FP97: Overview of a FrontPage Discussion Web Architecture

 Last reviewed: March 18, 1998
Article ID: Q177092
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft FrontPage 97 for Windows with Bonus Pack

SUMMARY

This article describes which files and processes are needed to administer a FrontPage Discussion Web and offers tips for keeping a Discussion Web functioning correctly.

MORE INFORMATION

The following main components provide the foundation for the FrontPage Discussion Web, assuming you selected the Use Threaded Replies option when you created the Discussion Web by using the Discussion Web Wizard.

  • FrontPage Discussion WebBot component.
  • Toc.htm.
  • Tocproto.htm.
  • Service.cnf.
  • The Discussion Web folder. By default, this folder is named _disc# where # is the number of discussion webs that you have created so far.

NOTE: In FrontPage 97 and earlier versions, you must not use upper case characters, and you must begin the folder name with an underscore (_) character. In FrontPage 98, you can use upper case letters in the Discussion Web folder name.

All of these items will work only when used with the FrontPage Server Extensions.

If any of these components are damaged or configured incorrectly, you may see one or more of the following symptoms:

  • New posts will be appended to existing posts.
  • Messages will be threaded incorrectly.
  • Posted articles will not appear in the table of contents even when you refresh the page.

What Happens When an Article Is Submitted?

When you submit an article, the Discussion WebBot does the following:

  1. Scans the Service.cnf file for an article number and converts this number to hexadecimal.

  2. Creates the article using an eight-digit hexadecimal integer. For example, 00000001.htm or 0000000a.htm.

  3. Updates the Tocproto.htm file with threading structure and hyperlink information.

  4. Uses the Include WebBot component in the Toc.htm file and copies the body of the Tocproto.htm file to the Toc.htm file for threading structure. The Toc.htm file contains a header (also included by an Include WebBot component), which creates the Next, Previous, Up, Post, Search, and Reply hyperlinks.

What is Tocproto.htm?

The Tocproto.htm file is located in the _disc# folder. It has a specific architecture that is maintained by the Discussion WebBot and changes every time an article is posted. For example, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code for the article structure initially looks like this: 

   <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN">
   <html>

   <head>
   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
   content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
   <meta name="FORMATTER" content="Microsoft FrontPage 2.0">
   <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 2.0">
   <title></title>
   </head>

   <body>

   <dl>
       <dt><!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" startspan
           descr="The WebBot FormInsertHere Component indicates the point
   in an HTML file where you want a WebBot SaveResults, Registration, or
   Discussion Component to insert new results." --><em>Form Results
   Inserted Here</em><!--webbot
           bot="FormInsertHere" i-checksum="34463" endspan --></dt>
   </dl>
   </body>
   </html>
After the first article is posted, the Tocproto.htm file will reflect the changes as follows. (To conserve space, only the body of the file is shown.)

NOTE: The asterisks indicate the additions to the file. The position of a new thread is indented only once, and replies to that thread are indented even further. 

     <body>

   * <dl>
   *  <dt><b><a HREF="00000001.htm" NAME="00000001">Test</a></b><i>
   *  Test 11/18/97</i></dt>
   *  <dd><dl>
   *     <dt><b><a HREF="00000002.htm" NAME="00000002">Re: Test</a></b><i>
   *     Test 11/18/97</i></dt>
   *      <dd><dl>
   *          <!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" S-RepliesTo="00000002"
   *          startspan --><!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" endspan
   *          i-checksum="0" -->
   *        </dl>
   *      </dd>
   *      <!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" DESCR="The FrontPage
   *      FormInsertHere Component indicates the point in an HTML file
   *      where you want a default, Registration, or Discussion Component
   *      to insert new results." S-RepliesTo="00000001" startspan
   *      --><!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" endspan i-checksum="0" -->
   *    </dl>
   *  </dd>
     </body>
Notice below how the addition of another article (the reply) to that posting is indented. 

      <body>

   * <dl>
   *  <dt><b><a HREF="00000001.htm" NAME="00000001">Test</a></b><i>
   *  Test 11/18/97</i></dt>
   *  <dd><dl>
   *     <dt><b><a HREF="00000002.htm" NAME="00000002">Re: Test</a></b><i>
   *     Test 11/18/97</i></dt>
   *      <dd><dl>
   *          <!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" S-RepliesTo="00000002"
   *          startspan --><!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" endspan
   *          i-checksum="0" -->
   *        </dl>
   *      </dd>
   *      <!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" DESCR="The FrontPage
   *      FormInsertHere Component indicates the point in an HTML file
   *      where you want a default, Registration, or Discussion Component
   *      to insert new results." S-RepliesTo="00000001" startspan
   *      --><!--webbot bot="FormInsertHere" endspan i-checksum="0" -->
   *    </dl>
   *  </dd>
      </body>
A new thread posted to the discussion group will begin at a new indention and replies to that posting will appear indented under the new thread as shown above. This structure will continue throughout continuous replies and with replies to a reply.

What Components Make the Tocproto.htm Work as it Does?

The Tocproto.htm file is comprised of three components:

  • <DT>, <DD>, <DL>
  • "FormInsertHere" (with the quotation marks)
  • s-repliesto=x
  • <DT>, <DD>, <DL>

    (where <DT> denotes Designated Term, <DD> denotes Designated Definition, and <DL> denotes Designated List. Note that each of these elements requires an ending tag (</DT>, </DD>, and </DL>). These tags provide the formatting information that displays the threads correctly.

  • "FormInsertHere" (with the quotation marks)

    The point at which the new article is inserted.

  • s-repliesto=x

    This is an argument for the FormInsertHere WebBot component. It instructs the particular instance of the WebBot to accept replies to posts of a specific article number.

What is Toc.htm?

The Toc.htm file is located in the same folder as the Tocproto.htm file. This file is a copy of Tocproto.htm, but it contains style information (taken from the Web's theme for FrontPage 98 or copied from another page for FrontPage 97), and the WebBot overhead is stripped out.

What is Service.cnf?

The Service.cnf file is a configuration file located in the _vti_pvt folder in the current web. This file contains information about the Discussion Web as well as other FrontPage Web specific configuration information. The section of this file that the Discussion Web directly relates to contains the article number variable. For example, if your discussion group is called "_bob", the configuration information will be stored in the _vti__bob_articlenumber key. The number will increment each time an article is submitted. If you change this number, you can alter the position of the insertion point for an article or alter the next article number. However, if you change this number so that it is less than the number of articles you have, newer articles will be appended or added to an existing article.

NOTE: If you rename or modify a file in FrontPage Explorer, all subsequent links and configurations will be updated automatically. Because experimenting with the structure of your Discussion Web could cause it to function incorrectly, you should make these types of adjustments to a test Web first. When you have attained the desired results, check and recheck your Web before you implement the changes on your primary Web.

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q154675
   TITLE     : FP: How to Edit/Delete Articles in a FrontPage Discussion Web

   ARTICLE-ID: Q169835
   TITLE     : FP: Discussion Web Message Won't Keep Formatting after
               Posting

   ARTICLE-ID: Q152097
   TITLE     : FP: Files in Discussion Web Are Overwritten

   ARTICLE-ID: Q143101
   TITLE     : How to Use FrontPage Without the Server Extensions

   ARTICLE-ID: Q176927
   TITLE     : FP: Newest to Oldest Order Doesn't Work in Discussion Web

Additional query words: 97 98 discussion web functionality
Keywords : fpedit fpexp fphtml kbdta kbfaq
Technology : internet kbinetdev
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Hardware : x86
Issue type : kbinfo

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Last reviewed: March 18, 1998
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