Front Page Object Editor

[Former Member]

Hi,

I have added frontpage add-in and under tools it is showing three options SAP xMII Object...,SAP xMII Configuration Menu....., SAP Script Assistant.....

SAP Script assistant is working fine but SAP Object is opening but couldn't show any templets in the windows. When I clicked Login and entered username and password it could not connect to server all.

I was wondering some where it is not getting which server it has to connect.

Can some please tell me where to specify the server name in Object editor.

Thanks,

Srinivas.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Jeremy, thanks for the detailed explanation! I was indeed opening FrontPage with
servername, not http:
servername. This of course showed me all the files correctly, but the wizards could not follow this. Now that I've got it connected with the http address, it works.

[If you can tell me how to reward points, I'll be glad to do that; I'm thrilled to actually find an answer!]

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Jeremy,

So the front page add-in for Object editor will not work in the environments where html pages are developed by using front page check-in/checkout to a local directory.

If I understand correctly this would work only in those environments where development is carried directly on IIS server directories (http:
servername ).

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Karen,

I think I only have the access to award the points. I will take care of it.

Let me know how well were your satisfied. helpful/some what helpful/ extreme?

Thanks,

Srinivas.

[jcgood25 · Accepted solution]

Srinivas,

That is correct, the wizard plug-in will only work when editing directly online with FrontPage. You will just have to use the Standalone versions (if you properly installed them from the link on the xMII Menu then you will also have shortcuts in your startup menu).

The difference is that when you press the "Create HTML" button in the Wizard or the "Save Script" button in the Script Assistant the text will get put into the Windows clipboard. You will then need to go into the text view of your web page and press Ctrl+V to paste the object or script into the web page.

The upcoming 12.0 version of the Wizards will fit what you are trying to do with offline editing purposes and publishing content to the server (using the new productivity tool called the Publish Assistant).

Regards,

Jeremy Good

[Former Member]

Srinivas,

<u>You wrote:</u>

I think I only have the access to award the points. I will take care of it.

Let me know how well were your satisfied. helpful/some what helpful/ extreme?

This was extremely helpful to me and the other developers at my company. We have 3 programmers who attended xMII training, and then were not able to use the tool. Our consultant who is assisting with xMII development was also not able to determine the issue. So this is a great leap forward for us!

[Former Member]

Jeremy,

Thank you very much.

Karen,

Based on the solution that we got from Jeremy, I can tell that it would be very hard to imagine
servername and http:
servername make a difference just to use SAP xMII Object tool just by being a learner by training/ or by documentation unless one uses front page to develop pages directly on web server directories. In this case this issue will never pop out. Inpast I used front page to connect to web site on server and in that case it worked just fine. But I too never imagined that SAP xMII Object tool wont work if you use front page to connect to sites which are on your desktop and publish later. I just thought it would work in this case also. Since it didn't work I thought I did some thing wrong. I too attended SAP xMII Training at Exton which gave me a good start but I didn't expect 100% from it by the end of second week from training and neither my teammates expected 100% from me after my training.

Srinivas.

[jcgood25]

It's actually quite simple, the Wizard string parses the application title bar looking for http and if it's not there it defaults to localhost. Unless you are running xMII on your local machine this will not do much good, but in order to gain access to the directory tree and lists of query and display templates the Wizard make http requests to the xMII server. The upcoming version 12.0 Wizards always prompt you for the server name (similar to the standalone versions) so this should help alleviate the confusion.

Regards,

Jeremy

[Former Member]

Jeremy, thanks for the response. I think I've already looked at everything you mentioned, though.

If we we're using Front Page Server Extensions on the XMII server, wouldn't the stand-alone version fail as well? Yet this works, which tells me that the XMII server is not the issue. (Correct me if I am wrong here.)

And I do have the Site open - I can see all of our files within the site, in the regular folder browser in FrontPage. So that's not the issue, either.

You said: "then provide http://servername:port (port is optional), which will then provide the embedded wizard plug-in the path to the server." This is exactly the problem. There is no prompt for this, since I mistakenly hit <enter> when first starting the wizard. This set it to localhost, and there is no longer a prompt to enter the server name! (And what happens when we change servers, anyhow? I will need to reset to a new server at somepoint...)

So I'm back to the original question: How do I make the embedded wizard point to the correct server?

[jcgood25]

The standalone version does not use FrontPage server extensions, in fact only the FrontPage software itself uses the extensions to communicate to/from the IIS box.

The fundamental difference between the standalone and embedded version is how they communicate with xMII for namespace browsing query and display objects. The standalone prompts the user for machine name and port, whereas the embedded one uses the application title bar string from FrontPage itself to parse the server path, which is why
server\c$ doesn't work, nor does F:\server\path - it needs http://servername:port or http://servername. This only happens within FrontPage when you do either File...Open Site or File...Open Web (depending upon version) and physically type http://servername in the input box that shows up at the bottom of the dialog box.

Once FrontPage connects to the webserver the application title bar will read something like "Microsoft FrontPage - http://servername:port"; and the Folder List tree header will say "http://servername:port". Then and only then will the embedded one work like you want it to.

Regards,

Jeremy

[former_member202329]

Hi Karen,

In xMII 11.5, the wizard selects the server based on the site which is opened on the Front page. It simply selects the server name of the current page which is open. There is no option of selecting the servername from the FP wizard. However, you could select server while using the standalone wizard.

However, In xMII 12.0 there is possibility of selecting the webserver from FP as well.

regards

Deepak

[Former Member]

I see that an answer was never found to this issue. I am having the same issue. The very first time I opened the SAP XMII Object from the Tools menu in FrontPage, I inadvertantly hit <enter> right away. This set the server to localhost, which is not correct; it needs to be the correct server name. When I open the wizard as a stand-alone, it prompts me for the server, I can enter the correct server, and it works.

Does anyone know how to set the server name in the Wizard from within FrontPage?

[jcgood25]

Follow the help document instructions - you need to be using Front Page Server Extensions on the xMII server and then from the client development PC with the FrontPage installation you need to do a File...Open Site (Open Web in older versions I believe) and then provide http://servername:port (port is optional), which will then provide the embedded wizard plug-in the path to the server.

You'll be happy to know that the wizards in 12.0 prompt you for server and credentials in embedded or stand-alone mode

Regards,

Jeremy Good

[Former Member]

Srinivas,

Is the xMII Server running Windows 2003? If so, are the FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions installed? According to the Help Documentation, these are required.

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

Diana Hoppe,

Yes our xMII server is installed on Windows 2003.

May I know how to check wether FP2002 server extensions are installed on it or not.

Thanks,

Srinivas.

[Former Member]

Srinivas,

Go to Internet Information Services and click on the Web Service Extensions folder. See if Frontpage Extensions are listed in the the right-side window.

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

Diana Hoppe,

Yes it was listed as allowed service in IIS. Along with that I can see servletExec also in Allowed status.

Any other thoughts.

Thanks,

Srinivas.

[Former Member]

Srinivas,

Did you follow this procedure?

Open Frontpage and go to File -> Open Site. Next, type

in the server url (http://servername). Next, open the xMII Object,

and at the login prompt, type your credentials for the server.

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

Diana Hoppe,

I tried the way you suggested but still it couldn't connect. I will ask our network team to check with front page server extension software installation.

Thanks for you time.

Srinivas.

[Former Member]

Personally, I don't like FrontPage at all. I greatly prefer Adobe Dreamweaver as my development UI, and an xMII plug-in is available for Dreamweaver as well.

Also, FrontPage is no longer being developed by Microsoft in lieu of Expression Web Designer.

- Rick

[Former Member]

Rick,

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try to push your suggestion to my next client.

Do you any website or etc... to evaluate dreamweaver as a xMII development IDE?

Just for some +ve point to the client.

Thanks,

Srinivas

[Former Member]

Hi Srinivas,

I was able to download a trial version of Dreamweaver 8 to evaluate with the xMII

tools - perhaps you could try that.

Kind Regards,

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

Hi Srinivas,

Are you able to see your folder list when you open the Standalone Content Generation Wizard? (Start -> All Programs -> SAP xMII -> Content Generation Wizard)

What version of Frontpage are you using?

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

Diana Hoppe,

Yes I am able to see all the folders if I go through Standalone. In this way it is prompting me to enter server name and usernam and password and it is just connect fine.

But it is not working and NOT connecting when I open it through Frontpage.

I am using Frontpage 2003 ( 11.5516.8036).

Thanks for your help,

Srinivas.

[Former Member]

Hi Srinivas,

Check the xMII Help Documentation for Front-Page. There should be something in there about creating a new Web or new Site. You'll need to make sure you are connected to the Site/Web in Front Page before the Object tool works.

[Former Member]

Hi Ryan,

I am already connect to a website which is my local directory and later I will be publishing these pages from my local directory to xMII Server.

any other thoughts.

Thanks,

Srinivas.

[Former Member]

The website in which FP is connected to needs to be an xMII server (where the templates reside) in order to see them through the SAP Object Wizard. Sorry.

[Former Member]

Ryan,

The website I am connected to is same as the xMII server. We have both IIS ( website location) and xMII also on the same machine.

Thanks,

Srinivas.