HTML and .cfm

[DanielLee]

Hi,

| build simple websites using note pad and HTML 4.01 transitional. I now have a customer who wants me to move his website (which was created with Cold Fusion) over to my server .

| have saved the entire website one page at a time and created the necessary folders for the photos and changed all but one page of the website to HTML 4.01. I had to change most of the file names by using an underscore in place of ? and = signs so I could save it to my hard drive. The entire website is now working with the exception of one page (the request Information page).

There are a couple of things I am not sure of.

1) all of the HTML files that I saved have names that start with “index.cfm filename“, is there a reason for that? I don’t see a file name of just “index” for the start of the website.

2) One of the pages is called “request info” and has a place for people to put comments and enter their name, state (from a drop down dialog box) etc. How do I handle that? Is there something I need to put into a CGI folder on the server? I have never done that sort of thing and need a little help on it.

The old webmaster sent me a bunch of files, everything that is not a .jpeg or a .gif file has “filename.cfm“ (in contrast to the “index.cfm filename” of the files I saved to disk from the Internet). I can’t seem to get those files to open, (not that I really need them at this point) nothing was in folders.

The main question is how do I get the “request Information” page to work?

Any assistance appreciated, thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Daniel
"Five minutes at a time"

http://www.mexicoland.net

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

If the whole site was created in coldfusion, you are likely to be losing a lot of the code by saving the HTML files from a browser.

Coldfusion is server-side and the actual source code is likely very different from the code that the browser sees.

The index.cfm filename is nothing to worry about, there is no reason for the files to be named this way so this must be a preference of the original programmer.

To get the form to work you need to use a server-side language to process the form data, do not go with client side if your customer has been using a server side method before.

I'm really curious as to why you do not use the coldfusion source files but instead chose to copy the html output from the browser, is there any reason for this?

Hope this helps Wullie

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.necomputers.org.uk

http://www.whiland.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change.
The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[DanielLee]

Hi Willie,

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post.

The only reason I copied the HTML from the browser is because that is all I know how to do, I know nothing about cold fusion nor server side languages.

I know I need to learn more to be an effective webmaster but I don't have the time to start just now. I was hoping there was a way to get the "request info" page working without starting a whole new learning curve. The rest of the site is working just fine in HTML 4.01 Transitional.

Thanks again for you help.

Sincerely,

Daniel "Five minutes at a time"

http://www.mexicoland.net