About the URL prefix for the testing server
You must
specify a URL prefix so Dreamweaver can use
the services of a testing server to display data and to connect
to databases while you work. Dreamweaver uses
the design-time connection to provide you with useful information
about the database, such as the names of the tables in your database and
the names of the columns in your tables.
A URL prefix comprises the domain name and any of your website’s
home directory’s subdirectories or virtual directories.
Note: The terminology used in Microsoft IIS may vary from server
to server, but the same concepts apply to most web servers.
- The home directory
- The folder on the server mapped to your site’s domain name.
Suppose the folder you want to use to process dynamic pages is c:\sites\company\,
and this folder is your home directory (that is, this folder is mapped
to your site’s domain name—for example, www.mystartup.com). In that case,
the URL prefix is http://www.mystartup.com/.
If the folder
you want to use to process dynamic pages is a subfolder of your home
directory, simply add the subfolder to the URL. If your
home directory is c:\sites\company\, your site’s domain name is
www.mystartup.com, and the folder you want to use to process dynamic
pages is c:\sites\company\inventory. Enter the following
URL prefix:
http://www.mystartup.com/inventory/
If
the folder you want to use to process dynamic pages is not your
home directory or any of its subdirectories, you must create a virtual
directory.
- A virtual directory
- A folder
that is not physically contained in the home directory of the server
even though it appears to be in the URL. To create a virtual directory,
specify an alias for the folder’s path in the URL. Suppose your
home directory is c:\sites\company, your processing folder is d:\apps\inventory,
and you define an alias for this folder called warehouse. Enter
the following URL prefix:
http://www.mystartup.com/warehouse/
- Localhost
- Refers to the home directory in your URLs when the client
(usually a browser, but in this case Dreamweaver)
runs on the same system as your web server. Suppose Dreamweaver is running on the same Windows
system as the web server, your home directory is c:\sites\company,
and you defined a virtual directory called warehouse to refer to
the folder you want to use to process dynamic pages. The following
are the URL prefixes you would enter for selected web servers:
Web server
|
URL prefix
|
|---|
ColdFusion MX 7
|
http://localhost:8500/warehouse/
|
IIS
|
http://localhost/warehouse/
|
Apache (Windows)
|
http://localhost:80/warehouse/
|
Jakarta Tomcat (Windows)
|
http://localhost:8080/warehouse/
|
Note: By default the ColdFusion MX 7 web server runs on port 8500,
the Apache web server runs on port 80, and the Jakarta Tomcat web
server runs on port 8080.
For Macintosh users running the Apache web server, your personal
home directory is Users:MyUserName:Sites, where MyUserName is your
Macintosh user name. An alias called ~MyUserName is automatically
defined for this folder when you install Mac OS 10.1 or
higher. Therefore, your default URL prefix in Dreamweaver is as follows:
http://localhost/~MyUserName/
If the folder you want to use to process dynamic pages is Users:MyUserName:Sites:inventory,
then the URL prefix is as follows:
http://localhost/~MyUserName/inventory/
PDF (adobe.com)
