Where is the I'm not an idiot button in FrontPage?

FP2000/PHP Challenges (I've already RTFM'ed)

[virileone]

Hey guys,

I'm a php coder whos working with a friend who uses fp2000 and need some (hopefully) simple help :)

I've read through fp's help and through most of this forum (through page 20 anyway) and have read and done this:
Tools > Page Options > HTML Source
Formatting
Tags names are lowercase (Checked)
Attribute names are lowercase (Checked)
Allow line breaks within tags (Unchecked)
Indent: 0 spaces
Right margin: 2000 characters (prevents wrapping)

So here are my challenges after making these changes... please help!:

1.) FP spaces or line breaks every line of html/php
and it multiplies with each save in fp.. meaning i've seen FP space out each line of code through 7-10 line breaks. (to illustrate... when i edit the .php file in php expert editor or in FP's html view i might see only 5-6 lines of code, the rest is just spaced out.)

2.) FP adds /form right after each form i create in PHP makeing me have to text-edit out these extra /forms every time he wants to bold a font.

3.) FP moves my <form action... /> fields below any php select and checkbox i have... then does aggrivation #2 (puts a /form right after it)

4.) Some how I got frontPage to stop changing <'s and >'s to &lt; and &gt; but i have no clue how... if you can let me know exactly what i did to make that change that would be great too ;)

Thanks alot guys!

Jason

[Macro]

>>Where is the im not an idiot button in FrontPAGE?
They forgot to put one in :)

I use FP a lot but must admit never tried the alchemy of mixing it with php. That's surely a recipe for disaster as so many things can go wrong when you ftp a FP site... and FP doesn't understand local php files.

Have you tried the newer version of FP. It's more forgiving and your client's old FP site/pages should work seemlessly in the new version.

[virileone]

Macro:

Welp... I went out and bought him Dreamweaver... hes just married to his FP 2000.... hes comfortable with it....
I will try to get him to pick up a newer version of it...
I just refuse to believe that microsoft, being a profit oriented company, would refuse to let their precious users use a scripting language as popular as PHP nativly... without huge challenges. And they have LOST THEIR MINDS if they think that im going to edit my php.ini file to change <?php?> to <% %> to fix that spacing issue.. I know theres a way around it.

:D
J

[Macro]

>>I know theres a way around it.
There possible is but, being a profit oriented company (as you point out :)), why would they want FP to work smoothly with PHP when there is asp around?

[pageoneresults]

All of the additional spacing on page save is coming from the individual html tag preferences. While in Page Options where you configured the above, you'll see an individual html tag list. If you select each one, the preferences will appear at the right and you can then change them from there.

Also, if you need to work with PHP in FrontPage, you'll need to purchase an FP add-on called PHP Rocket.

[virileone]

Pageone:
Thanks man... I'm trying that now... Im noticing though, that some of the pagebreaks options are grayed out... is there a way around that? Also... in the form section of that .. it has "omit closing tag" which i would LOVE to check... though its grayed out.. :D
(Thank God for microsofts omnipotant option creation, though I'd love to backhand the genius who decided to gray them out) =/

J

[pageoneresults]

Im noticing though, that some of the pagebreaks options are grayed out... is there a way around that?

It has been a while since I've had FrontPage Express open. Just checked my system and it appears that I no longer have my copy.

If anything is grayed out it is usually due to the selections in the compatibility tab. You'll want to change the compatibility to both IE/NN if I'm not mistaken.

The other option is to just arm them with a full copy of FrontPage. FP2003 appears to have many new features for just this type of setup. So does DW and a few others.

[stef24]

the button is called "topstyle". its also found in dreamweaver

ditch em both and use topstyle. you'll never look back

:-)

[virileone]

Pageone:

Ok He took my advice and ran down to pick up a copy of FP2003... If you can give me any other tips to get that set up quick That would be great! i apriciate the input and Hope that FP will end up working out better then it has in the past..

Thx.
J