ASP using Dreamweaver UltraDev and PWS

Macromedia Dreamweaver UltraDev is a great tool for HTML coders who want to spread their wings and begin creating ASP pages. It allows you to create simple ASP pages without any knowledge of VB or SQL and only a basic grasp of databases. Once you've created a few pages you can look at the code that UltraDev has created and begin to adapt it for more sophisticated uses, giving you a welcome boost along the learning curve as you move from very basic ASP to something more valuable in the commercial world.

In this article we'll look at the basics of setting up UltraDev on a PC, along with Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS) for testing the ASP pages you create. Rather than repeat all the information in the fine UltraDev tutorials that come with the software, and in the help systems of both UltraDev and PWS, we'll home in on some of the missing bits - tips that will help you get to grips with the combination in the minimum amount of time.

The first item to look at is PWS. It's essential to have some kind of server software on your machine for live testing. If you're running Windows 2000 then you'll find Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Server) on your OS disk and this will almost certainly be your server software of choice. But for this example we're going to look at PWS, because it's free and also because it's a little quirky. It's highly likely you'll use PWS if you're running Win95 or Win98.

You can download PWS direct from Microsoft, where it's included as part of the fairly large NT Option Pack of December 1997. You may also come across this as a CD, which will save you a lot of downloading. It doesn't matter that this is an NT pack - the program can still be transferred to a Win95 or Win98 machine. But the best place to get hold of the program is from the Windows 98 OS disk, where it can be found in the directory Add-Ons/PWS. The version on the Win98 disk gives you a better chance of a successful install than the version in the NT pack.

One big tip is to make sure you install PWS before you install Dreamweaver UltraDev. I tried it the other way round and no matter what I did I couldn't get the combination to work. But by simply uninstalling both programs and reinstalling with PWS first, I was able to get everything functioning without any need for tweaks.

The second tip is to make sure your back-ups are in order and you've been nice to all your heavy-duty computing friends in the run-up to installation. The first time I installed PWS it crashed my machine so badly I couldn't even get Windows to work in safe mode, and had to revert to an old version of the registry using Regedit in DOS. The stress reduced my lifespan by a couple of days, but hey ho, it's free software.

Getting PWS Up and Running

Once you've successfully installed PWS you need to get it fully active as a server. Frankly, the documentation that comes with the program isn't wonderful and is more likely to send you off on a wild goose chase than take you where you want to go. Most of the menu icons are fairly useless too. Probably the only one you'll ever use is Advanced, down at the bottom. This is the one that allows you to identify directories you'd like to make available through your server.

You'll need to create a virtual directory for your ASP files, and this can be slightly confusing if you're not used to servers. It's the place where the server holds the files that it publishes, and it will refer to these locations by shortcut names that aren't the same as normal computer drive filepaths.

There are many alternative ways to set up your files for publishing. In my case I used Windows Explorer to create a new folder called Inetfolders. This has the filepath C:\Inetfolders and is where I place all published files. Then I created a subdirectory within this directory called Trial, and placed a very simple Web page in the subdirectory, called index.html.

To make PWS aware that I wanted to publish the contents of the Trial subdirectory, I went in through the Advanced menu and chose Add. I could then identify the subdirectory by entering its regular filepath, and give it a shortcut (virtual) name. I called it TrialOne.

Now I could access the file through my Web browser on the local Intranet that PWS creates on my machine. To access this Intranet I need to start my URL with http://OEMComputer, then add on the virtual name. So if I enter http://OEMComputer/TrialOne/index.html, I get my browser to show the simple Web page I put in the subdirectory. Best of all, this tells me that PWS is functioning properly.

Note that the expression OEMComputer varies according to your PC. It's the name the PC calls itself. You can find this under Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network > Identification. Other popular names are MyMachine and localhost.

Here are a couple more items on PWS. When you're in the Advanced area you should see a checked box for "Allow Directory Browsing". And the individual directories you want to publish should have "Read" and "Scripts" checked so ASP will work.

PWS and Internet Explorer can get themselves in a real mess with IE's offline mode. Normally IE will prompt you if it has managed to get itself into offline mode and you want to view something it has to go online to see. But if that page is served by PWS it may just tell you it can't be found. Watch out for this kind of false error. Generally it's best to avoid offline mode when using PWS. If you ever get the prompt Work Offline or Try Again, opt for Try Again, which will lead to a 404 error but stops you going into offline mode.

PWS can also significantly slow down your machine when it's running. You can switch it off using the Stop button on the main front page of the program, but you'll need to press Start and then reboot to get it going again.

Finally, don't forget that PWS isn't a pretend server, it's publishing your pages for real. If you connect to the Internet while PWS is running, it's theoretically possible for anybody with the right skills to find the files you've published and look at them through your Internet connection. In most cases this is probably no big deal. But if you're working on confidential material you'll need to bear it in mind.

Starting with UltraDev - Page 2