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Configuring Browsers and Servers


Working with Files on Remote Servers

Working with directories and files on remote servers is virtually identical to working with them on local or network drives. For example, when you save files, changes are saved to the remote server. The primary difference is that you must establish a connection to a remote server before you can work with its files.

You can work on remote servers from the Files tabs and from Windows Explorer via Explorer shell integration. If you do not need server access, you can clear the Options > Settings > File Settings > FTP&RDS >Enable Explorer shell integration.

Using the SNE node

The Macromedia FTP & RDS node, called the Shell Namespace Extension (SNE) node, lets you work with files on configured remote servers in the application and in Windows Explorer. You can add FTP and RDS servers from the SNE node.

If you set the Drive list to My Computer, you can easily access all of your drives and SNE node servers on the File resource tab, as shown in the following graphic.

In previous versions, the SNE node was called "Allaire FTP & RDS." In this version, the node is called "Macromedia FTP & RDS." If you install this version on a machine with a previous version of ColdFusion Studio, the previous version no longer recognizes the node. To fix this, you must modify the SNE node.

To use the SNE with earlier versions:

  1. After completing the installation, run the SNECompatibility.exe program in the program directory; for example in C:\Program Files\Macromedia\ColdFusion Studio 5\SNECompatibility.exe.

    The Macromedia SNE Compatibility dialog box appears.

  2. Select the appropriate compatibility option:
  3. Click Switch to apply the change, and click Close.

Connecting to servers

ColdFusion Studio provides FTP server access and secure HTTP access via Remote Development Services (RDS). You can perform file transfers and other file management tasks using Macromedia FTP & RDS.

Remote Development Services (RDS) lets you communicate via HTTP with ColdFusion on the local machine and on any configured remote host.

RDS features include:


Note

An RDS server connection is required to access data sources and to run the debugger.

Required server information

You must have specific information about a remote server to connect to it, such as host name and user access requirements. If you do not have this information, you must get it from the owner of that server, whether it is your IT group, an ISP, or another provider.

Connecting to an FTP server

You can remotely access FTP servers for file transfers and other site management tasks using the Macromedia FTP & RDS feature. Once the connection has been established, you can access files on remote servers and maintain Web sites located anywhere on the Internet.

FTP server connection requirements vary greatly. These instructions work in the majority of cases, but you might have to try variations on the settings.

To connect to an FTP server:

  1. Open the drive list at the top of the Files tab and select Macromedia FTP & RDS.

    You can also access this feature from Windows Explorer.

  2. Right-click Macromedia FTP & RDS and select Add FTP Server to open the Configure FTP Server dialog box.
  3. Enter the following information for the server that you want to connect to:
    Field
    Description
    Comment
    Description
    		 Descriptive name to display in the Files tab and in Windows Explorer.
    		  
    Host Name
    		 Server's IP address or domain name, such as macromedia.com.
    		 Servers with ftp as part of the domain name require you to enter the complete name, for example ftp.somesite.com
    Initial Directory
    		 Top-level directory for the account.
    		 This is optional for accounts that default to the root directory of the FTP server, but it is required if the account specifies an initial directory.
    Relative from server-assigned directory
    		 Option to specify if the Initial Directory should be set from the server-assigned user directory or from the server root.
    		 Clear this checkbox if the Initial Directory should be set from the server root.
    Username
    		 Login name for the account used to access the remote server, or "anonymous" for anonymous FTP servers.
    		 If this field is left blank, you are asked for a username when you log in.
    Password
    		 Password for the account used to access the remote server.
    		 If this field is left blank, you are asked for a password when you log in.
    Root URL
    		 The http:// address of the site.
    		 This setting allows you to browse files that were opened from the remote server, edited, and saved.
    Remote Port
    		 Port used by the FTP server.
    		 Use the default 21 unless the server administrator or ISP specifies another port.
    Request Timeout
    		 Maximum number of seconds to wait for a server connection to complete.
    		  
    Disable passive mode
    		 Option to select if the server does not use passive connections.
    		  
    File time offset
    		 The number of hours ahead or behind the current local time to use in the date/time information for files on the FTP server.
    		 If you set this value, you cannot select the Assume UTC file times option.
    Assume UTC file times
    		 Option to adjust date/time information on the FTP server for servers using the Universal Coordinated Time format.
    		Select this if you see incorrect date/time information for files on the FTP server.
  4. Click OK to complete the configuration.

You can now work with files on the server.

To view and edit the configuration for a remote server:

  1. Right-click the server in the Macromedia FTP & RDS list and select Properties from the popup menu.
  2. Make the necessary changes, and then click OK to save the new server properties.

To do a file size check after transferring a file:

  1. Save, copy, or move the local file to the remote server using either of the following commands:
  2. If nothing happens, the file transfer was successful.

    An error message appears if there is a discrepancy between the byte counts of the local copy and the copy saved to the remote server.

Enabling Secure FTP

Ipswitch FTP technology, installed with ColdFusion Studio, offers data security via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to servers that support 40-bit encryption and decryption. A default certificate and key are installed. The Ipswitch Help files are available for this dialog box.


Note

Unicode files cannot be transferred successfully using SSL, so disable the Secure (SSL) feature in the Configure FTP Server dialog box before transferring these types of files.

To enable SSL for an FTP connection:

  1. Open the Properties dialog box and select the Secure (SSL) option.
  2. Click the Configure SSL button and make the appropriate certificate entries.

    Click the Help button for information on these settings.

  3. Click OK.

This table summarizes the error messages you could receive:
Error message
Cause
Unable to connect to the FTP server.Success
Remote Server Operation Failure: Winsock Error: Connection aborted.
 SSL has not been enabled in the Configure FTP Server dialog box, and you attempt to connect to a server requiring SSL.
Secure Connection Error - you have requested a secure connection to the server but either the server does not support SSL or WS_FTP could not negotiate a secure connection. This connection is NOT secure. Do you wish to continue?
 An SSL-enabled connection is selected at startup but SSL is disabled on the server.

To revert to the installed certificate and key:

  1. Select Options > Settings > File Settings > FTP & RDS > Reset FTP SSL Certificate to Default.
  2. Click Apply.

Note

For this release, Unicode and Unicode Big Endian files that are saved on SSL-enabled FTP servers do not get created and saved correctly.

Managing ColdFusion security for RDS

The ColdFusion installation configures basic security for the server and by default requires a password for the ColdFusion Administrator and for ColdFusion Studio.

To change the default security settings:

  1. Open ColdFusion Administrator.
  2. Select Basic Security from the server link list.
  3. Change password security settings as needed.
  4. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the page.

Connecting to an RDS server

Complete the following configuration procedure for each ColdFusion server that you want to access.

To connect to an RDS server:

  1. In ColdFusion Studio, click the Files tab at the bottom of the Resources window.
  2. Open the Drive list at the top of the Files pane and select Macromedia FTP & RDS.
  3. Right-click Macromedia FTP & RDS in the Directory list and select Add RDS Server.
  4. Complete the Configure RDS Server dialog box, as follows:
    Field
    Description
    Description
    		 Type a label for the server connection
    Host name
    		 Type localhost or an IP address
    Port
    		 Accept the default Port or enter your ColdFusion server port number
    Use Secure Sockets Layer
    		 Select this option if needed for SSL security
    Remaining RDS security fields
    		 Complete these fields based on the settings in the ColdFusion Administrator. For details, see "Managing ColdFusion security for RDS"
  5. Click OK to save the server information.

The server appears in the Macromedia FTP & RDS list in the Files pane and also in Windows Explorer.

Managing servers

You can easily change server configurations as needed.

To view and edit the configuration for a server:

  1. Right-click the server name in the Macromedia FTP & RDS list and select Properties from the menu.
  2. Make any changes as necessary in the Configure Server dialog box.
  3. Click OK to save your changes.

To delete a server:

  1. Right-click the server name in the Macromedia FTP & RDS list and select Delete Server from the menu.
  2. Click Yes when you are asked to confirm that you want to delete the server.

The remote server is removed from the Macromedia FTP & RDS list.

Adding server mappings

A development mapping is essential for working with files via Remote Development Services (RDS). Mappings serve two purposes:

Mapping for page processing

By default, when you browse a document in the internal or external browser, it is opened from the local file system or returned via FTP from a remote server. That is adequate for checking page content and formatting, but for developing a Web site you must see dynamic pages as the visitors to your site will actually experience them.

To do this, you can route the documents through a Web server. The server software can be on the local machine, a network server, or a remote system. So, instead of just opening the files, an HTTP request for the page is sent to the server. If any server-side processing is required, such as for CFML, JSP or other scripting, the Web server will hand off the page to the appropriate server for further processing, then return it to the browser. This is valuable for previewing applications and site elements in a test environment before deploying the site.

You establish this routing by associating the physical directories where your files are stored with the server that processes the files. This association is called a mapping. A wide range of Web servers is supported, so you can create multiple mappings and select which server to use for processing as needed. Consult your server documentation or provider for the specifics of accessing server directories.


Note

To use server mappings, either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Mozilla NGLayout must be configured as the internal browser.


Mapping for debugging

If you have ColdFusion and ColdFusion Studio on the same machine, you can run the debugger against files opened from the file system, including mapped network drives. But if you are working with a remote ColdFusion server via RDS, you must set a mapping to that server to run the debugger.


Note

To debug applications from ColdFusion Studio, you must also complete the procedures in "Debugging Application Code".

Understanding RDS Mappings

A file mapping ensures that ColdFusion Studio, the RDS server, and your browser can properly resolve a local path into a server path and URL.

Anwer these questions in the RDS dialog box:


Note

An error will occur if you try to browse a file when there is a mismatch between the Studio Path in a mapping defined in the Remote Development Settings and the path of the active file. For example, you cannot browse a file opened from a mapped drive unless that drive path matches the mapping path.

The next section presents the most common RDS mapping scenarios.

RDS file mapping examples

The following scenarios show how file mappings work when you have local or remote files matched with either local or remote servers:

Using local paths

Debugging against a local ColdFusion Server (localhost) is the most common scenario. In most cases, this arrangement allows both Server and Studio to see the directories in the same way.

For example, the local path c:\inetpub\wwwroot translates to an identical server path C:\inetpub\wwwroot, and a URL path of http://215.180.21.1/. The use of mappings in such a scenario is mainly for URL resolutions. The URL part of the mapping instructs Studio how a physical file can be viewed in a browser.

In this example, you would create a mapping as follows:
Server and Studio on same machine
Studio path
 C:\inetpub\localhost\
Server path
 C:\inetpub\localhost\
Browser/URL path
 http://215.180.21.1/

Using drive mappings

Developers often debug against a remote server across an internal network. In many cases, they use a network drive mapping.

For example, a user might have a remote drive X:\ mapped to a network shared directory \\MYSERVER\WEBPROJECTS\ where WEBPROJECTS is the name of the shared directory in the network server MYSERVER.

In such a scenario, a file that appears to Studio as 

X:\App1\index.cfm

might be viewed by the server as 

C:\webprojects\App1\index.cfm

and the browser might view it using the URL path 

http://215.180.21.1/App1/index.cfm

In order to resolve the communication between Studio and Server, you must create a mapping for the App1 directory as follows:
Studio access to a remote server using drive mappings
Studio path
 X:\App1\
Server path
 C:\webprojects\App1\
Browser/URL path
 http://215.180.21.1/App1/

Using UNC paths/Network Neighborhood

Developers can debug code against remote ColdFusion servers across an internal network using UNC paths. They often use the Network Neighborhood to access a file on a remote server. For example, a developer might access a file on \\myserver\webprojects\ where webprojects is the name of the shared directory in the network server myserver.

In such a scenario, a file that appears to Studio as 

\\myserver\webprojects\App1\index.cfm

might be viewed by the server as 

c:\webprojects\App1\index.cfm

and the browser might view it using the URL path 

http://215.180.21.1/App1/index.cfm

Studio and Server need to understand how a file location appears to the parties involved. You therefore must create a mapping for the App1 directory as follows:
Studio accesses files on remote server using UNC paths/Network Neighborhood
Studio path
 \\MYSERVER\WEBPROJECTS\App1\
Server path
 C:\webprojects\App1\
Browser/URL path
 http://215.180.21.1/App1/

Using Remote Development Services

When developing outside local area networks, you access files on a ColdFusion server across the Internet using Remote Development Services (RDS).

In such a scenario, a file that appears to Studio as 

RDS://MY_RDS_SERVER/C:/webprojects/App1/index.cfm

might be viewed by the server as 

C:\webprojects\App1\index.cfm

and the browser might view it using the URL path 

http://215.180.21.1/App1/index.cfm

Although the server path can be inferred from the local RDS path, you must still create a mapping. In special scenarios, ColdFusion server to Studio path resolution could become ambiguous. You therefore must create a mapping for the App1 directory as follows:
Studio accesses files on remote server using RDS remote file access
Studio path
 RDS://MY_RDS_SERVER/C:/WEBPROJECTS/App1/
Server path
 C:\webprojects\App1\
Browser/URL path
 http://215.180.21.1/App1/

Defining server mappings

This section provides instructions for adding a server mapping in ColdFusion Studio and in Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), and how to set a default mapping.

For more information on setting up server mappings, see Knowledge Base Articles 8347 and 8500 on the Macromedia Web site. (Note that the information in these articles applies to Studio as well as to HomeSite.)

To add a mapping:

  1. Open the Options > Settings > Browse pane.
  2. If necessary, select either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Mozilla NGLayout as the internal browser.
  3. Click the Development Mappings button to open the Mapping tab on the Remote Development Settings dialog box.
  4. Select a server from the drop-down list of configured servers. If a server is not on the list, add it. For instructions, see "Adding server mappings".
  5. Enter the Studio, ColdFusion, and Browser path information. For page browsing on localhost, only the Studio and Browser paths are required.
  6. Click the Add button to save the mapping, then click OK.

You can now browse your documents in the internal (F12) or external (F11) browser.

To edit a mapping:

  1. Select a mapping from the list.
  2. Make changes as necessary and click Update.

To change to a different mapping:

To set a mapping as the default:

  1. Select Options > Settings and click Browse.
  2. Select the entry that you want to move in mappings list.
  3. Click the up arrow button to move the entry to the top of the list.
  4. Click OK.
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