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I just recently upgraded to Xara Designer Pro X9 and ran into problem when I tried to publish. Received message saying Website URL not know. After having problem publishing in X9, I opened up the same Xara document in Xara Designer Pro X and was able to publish successfully without any problems.
Has anyone else ran into this issue?
note: I have blocked out the ftp-server url name and other information on attachment because I do not wish to share it.
Does your web host require you to publish in a sub directory? You do not show one in your information.
No. As I said, I was able to publish in XDPro9 but not in XDPro9X. I submitted a ticket to Xara so hopefully I will hear from them soon and get this resolved.
:think:Quote:
Originally Posted by zee
This doesn't look like an error, version 9 displays your website URL as a link at the end of the publish process to provide a quick means of viewing the website.
The message ( and not error) 'Website URL not known. Please enter it with your FTP settings' is shown on the 'publish to web' dialog if no website address is entered within the 'website url' field within the 'Other settings dialog'
This doesn't prevent you from publishing. Please enter your website url from the other setting dialog in order to prevent this message from being displayed.
Thanks
Sorry, but your explanation doesn't quite make sense to me. Entry of the website URL on Options Settings is "optional". Message very misleading. Definitely seems like error to me.
Also, when I publish in XDProX9 I am not prompted where to save files on my computer.
It's not an error, it's just letting you know that you have not entered your website URL. What this means is that the Publish Complete dialog will not give you a clickable link to go directly to your published website, and you are not exporting the sitemap.xml or robots.txt files with oyur website (all things that are different between entering it and not).
You are not prompted where to export the website locally any longer in v9 because the publish process has been streamlined to not need to you choose where to export the website to locally, Web Designer will handle all of this for you. You just need to click Publish and it publishes.
This is a deal breaker for me. For backup purposes, I like to have all the files saved on my computer in a separate folder for each of my websites. I also keep other items that are not included in .xar file (PDFs, etc.) in this same folder. I'll be switching back to XDPro9. What is the procedure for requesting refund on XDPro9X?Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteS
[QUitionally, OTE=zeirectory e;484676]This is a deal breaker for me. For backup purposes, I like to have all the files saved on my computer in a separate folder for each of my websites. I also keep other items that are not included in .xar file (PDFs, etc.) in this same folder. I'll be switching back to XDPro9. What is the procedure for requesting refund on XDPro9X?[/QUOTE]
Don't be too hasty! The publish function chooses it's own temp directory for exporting the site before the files are transferred to their publishing destination... But, you still have the Export Website function that asks you to specify the location for export, and of course the ability to save your source (XAR) file wherever you like as well. Everything can be copied, backed up, saved, etc.
The project I'm working on involves a few tools: I publish the Xara website code to "xara_export" directory; I publish code from the web form builder that I'm using to a "wfb_export" directory, and any other server side pages such as php scripts to their own export directories. These all live under a directory for the whole site.
Additionally, I have source directories in the same group, such as "xara_source" where I stash the xar files, wfb_source, etc. I also have a "merged" directory where I assemble the lot, as well as a local host testing directory under my belt WAMP stack's control. All works quite well, all can be backed up, easy to maintain multiple versions, etc. You really have all the control you need.
Jon,
Thank you for information on the Export Website function. Another step, but that may be the solution.
Zee
As Jon says you still have the Export Website option on the File menu, however backing up your .xar file is far more important than backing up your exported HTML files.Quote:
Originally Posted by zee
If your hard drive failed for example and you needed to restore things, you can easily generate the exported HTML again by opening your .xar file and exporting it.
I couldn't agree more! This has been a classic issue in the software world pretty much since the dawn of the industry. You can always export the Xara-generated code again -- if you have the source (.xar) file. It's amazing how many large institutions are actually running high stakes production systems using "object code" (executables) for which they can no longer locate the correct source code. It's all well and good - as long as you never have to make any changes -- and we know how often that happens!Quote:
Originally Posted by PeteS
Zee - it does sound like another work step - but with a bit of thoughtful workflow design, it can be perfectly convenient. DPX9 will remember the last location you saved your .xar file to, and will also remember the last place you exported the site to, so you won't have to specify these each time as long as you don't change locations. That makes it just a couple of clicks to 1) save your changes and 2) export a copy of the working site. Additionally, if you use the publish function, it will work the same way -- and you can save publishing profiles for later reuse, so you won't have to type in remote server FTP credentials again (as often, at least).
I've been a big fan of what I think of as "real" file managers rather they depending on Windows Explorer (windoze exploder?). My favorite for many years has been "Directory Opus" (see: http://www.gpsoft.com.au/ ). At the moment, I only use it to keep multiple views of my file directories open and visible, making it easy to drag and drop source, generated code, etc from one directory to another. As most modern file managers will do these days, it can also act as a very capable FTP client, opening file manager windows to your remote site that you can navigate as if they were local directories on your workstation. That makes it trivial to drag and drop code to/from remote servers as well. The one downside of this is that this would transfer all files to the remote server - whether or not they were modified, while DPX9 (and WDP9) are smart enough to only push changed files when you use the "publish" function, which can be a significant time saver.
Directory Opus (or, "Dopus", as its fans have taken to calling it) also has an advanced scripting facility. I haven't played with it yet - but you could, for example, have a one-click button that would copy all the various saved and exported files to backup directories, local staging directories and remote FTP sites.
Long-winded - yes - but my point is simply that you can design a streamlined workflow for yourself that makes it routine and painless to work this way. For me - the payoff is being able to use DPX9 to easily generate pixel-perfect output that would otherwise take quite a bit of effort and time in a code-intensive toolset.
Pete & Jon,
You have convinced me. Thanks!
you could just use a free backup program to autorun every night saving all your files to a backup drive
i use acronis on my main workhorse
but i use cobian backup on the others as its free very configurable and it just work
it will also backup to a remote ftp location
(i believe they now call this the cloud
another trendy buzzword i find immensely annoying)
Frank, thanks for the info!