Cannot delete a file.

...but it's not there anymore!

[giggle]

Hi

I've got a really strange problem.

I made some changes to a style sheet that I didn't like. I undid the changes and FTP'd the .css file back onto our dedicated server but the changes didn't go away. I left it for an hour and still the changes didn't take place.

I then went into my FTP software and deleted the file. It disappeared from the list of files but when I go back into the website the "effect" of the style sheet is still apparent.

I contacted our hosting company who told me to iisrestart /stop then delete the file then iisrestart /start but I got an error message suggesting that the command didn't exist.

So, now I'm stuck with the old version of the style sheet working on the website (even though it doesn't appear in the file list!).

Has anyone any idea how to actually remove this file? It's diving me nuts....

All the best

Mick

[msr986]

Did you try 'Ctrl F5' to refresh your browser? It may be a cache problem.

[jomaxx]

That's my thought as well. Try a different browser and see what happens.

[a1call]

Hi,
Do/did you have any special characters in the file name?
I have had a somewhat similar problem where the ftp delete fails for a file with special characters. My solution was to use my host's control panel file manager to find and delete the file.

[giggle]

Thanks for the replies.

Yep, I Ctrl-Refreshed, re-booted my PC and even tried it on different PC's same problem. I even edited the file name and saved the file under a different name. As a final resort I re-booted the dedicated server, no change.

It has a basic file name XXXStyle.css no special characters.

I've just checked again, the file's still not listed. The main ASP pages are looking for that exact file name and are showing as if the style sheet is there (but it's not!).

I've uploaded other files to the same website and the changes go through ok.

Weird.

[Dijkgraaf]

How many pages point to this style sheet?
If it is not too many it might be worthwhile pointing to a new stylesheet with a different name.

I'm guessing that there might be a proxy server between you and the web server and it has a copy of the stylesheet in it's chache which is what it is serving up.

[giggle]

Thanks Dijkgraaf, that worked a treat.

Why didn't I think of that approach?

All the best

Mick

[giggle]

A final comment on this subject: I tried what Dijkgraaf suggested and it worked. Subsequently the new .css file "got stuck" so I had to change the name again (and this worked again). Strange that it is only happening to the .css file, all other file types are uploading ok and refreshing.

Weird, just weird.

[Dijkgraaf]

It is not happening with external JavaScript files as well?
I've had that happen to me when there is a MS-Proxy server in between me and the web server.

In the end I added a parameter into the includes of?ver=### where ### would get dynamically written from a centrally located version number. This way each time the version number got updated, it fooled IE into loading the JavaScript again because the URL changed rather than it using a cached version.