Converting from HTML to php

Question

Generally Dreamweaver provides good support for changes to
templates, and
automatically updates all the files using a particular
template when you change
that template. However this breaks down if you change a
template, or a file, to
.php. Dreamweaver regards this as creating a new file, and
does not offer to
update links.
My master template was basicpage.dwt. I created a new dynamic
page, copied the
guts of basicpage.dwt into it, and then saved it as basic
page.dwt.php.
I didn't really expect Dreamweaver to recognise that this was
replacing
basicpage.dwt, but when I opened the template directory I was
surprised to find
that it did not show the extensions, just two files
basicpage. So I renamed
basicpage.dwt.php to basicphpage.dwt.php so I could tell them
apart. Then I
opened index.htm, attached it to basicphpage.dwt.php,
inserted some php to
verify that it worked and resaved it as index.php. I uploaded
to my file server
and verified that the php worked. I also found that my host
system loaded
index.php by default.
Next I opened one of the existing subsidiary templates,
attached it to
basicphpage.dwt.php, and resaved it. Dreamweaver saved it
with the correct
extension, but again did not recognise that I had changed the
template.
Next I opened one of the dependent files, attached it to the
new template, and
resaved it. Again Dreamweaver regarded this as creating a new
file, and did not
offer to update links. So when I convert each template I will
then have to open
every existing page using it, manually attach the new version
of the template to
it, and manually update all the links in it, or referring to
it. Drat!
It looks as if I should only convert those pages which I want
to be dynamic, and
only do so when I am ready to add the new functionality.
Clancy

Answer 1

Yeah. Clancy only wants to hear his truth....
No offense, Clancy, but my dogma beats your dogma.
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"(_seb_)" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> sorry for the dogma. I'll stop
>
> (_seb_) wrote:
>> I sure do get your point. learning all that stuff is
rather boring in
>> itself. That's what I've told myself for years,
until I dived into PHP
>> (with a book at first, but now I just go to
>>
http://us3.php.net/manual/en/)
whenever I need to learn something new.
>>
>> Once I did, and once I managed to setup a local
testing server on my
>> machine, I was surprised at how easy it was to learn
the basic stuff that
>> allows content architecture management. It took me
about two weeks to
>> learn the most useful techniques (how to generate
html code with php, how
>> to include remote files, how to use arrays, how to
use conditionals).
>>
>> Now that I know that, I enjoy building websites much
more, and I can do
>> it much faster. For one thing, you say you have 'a
total of 300 to 400
>> pages'. That's a problem with static sites. Pages
number has become an
>> irrelevant concept since I use PHP. My sites rarely
have more than 10
>> 'pages', even if the visitor can navigate through
vast ammounts of
>> content. Because PHP templates allow me to generate
pages on the fly,
>> depending on what content needs to be displayed, so
I can add content
>> without having to build new pages... That's a lot of
fun to build sites
>> that way. I also can offer much more to my clients
in terms of
>> flexibility and content management, which allows me
to charge them
>> more... Website maintenance is a breeze. If I had
known what
>> possibilities it would open and how it would
optimize my workflow, I
>> wouldn't have waited so long to dive into it.
>>
>> But of course there is a time for everything. I just
couldn't recommend
>> anything more than learning a server-side language,
to anybody who wants
>> to make a living of webdesign (and have fun doing
it).
>>
>> Clancy wrote:
>>
>>> "(_seb_)" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> if you use PHP I don't see why you would use
Dreamweaver templates.
>>>> You can do with PHP more, better, and fatser
in terms of content
>>>> architecture (i.e. really functional
templates) than what DM templates
>>>> can do. AND, your dynamic PHP templates
won't be dependent on
>>>> Dreamweaver's UI.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I have been working on my several web sites for
about four years now,
>>> and
>>> probably have a total of 300 to 400 pages. These
work, I think they
>>> look
>>> attractive, and user feedback has been
favorable. If I had nothing
>>> better to do, I could probably spend a year or
so working out
>>> how to do the same job without using templates.
The resulting new
>>> design MIGHT
>>> be significantly easier to modify, and perhaps
even to maintain, but the
>>> new
>>> pages would probably look much the same (I like
the way they look now!),
>>> and I
>>> very much doubt if the visitor would notice the
difference.
>>> I can see that there are a number of minor
improvements I will be able
>>> to make
>>> to my sites, once I have mastered php and mysql,
but the one major
>>> incentive I
>>> have for learning them is that I have a number
of photo albums, and it
>>> will be
>>> much easier to add new photos once I have set up
a database. I have
>>> already passed my biblical 'use by' date, and I
don't feel that I have a
>>> year to throw away just to make my web sites
comply with someone else's
>>> dogma.
>>> I have a lot more material I would like to add
to my various web sites,
>>> and I
>>> feel that this would be a much more profitable
use of my remaining time,
>>> to say
>>> nothing of it being much more fun.
>>>
>>>
>>> Clancy
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> seb ( [email protected])
>
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