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Steve Gray

Random Thoughts from the 4Penny VP of Development

September 2007 - Posts

  • How to edit a web site using Front Page 2003 and FTP

    This is a short - and by no means complete - primer on how to edit a web site using Front Page 2003.

     

    Create a local site

    Click FILE > NEW, from the menu on the right choose ‘More page templates'

    Choose the ‘Empty web site' template, and specify a location for the new web ste

     

    Create an FTP Location

    Click FILE > OPEN SITE

    Open the ‘Look In' dropdown, and click on ‘Add/Modify FTP Locations' at the bottom of the menu

    Enter in the site name (something like ‘ftp://mySite.com'), user name and password. Your web host will provide this information

    Click ‘Add' when you're finished. After this, the new site will appear in the ‘Open Site' dialog. Click on the site one time, then click the ‘Open' button.

    The ‘Name and Password Required' box will open. Type in the password provide by your web host and click ‘OK'

    Be sure that ‘FTP' is selected, and click ‘next'

    Select the location where you want to put the files, and click ‘Next'

     

    You will now have a window with the local site in one pane, and the remote site in the other pane. You may now transfer pages off the server, edit them, and return them to the server by clicking the arrows between the panes.

  • Exporting SQL Data to a fixed width file

    From a recent email: 

    Our client needs to extract data from a variety of Dynamics GP payroll tables into a couple of files to send to their new 401 plan administrator.  The required files need to be in a fixed-width file format.  I have been thinking about possible tools that could do this job, such as SmartLists, SmartLists Builder, GP Report Writer, or perhaps a SQL view.

    Your thoughts?

     

    I’ve done this in the past several ways. Crystal would be the easiest – create one field that that has all the data, powered by a stored procedure. Then export the report to a text file.

     Another possibility would be just to export the data directly from a stored procedure, either via cut and paste from the query window or by running a task that will create a text file; but those options are more techincal. If you create a Crystal report, any end user can do it.

     

  • How to edit my site using Microsoft Expression Web

    Microsoft Expression Web is the replacement for Microsoft Front Page.

    Here is a short tutorial on how to edit a website using Expression Web.

    Click FILE > OPEN SITE

    In the ‘Open Site’ dialog, type your web site address into the ‘Site name’ box, but prefix it with ‘ftp’ instead of the usual ‘http’

    Click OK. Enter your FTP username and password, supplied by your web host.
    The ‘Remote Web Site Editing Options’ dialog will open. Choose ‘Edit local copy now’. Click OK

    The ‘Web Site Setup’ dialog will appear. Choose FTP and click Next.

    In the next page of the wizard, choose a location to edit the site locally and click next

    The wizard is now finished.
    When Expression web opens, choose a web page from the remote site, and transfer it locally. In this example, we have chosen ‘index.htm’, the home page.  In our example site, we also had to download the ‘images’ folder to properly preview the page locally. There is no harm in downloading the entire site, but larger sites may take some time.

    In the left hand column, double click on the file name to open the file in the editor. Be sure that 'Split' mode is selected.
     

    Make whatever edits you’d like, use the WYSIWYG view to preview your changes. You may make changes in either window, whatever is easier.

    Right click on the file in the left column to preview the page in a browser. If editing was unsuccessful, delete the page and re-download it from the site.
    After successfully editing  the page, publish it back to the site. Your edited page is now live.