When you view an HTML page in HomeSite's internal or external browser, the page is simply opened from the local file system or returned via FTP from a remote server. That's OK for checking page content and formatting, but for developing a Web site you need to view the pages as visitors to the site will actually experience them.
To do this, you can route HTML 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 server-side includes, forms, ColdFusion applications, or Active Server Pages, the Web server will hand off the page to the appropriate server for further processing, then return it to the browser. This is invaluable for previewing site elements in a test environment before deploying the site.
HomeSite makes it easy to work with Web servers by associating the physical directories where your files are stored with the server that processes the files. This association is called a mapping. HomeSite supports a wide range of Web servers, so you can create multiple mappings and select which server to use for processing. Consult your server documentation or provider for the specifics of accessing server directories.
Note that to use server mappings, either Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape's Mozilla NGLayout must be configured as the internal browser.
If you want to set a mapping to a remote server, follow the steps in "Connecting to Remote Servers," before defining the mapping.
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To define a server mapping: |
c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mysite\pages
.
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Mapping options: |