Preview Problem with Server Side Includes (SSI)

Hi,
Env: TS 6.5 on Win 2k

Im using ssi for generating the left menu of the content html pages.

In teamsite, it is under workarea IT->Menu Folder-> leftmenu.html

In the TPL, if im using without forward slash i.e
include virtual="menu/leftmenu.html"
Then preview works fine but generate fails.

If i use forward slash for menu i.e.
include virtual="/menu/leftmenu.html"
Then generate works fine but preview fails.

So in the tpl, im using as,

----------------------------------------------------------------------
my $sprvw= iwpt_get_flag_param('-oprefix');
if($sprvw ne '')
{
#do steps for preview mode (include without slash)
}
else
{
#do steps for generate mode (include with slash)
}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Is thisthe proper way to do, or is there any other way to handle this situation.
If anybody worked on SSI, pls share how you have handled this.

Thanks
Yuv

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Comments

ISCBorisB

Is this the proper way to do...

Iwproxy does not parse Server Side Includes. In some cases it is possible to provide proxy functionality for SSIs with plugins for the relevant Web Server.
In other cases it isn't (Do not recall if one exists for IIS)

So, if you do not want extra research / installation / configuration - whatever works is the *proper* way to do it

mstradling

Could you clarify what you mean by:

In the TPL, if im using without forward slash i.e
include virtual="menu/leftmenu.html"
Then preview works fine but generate fails.

?

Do you mean generation fails, or the generated page doesn't work when sent live?

If it's the latter, are you using the same 'make' of web server for preview/live as not all behave the same way to the SSI directives.

Offically "file" includes can only accept relative paths below the current directory (so "c/d/e.html" but NOT "../b/c.html" or "/a/b/c.html").

"virtual" includes accept any relative path (so "../b/c.html" or "/a/b/c.html").

That said, each web server seems to take it's own view (Sub One will accept a "/a/b/c.html" path for a file include but Apache won't.

Anyway, if you using Apace in one place and IIS in the other this may be your problem.

gzevin

If anybody worked on SSI, pls share how you have handled this.

Thanks
Yuv

Have you been able to ever make it work on your installation? If not, read the admin manual, as to how to enable it. Not too hard.

ISCBorisB

Have you been able to ever make it work on your installation? If not, read the admin manual, as to how to enable it. Not too hard.

He obviously has been able to make it work

An issue is that (identical) SSI directive is honored upon either "Preview" or "Generate" Action but not both, depending on
relative or absolute path indicated in his "include virtual" command. Hence preview/generate forking and output variation

gzevin

He obviously has been able to make it work

An issue is that (identical) SSI directive is honored upon either "Preview" or "Generate" Action but not both, depending on
relative or absolute path indicated in his "include virtual" command. Hence preview/generate forking and output variation

ah, ok, I missed that, thanks

yuvpurush

That said, each web server seems to take it's own view (Sub One will accept a "/a/b/c.html" path for a file include but Apache won't.

Thanks for all the points. Im using Apache server. I can understand that when preview, the file viewed is zz... and it is at the workarea root level, wheras when generated, the shtml file it is under a differrent hirarchy. so virtual will not work for both the cases. In this case if i use
include file='/menu/leftmenu.html'
Then it is not recognized the include command. Maybe as stated in the quote, does the INCLUDE command with FILE attribute wont work in apache? i cant see it in the apache documentations. Can anyone confirm pls.

ISCBorisB

Thanks for all the points. Im using Apache server. I can understand that when preview, the file viewed is zz... and it is at the workarea root level, wheras when generated, the shtml file it is under a differrent hirarchy. so virtual will not work for both the cases. In this case if i use
include file='/menu/leftmenu.html'
Then it is not recognized the include command. Maybe as stated in the quote, does the INCLUDE command with FILE attribute wont work in apache? i cant see it in the apache documentations. Can anyone confirm pls.

Normally, CMS preview considerations are secondary to the required syntax of your Site. You adjust CMS Preview to *real*
things (using Proxy Server), not the other way around.

Proxy for SSI is problematic though... So, other things being equal, the following would be my preference:

You've indicated Windows platform in your original post. So, unless you've installed and configured second Apache on the TeamSite box, on Generate/Preview your pages are rendered by IIS virtualization Server anyway.