Why does the site manager create c:\ folders for files that don't belong to the site via FTP?

Question

Hello everyone,
now I've been using Dreamweaver since Ultradev 1.0 and I have just recently upgraded to CS 5.5 Web Edition. Before that I used CS3. I've allways been very satisfied with Macromedia and Adobe products until now
Now I don't know whats happened in the last few years but I am getting the impression that the quality of Dreamweaver used to be alot more stable.
Developing for more than half my life I understand that bugs are usual and that not everything can be cared for, but to be quite honest I also know that there are bugs that just should not happen when you ship a product.
On the other hand I do love some of the enhancements that have come with 5.5, for example the Javascript Framework integration and jQuery code hinting features but what I really cannot understand is why the heck is Dreamweaver automatically uploading files that do not belong to the currently open site to the ftp server? I cannot think of any scenario in which this would be appropriate behaviour. I'd understand it if the files somehow contained links (CSS, JS, PHP, etc.) to the currently open site, but they don't! Dreamweaver simply sets out, every now and again, to creating a totally "dumb" folder structure on my ftp servers when I open a file from outside of the site - which I do very often to copy code I used in other projects.
It's just frustrating having to cleanup the ftp servers because Dreamweaver created folders like this "c:\localhost_root_folder\client_folder\client_project_folder\www\.... and so on", and saves a file in there that has nothing to do with the currently open site.
Now I've looked for settings that would supress this behaviour but I could'nt find any.
Also, I really don't want to stop using the automatic upload function because it speeds up development time significantly.
Does anyone know how to work around this issue, or even better, does anyone know why this behaviour is happening and what it's purpose is?
Thanks in advance.
David

Answer 1

... what I really cannot understand is why the heck is Dreamweaver automatically uploading files that do not belong to the currently open site to the ftp server? I cannot think of any scenario in which this would be appropriate behaviour. I'd understand it if the files somehow contained links (CSS, JS, PHP, etc.) to the currently open site, but they don't! Dreamweaver simply sets out, every now and again, to creating a totally "dumb" folder structure on my ftp servers when I open a file from outside of the site - which I do very often to copy code I used in other projects.
Dreamweaver doesn't "automatically upload" anything unless you have it set to on save. This is a bad practice if you aren't 100% sure of what you're doing. You may see it as a time saver, but if you have to go back two or three times and clean everything up, it isn't. Additionally, you select what is uploaded or not uploaded. If you choose to upload the entire root folder every time, then Dreamweaver will upload everything inside it... not automatically, but because you chose it.
As to the "dumb folder structure", when you define a site, YOU and YOU ALONE define the folder structure. If you are working in multiple sites at once (bad practice unless your are extremely meticulous about details) odds are you will sooner or later save a file from one site, with another site open in the Files Panel and Dreamweaver will save the file to the open site, not the one you opened it from (see why it's a bad practice to do this?).
It's just frustrating having to cleanup the ftp servers because
Dreamweaver created folders like this
"c:\localhost_root_folder\client_folder\client_project_folder\www\... .
and so on", and saves a file in there that has nothing to do with the
currently open site.
It reads like you have defined a testing server and are using it when  you put files. C:\localhost is a testing server protocol. If you are  testing files and then attempt to put files from the testing server  instead of the root folder, they will have the filepath from the testing  server and not from the root folder file structure. Again a bad  practice unless you are meticulous about details and remember to switch  back to the root folder from the testing server panel BEFORE you put  files.