I use Microsoft ExpressionWeb4 to edit Ricefootball.net. It's been very reliable for the past several years. Tonite, a snafu I can't figure out.

First, after numerous OK uploads of the Main Page subsequent to additions/edits during the day Sunday, now http://www.ricefootball.net/index.html refuses to upload, the FTP client giving the error message "Invalid file"

What's worse, attempts to modify and upload other html pages have yielded a viewable web page that displays only the source code, for example http://www.ricefootball.net/quick.htm (This, the links page)

A blank html page, with nothing written on it except the words "Test page...testing...testing.... yielded this: http://www.ricefootball.net/testpage2.html

Any existing html page that I pull up and make any modification to, then try to upload, produces online only a visible gibberish of source code. Meanwhile, having made the changes, attempted the upload which yields online the source code giberish, then when I try once again to pull up the html file in question on my Expression Web editor, I get this error message:

Server error: The URL ‘_vti_cnf/quick.htm’ is invalid. It may refer to a nonexistent file or folder, or refer to a valid file or folder that is not in the current site.

I'm afraid to try and modify and reload any further existing pages for fear of blowing away tediously created material.

I use Yahoo Small Business (a/k/a Abaco) Web Hosting Control Panel File Manager as my FTP client. Perhaps it may be that the FTP device is corrupting files it attempts to upload. But I don't think so....

This is the strangest snafu I've had in 20 years of doing this.

Really could use some help here...or, suggestions are welcome....people have done it before for me...thanks in advance...

Hafta bump this, in hopes that some HTML gun picks this up during working hourse and has an idea....

Are you on the free version? Or did you pay for a license? Just a quick perusal says that customers who paid for a license can get a support via Microsoft.

I don't think this is probably HTML related, per se, but is a problem with the generation engine. But I have no experience with ExpressionWeb, and my web page writing experience is years in the past.

One thing you might try to do (partially to protect yourself) is to get an external FTP client (I used to use Core FTP long ago) and download your entire site, as it exists right now, so that if any pages get trashed, you can potentially replace it with the proper version. It doesn't protect how it's stored in the ExpressionWeb database, but you would at least have the raw output so you could stand up the site again, if it became necessary.

If you were making changes directly on the server , then I would check your file permissions. Make sure the ownership hasn't changed.

(10-23-2017 09:56 AM)gsloth Wrote:  Are you on the free version? Or did you pay for a license? Just a quick perusal says that customers who paid for a license can get a support via Microsoft.

I don't think this is probably HTML related, per se, but is a problem with the generation engine. But I have no experience with ExpressionWeb, and my web page writing experience is years in the past.

One thing you might try to do (partially to protect yourself) is to get an external FTP client (I used to use Core FTP long ago) and download your entire site, as it exists right now, so that if any pages get trashed, you can potentially replace it with the proper version. It doesn't protect how it's stored in the ExpressionWeb database, but you would at least have the raw output so you could stand up the site again, if it became necessary.

Thanks. I appreciate the suggestions. I do have a licensed version of Expression Web 2, which I later upgraded online to Expression Web 4, and by that time it was probably free, can't remembe, but at least I do have a valid serial number. I'll see what I can scare up with Microsoft. In any event, was planning on googling the error message this evening and seeing what pops up (just about everything under the sun these days has already happened to multiple somebody elses).

And, yeah, I agree with your assessment that it's most likely that the generation engine is corrupted, because it's producing gobbledygook includng random filenames. An uninstall/reinstall may do the the trick.

Naturally this happens Monday on a busy week at work. Will be up late tonite, am sure.

Thanks again.

(10-23-2017 12:03 PM)RiceBull Wrote:  If you were making changes directly on the server , then I would check your file permissions. Make sure the ownership hasn't changed.

Unfortunately my remote served is Yahoo Small Business. They can't even decide who owns the thing, Yahoo or somebody in China called Abaco. Probably ought to find a new home for the site, but the current one has 11 years of files on it, htmls, jpegs, you name it. It would take forever and I was hoping to get through this season on Yahoo/Abaco and then deal with it at leisure over the winter. We'll see.

Anyway, thanks for the tip......

(10-22-2017 09:43 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  A blank html page, with nothing written on it except the words "Test page...testing...testing.... yielded this: http://www.ricefootball.net/testpage2.html

This to me indicates that the issue is server side. If a simple dummy page renders with weird vti extensions and gibbberish, I do not think it has anything to do with your generating of said file.

A simple cross test would be to create a dummy Hello World file in notepad, send that up and confirm. where is it hosted?

(10-23-2017 12:19 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-22-2017 09:43 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  A blank html page, with nothing written on it except the words "Test page...testing...testing.... yielded this: http://www.ricefootball.net/testpage2.html

This to me indicates that the issue is server side. If a simple dummy page renders with weird vti extensions and gibbberish, I do not think it has anything to do with your generating of said file.

A simple cross test would be to create a dummy Hello World file in notepad, send that up and confirm. where is it hosted?

Yes, it is definitely on the server side. I've deleted all the strange files from the folder, and it seems to have fixed things, for the most part. For some reason I can't get it to change my UTSA jump page, but hell with it, it's not worth fooling with, anyway. I'll just proceed very carefully for here out for a while, and hope, fingers crossed, that the web editor doen't generate any more strange _vti_ -- or other -- weird files.

THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS....

(10-23-2017 07:19 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  

(10-23-2017 12:19 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-22-2017 09:43 PM)Ricefootballnet Wrote:  A blank html page, with nothing written on it except the words "Test page...testing...testing.... yielded this: http://www.ricefootball.net/testpage2.html

This to me indicates that the issue is server side. If a simple dummy page renders with weird vti extensions and gibbberish, I do not think it has anything to do with your generating of said file.

A simple cross test would be to create a dummy Hello World file in notepad, send that up and confirm. where is it hosted?

Yes, it is definitely on the server side. I've deleted all the strange files from the folder, and it seems to have fixed things, for the most part. For some reason I can't get it to change my UTSA jump page, but hell with it, it's not worth fooling with, anyway. I'll just proceed very carefully for here out for a while, and hope, fingers crossed, that the web editor doen't generate any more strange _vti_ -- or other -- weird files.

THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS....

Glad it worked out. Thanks for all you do as well.

You probably do this already, but please make sure you keep a good backup of your entire site that is stored on a different server. Also keep multiple copies.