't insert these files directly into
my local copy of my website. If I do, FP inserts a copy of the file, and if
the file is subsequently updated I will not know about it. I realize I can
delete and re-add the files each time I publish, but that's very time
consuming.

About your only option is to create a VB Script macro in FrontPage that would compare the
time stamps of the files already inside the web with those on the network, and if they
differ have the macro copy the network version into the web.
You would need to ensure that the macro has "over write" permission so that the older file
is replaced by the newer file.

Run the macro and then publish changes only

--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
95isalive
This site is best viewed..................
...............................with a computer

 

[William Rayer]

Thanks for the reply Steve

When publishing, FrontPage only has the capability of "overwriting" ( replacing ) an exising
file.
It does not and can not "merge" files.

OK I have some degree of control over the externally generated files which
are on our LAN - to the extent that I can dictate they be in HTML format. Eg
I can get the authors to maintain them using the Word-ified HTML format, then
at least the external files will be valid HTML documents. Do I then have the
option of inserting these externally generated files into my FP site in such
a way that FP always picks up the current version of the file at publish time?

One thing you said on an earlier post which puzzled me:

One option is to open FrontPage and your web, then browse to the doc file and right click it.
Select "Edit with" and then select the appropriate program from the list. Do what you need
to do and save the file.
FrontPage will recognize that the file has been edited and will publish it as a changed file
when you publish.

Does your earlier post only apply if the files in question are in the
sub-folders of my local copy of the website (ie the website as it exists on
our LAN before I publish it)?

About your only option is to create a VB Script macro in FrontPage that would compare the
time stamps of the files already inside the web with those on the network, and if they
differ have the macro copy the network version into the web.
You would need to ensure that the macro has "over write" permission so that the older file
is replaced by the newer file.

Run the macro and then publish changes only

I take it this macro would have to run when the website is opened. It would
loop through the external files that I want to monitor, and compare them to
the current copies stored on the LAN. I've used VBA previously in Access,
Word and Excel but not in FrontPage.

But this seems a complicated way of doing it. I've gone through the older
newsgroup questions and it seems this question has been asked several times
before. Surely this requirement can't be *that* unusual? It's just saying
that a website needs to pick up other local files that are on the same local
PC or local LAN where the local copy of the website resides.