HTML Editor Recommendation - Post ID...

User 47216 Photo


Registered User
210 posts

I posted this in the Software section then noticed the recommendation and suggestion area here so please feel free to delete one of the threads...

I have a recommendation for future HTML Editor releases. Not sure if it is possible or not but here it goes.

I utilized a .php extension for most of my pages and use the PHP include code for menus so it is easier to edit one file to change a menue for the entire site.

Currently in the preview in the HTML edito PHP Includes do not show up. Is this a possibility for a future release to have?
User 37670 Photo


Registered User
2,138 posts

The .php includes not showing up in preview has nothing to do with the editor. PHP is "server side scripting", and needs to be installed on a machine that is capable of running as a server in order to be viewed locally.
I'm sure I might have some fact wrong (even just a little), but that is the basic workings of php. You can only see the php includes when they come from a server with php installed. That might be a better way to put it.
E-Learning Specialist
www.mainsites.ca is my website, and yes, some of it is crappy.
User 47216 Photo


Registered User
210 posts

OH I see that makes sense

Thanks
User 474778 Photo


Registered User
215 posts

When you have a Saturday afternoon to spare, you might download the freeware WAMPserver package from http://www.wampserver.com/en/. (WAMP = Windows / Apache / MySQL / PHP) This allows you to host a PHP-capable Apache Web server on your own PC or maybe on another PC in your local, private network. It's astonishingly simple, too.

I pursued this initially out of cheapness: I hadn't built a Web site before, and I wanted to experiment with tools (e.g. CoffeeCup stuff) without registering a public domain and paying in advance for hosting service. The local server idea worked like a charm, letting me gather enough confidence that I eventually signed up for two years of hosting service, paid in advance, which was the cheapest way to go.

Since I hacked around for a couple of months, this was like getting those months added on to my hosting service period for free!

Later, I ran into the problem regarding .php 'include' files as Ronald outlined. Since my local WAMPserver processes .php files, I am able to try out 'include' files plus all sorts of other server-side stuff locally, includung SQL database operations. I can prototype and preview using Explorer, Firefox etc. conveniently, without exposing my doodling to the public. When I'm good and ready, I upload to the remote host. The public, production Web site is never 'down' for maintenance.

Of course, if I'm working on a part of a Web page that doesn't involve .php, I use the HTML Editor's preview tab for quick feedback on my progress.

The trick in getting WAMPserver to work locally is making it point at the same directory in which I'm doing Web development. This eliminates the FTP step. It's like being on-site at your Web host company and doing development on their server. I did it the other way around, actually: I got the CoffeeCup HTML Editor to point at a directory relative to the 'wamp' directory that the WAMPserver installation automatically created.

Lots of fun, highly recommended.

This is sort of the long way around to suggesting that CoffeeCup could package and integrate WAMPserver or something like it with the HTML Editor in order to provide the benefits I've outlined here. Doing so would also allow CoffeeCup to expand their clever client-side code generator business to new, server-side sales opportunities. Sign me up for 'CAMP' (CoffeeCup / Apache / MySQL / PHP).
halfnium -AT- alum.mit.edu
Yes, I looked just like that in 1962.

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