.htaccess and FrontPage XP

[Jim Carlock]

Does anyone know if Microsoft provides an update to fix .ht*
problems with FrontPage?

Not only are all .htaccess files currently invisible to FrontPage XP
but all .ht* files are invisible as well and FrontPage XP cannot
upload any type of .ht* file. Furthermore, checking off "Show
Hidden Files and Folders" doesn't work and trying to upload
any sort of file name that starts with .ht* (dot ht) fails to upload.

Furthermore FrontPage XP FAILS to download all .ht* files
when publishing from a remote site to a local drive.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim Carlock
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[Ronx]

..ht* files are hidden and ignored by FrontPage by design - this is a
feature, not a bug, since these files are also used by the extensions,
and changing them can make the entire web unavailable.

 

[Jim Carlock]

"Jim Carlock" asked:

Does anyone know if Microsoft provides an update to fix .ht*
problems with FrontPage?

.ht* files are hidden and ignored by FrontPage by design - this
is a feature, not a bug, since these files are also used by the
extensions, and changing them can make the entire web
unavailable.

Unfortunately the feature breaks website management and
design practises. I see what's happening. FrontPage reads and
publishes things via port 80 (HTTP). Apache serves over such
port and Apache serves based upon what's inside httpd.conf
and .htaccess files. .htaccess files equate to one of the MAJOR
development tools available on Apache servers and disabling
one of the primary development tools represents a poor "by
design" decision which can be overcome because earlier this
year I was able to see .ht* files. Last year I published my own
..htaccess files with FrontPage and FrontPage relayed those
files back (in other words they appeared). I used someone
elses copy of FrontPage (it was a newer version than XP).

If it's a "UNWANTED FRONTPAGE FEATURE" (and it is),
is there a way to disable such an unwanted feature?

I can possibly see configuring things inside httpd.conf to allow
FrontPage to come in over another port, and to instruct Apache
to turn off parsing of .ht* files in such a case, which may work.

However, the fact that I did see the file I deployed and the fact
that the file worked okay... wondering what changes in Front-
Page that stops such things?

There a way to configure FrontPage to use a specific port and
work over a specific port (other than port 80/HTTP)?

There something different between different versions of Front-
Page?

Jim Carlock
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[Ronx]

There has never been a version of FP that displayed .ht* files. FTP
clients can, and do.
You can (using 3rd party FTP) download, edit and upload .ht* files,
but bear in mind that the .htaccess file contains FP information which
must remain at the top of the file. There is also a line that
prevents browsers seeing hidden files, such as .htaccess - perhaps
your colleagues server had this line removed?
FP will use whichever port(s) the server is set to use for .html
pages - usually port 80 or port 443, but can be any other you choose.
The extensions must be installed on this port. However, any run time
components such as form handlers will also use this port, and links to
pages containing these must include the port.

 

[Jim Carlock]

There has never been a version of FP that displayed .ht* files.
FTP clients can, and do.

Thanks. I kind of was leaning in the direction that it's the .htaccess
file that controls this inside of FrontPage when connected to an
Apache server and wanted to hear what some others might say
about it.

You can (using 3rd party FTP) download, edit and upload .ht*
files, but bear in mind that the .htaccess file contains FP
information which must remain at the top of the file.

# -FrontPage-

There is also a line that prevents browsers seeing hidden
files, such as .htaccess - perhaps your colleagues server
had this line removed?

I don't know what was in the original .htaccess. I uploaded
one that effectively hid the .ht* files and the _* folders.

IndexIgnore .ht* _*

Google was reading the folders and was picking up on the
_* folders and caching the contents of those folders. I
uploaded my own .htaccess file through FrontPage with
one line in it, the IndexIgnore line as well as doing some-
thing similar in the robots.txt file (Disallow: _*/ .ht*).

Funny that a commercial web-hosting server does such
things for their clients. Very odd. I think I've got a pretty
good grip on the concepts now.

I ended up turning off the fancy indexing on the server.

Now, to get a mail server to work...

Thanks, Ron.

Jim Carlock
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[Ronx]

This is the information that FP puts into the root .htaccess file:
---------------------------

# -FrontPage-

IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *# */HEADER* */README* */_vti*

<Limit GET POST>
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from all
</Limit>
<Limit PUT DELETE>
order deny,allow
deny from all
</Limit>
AuthName "www.example.com"
AuthUserFile
/usr/local/customer/virtualfp/www.example.com/_vti_pvt/service.pwd
AuthGroupFile
/usr/local/customer/virtualfp/www.example.com/_vti_pvt/service.grp