Oh where, oh where has my #INCLUDE gone?

[WyllyWylly]

I am developing a new site using a web server built on Windows 2000 server/IIS 5. It's nice and stable and dishes out the pages as I expect them to.

Well, all fine that is except for the #INCLUDE statements. If I use the standard code:



No dice,and the same if I use Frontpage's little bot. I figure this must be a server side setting somewhere, because it happens on any OS used to view the pages - 95, 98, NT 4, and 2000. All using Internet Explorer (sorry Netscape).

What can I do? There is little to no documentation on how to troubleshoot includes. I've tried puttin gin relative paths, absolute paths, and still no go. And there's no way I'm changing 50 pages worth of side and bottom nav bars when the boss says he wants something changed.

[WebGenii]

I'm assuming that you are using the Include Page Command in FP.
What you can do for troubleshooting is look at the website in Explorer, you'll find a folder called _vti_cnf (you can't see it using FP), it creates a duplicate file for every page, graphic etc created in the web.
Things like the include function use the data in these files. Sometimes (for whatever reason) these files stop updating like they should and it can be very frustrating since you can do everything correctly in FP and still not have the function work.
Anyhow, these pages are created automatically, you can even open them up in Notepad or FP and look at them.
However the easiest thing would be to move (I'm cautious about telling people to delete until we know it's safe) the duplicate files from the the website and then have FP open the web (or recalc it). It should recreate the duplicate files, hopefully with the correct information harvested from the originals.
BTW you will not be able to see the _vti_cnf folder unless you have changed your Explorer option to view all files.
Tell me how it goes

[MaryJ]

have you reinstalled the server extensions? i forget the exact command on the MMC (and don't have access this AM), but it'll either repair or reinstall the extensions.

[WyllyWylly]

Extensions have been installed and checked several times - three or so within the last few months. All the other cute FrontPage components work fine, except for the INCLUDES.

I'm half tempted to publish a few pages to the real web server and see what happens to eliminate the possibility that it is the decelopment box, but I don't relish the idea of having that kluge out on the real website. Publishing it to the local server hard drive did not work.

[WyllyWylly]

I've seen these before and attributed them to Microsoft's way of doing things but never paid them any mind. However, there is a _vti_cnf folder under each directory in the web - should all of these be renamed/moved? I made a copy of the entire web and simply deleted them.

After removing all of the _vti_cnf folders I tried to view the pages and again I cannot see any of the included HTML files.

ARRRRRRGH!! Any other ideas I can try?

[WebGenii]

Don't remove the _vti_cnf folders - just the contents of the folders. Then try recalculating the web, by choosing:
Tools, Recalculate Hyperlinks.

[WyllyWylly]

So much for that one....I tried copying a renamed file to our production web server along with the include pages. The problem persisted. It followed the web to the personal web server from the test machine, which is actually Win2k server and IIS 5.

Could there be something wierd in my code that is flaking this out? I jus' don't get it.

Or, do the _vti_cnf folders *have* to be there? I know they are for publishing purposes but their role is unclear.

[WebGenii]

It is not recommended to remove the _vti_cnf folders. Can you tell me more about how you are creating the includes?