Can Contribute Edit an SSI?

This is my first post so I hope I'm not asking dumb questions.

On a small site I have each page containing the link command for the old NN4
CSS stylesheet followed by the import command for the modern-browser style
sheet, then the SSI command to bring in two Server Side Include files. The
first is a site-wide menu system and that is a Server Side Include because
when I want to change the menu system, I want to change it only once and
have it replicate across the site. The second Server Side Include is
content.

I am using DW4 and am not using DW templates with the editable region
feature. I am not using javascript. The server is Apache.

Everything works good so far. Ahhh, but now we have to let the content
creators start updating their own content! So . . . my thought is to use
Contribute to allow content creators to edit the Server Side Include files
which contain the content. I have beeen reading Joseph Lowrey's book,
Roadmap to Macromedia Contribute (Macromedia Press March 2003) which is
excellent, but I still have questions:

1. Chapter 3 of the Lowrey book explains how to set up a connection, but
does not explicitly state that I as administrator can make sure that a given
user (or a given user group) can only edit the page I have given him/her
permission to edit. Can I limit users to editing specific pages?

2. Assume I do not at this time upgrade to DWMX with the 6.1 updater. Would
using DW4 templates with non-editable regions prevent Contribute content
creators from messing up the non-editable regions?

3. If the answer to #3 is "yes", but I'm not using DW4 templates with
non-editable regions, can I type in some code to create such regions
manually? If "yes", it would appear to be smarter than putting my content
safely in server side includes, right?

4. If the answer to #4 is "no", then is walling-off the user-editable
content safely in Server Side Include files a wise way to go? And now to the
topic question of this post: Can Contribute edit those Server Side Include
files which contain this content? [Remember, SSI files do not contain head
or body tags, so I don't know if Contribute will get confused. Also,
remember, the CSS files are not in the content SSIs, I'm concerned that
Contribute won't know what styles are available to the content creators.]

Thank you for your help.

- Dan

Yes, as long as the include file uses a file extension Contribute
recognizes. Such as .asp, .htm, .cfm, or the like. The Contribute user just
needs to navigate to the included file and open it.

--
Lawrence Cramer [ Member - Team Macromedia]
www.lcwd.com | lawrence (AT) lcwd (DOT) com

Cartweaver - ColdFusion Cart for DreamweaverMX
www.cartweaver.com | news://support.dwfaq.com/cartweaver
------------------------------------------------------------


"Dan Ashley" <dashleyNOSPAM (AT) lanermuchin (DOT) com> wrote

This is my first post so I hope I'm not asking dumb questions.

On a small site I have each page containing the link command for the old
NN4
CSS stylesheet followed by the import command for the modern-browser style
sheet, then the SSI command to bring in two Server Side Include files. The
first is a site-wide menu system and that is a Server Side Include because
when I want to change the menu system, I want to change it only once and
have it replicate across the site. The second Server Side Include is
content.

I am using DW4 and am not using DW templates with the editable region
feature. I am not using javascript. The server is Apache.

Everything works good so far. Ahhh, but now we have to let the content
creators start updating their own content! So . . . my thought is to use
Contribute to allow content creators to edit the Server Side Include files
which contain the content. I have beeen reading Joseph Lowrey's book,
Roadmap to Macromedia Contribute (Macromedia Press March 2003) which is
excellent, but I still have questions:

1. Chapter 3 of the Lowrey book explains how to set up a connection, but
does not explicitly state that I as administrator can make sure that a
given
user (or a given user group) can only edit the page I have given him/her
permission to edit. Can I limit users to editing specific pages?

2. Assume I do not at this time upgrade to DWMX with the 6.1 updater.
Would
using DW4 templates with non-editable regions prevent Contribute content
creators from messing up the non-editable regions?

3. If the answer to #3 is "yes", but I'm not using DW4 templates with
non-editable regions, can I type in some code to create such regions
manually? If "yes", it would appear to be smarter than putting my content
safely in server side includes, right?

4. If the answer to #4 is "no", then is walling-off the user-editable
content safely in Server Side Include files a wise way to go? And now to
the
topic question of this post: Can Contribute edit those Server Side Include
files which contain this content? [Remember, SSI files do not contain head
or body tags, so I don't know if Contribute will get confused. Also,
remember, the CSS files are not in the content SSIs, I'm concerned that
Contribute won't know what styles are available to the content creators.]

Thank you for your help.

- Dan

1) There is an article on the MM Contribute site as to how to set up
different levels of access for editing, however in a nutshell it is
generally designed around using directories to hold the files. You can limit
access to individual files within a folder.

2) The 6.1 upgrade enables you to use DWMX to administer Contribute sites
without the need for the program itself. The main function here is to set up
users, and then send out their connection strings. Without the update you
will have to use Contribute to do this. The update does not concern itseld
with templates and your DW4 templates will be fine in Contribute.

3&4) I would generally go along the path of using templates rather than SSI
unless you site has content loaded into layers (which Contribute has a
problem with at present). As you point out the SSI's must not contain <head>
or <body> tags and therefore will not display andy CSS formating, where
template will.

--
Regards

Paul Whitham
Valleybiz Internet Design
www.valleybiz.net

Team Macromedia Volunteer for Ultradev/Dreamweaver MX
www.macromedia.com/support/forums/team_macromedia
"Dan Ashley" <dashleyNOSPAM (AT) lanermuchin (DOT) com> wrote

This is my first post so I hope I'm not asking dumb questions.

On a small site I have each page containing the link command for the old
NN4
CSS stylesheet followed by the import command for the modern-browser style
sheet, then the SSI command to bring in two Server Side Include files. The
first is a site-wide menu system and that is a Server Side Include because
when I want to change the menu system, I want to change it only once and
have it replicate across the site. The second Server Side Include is
content.

I am using DW4 and am not using DW templates with the editable region
feature. I am not using javascript. The server is Apache.

Everything works good so far. Ahhh, but now we have to let the content
creators start updating their own content! So . . . my thought is to use
Contribute to allow content creators to edit the Server Side Include files
which contain the content. I have beeen reading Joseph Lowrey's book,
Roadmap to Macromedia Contribute (Macromedia Press March 2003) which is
excellent, but I still have questions:

1. Chapter 3 of the Lowrey book explains how to set up a connection, but
does not explicitly state that I as administrator can make sure that a
given
user (or a given user group) can only edit the page I have given him/her
permission to edit. Can I limit users to editing specific pages?

2. Assume I do not at this time upgrade to DWMX with the 6.1 updater.
Would
using DW4 templates with non-editable regions prevent Contribute content
creators from messing up the non-editable regions?

3. If the answer to #3 is "yes", but I'm not using DW4 templates with
non-editable regions, can I type in some code to create such regions
manually? If "yes", it would appear to be smarter than putting my content
safely in server side includes, right?

4. If the answer to #4 is "no", then is walling-off the user-editable
content safely in Server Side Include files a wise way to go? And now to
the
topic question of this post: Can Contribute edit those Server Side Include
files which contain this content? [Remember, SSI files do not contain head
or body tags, so I don't know if Contribute will get confused. Also,
remember, the CSS files are not in the content SSIs, I'm concerned that
Contribute won't know what styles are available to the content creators.]

Thank you for your help.

- Dan