Apache Friends

Question

Hi People
I have instaled Apache Friends to use as a testing server on
Windows XP but have no idea how to set up Dreamweaver to use it.
Where is the root folder? and how do i set up and store my files in
order to test them dynamicly.
Regards Baz

Answer 1

Baz J wrote:
> Yep i found Apache Friends easy to install but cannot
find a decent set of
> instructions on how to use it. The page Tom has directed
me to is a FAQ Page
> but doesn't answer the questions i have so thats no good
to me. I also note
> that if i install seperate Apache Mysql and PHP a lot
more people have the
> answers i need. I do not want to get into databases just
yet i just need to
> test php scripts localy. If i could find a tutor near me
i would pay a couple
> of hundred pounds just to get me started. Thanks Gary,
David and Tom.
Hiring a tutor is what I call common sense. I never have, but
if I could
do it all over again, I would definitely hire someone to help
me set up
Apache, PHP and MySQL, create virtual servers and a database
and publish
some samples online. As David Powers said, it isn't rocket
science, but
it can be one Hell of a wrestling match, and a tutor could
probably
teach you in a few hours what it would normally take weeks or
even
months to accomplish.
I use ApacheFriends myself. I found it relatively easy to
install,
though I had to install it several times before I got it
right. I can't
remember if my latest is a standard installation or if I
tinkered with
it, but this is what I've got...
First, my websites are in a folder on the C drive named
"sites." For
example, my website Geobop is in this folder:
C:/sites/Geobop
And I can preview the home page at...
C:/sites/Geobop/index.php
I also installed ApacheFriends on the C drive:
C:/apachefriends/
Here are the locations of some key folders:
C:/apachefriends/xampp/apache
C:/apachefriends/xampp/htdocs
C:/apachefriends/xampp/php
To create virtual servers for testing my websites, I modified
the
following file:
C:/apachefriends/xampp/apache/conf/httpd
I added the following to set up the websites c:\sites\Geobop
and
c:\sites\DB:
NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName geobop
ServerAlias geobop *.geobop
DocumentRoot c:\sites\geobop
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName david
ServerAlias db *.db
DocumentRoot c:\sites\db
</VirtualHost>
(Apparently, they aren't case sensitive.)
Then I navigated to the following file:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
I opened the file with Notepad and added the following lines
of code:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 DB
127.0.0.1 Geobop
Actually, I have a couple dozen websites logged in, following
the same
pattern - 127.0.0.1, followed by the name of a folder in my
"sites" folder.
You have to restart your computer before it takes effect.
Then you could
preview the home page of Geobop at
http://Geobop, rather than
C:/sites/Geobop/index.php
But you have to get your Apache server up and running first.
That was
one of the most confusing tasks, as I recall.