Path Aliases for Local Webroot Fails

[Pizzadude]

I recently noticed that the file upload routines in my application fail on the development server. All of them. Running on the WAS they all work fine.

This is in build 8540. Not a problem in 8417 and earlier builds. I skipped 8483.

In 8540 there are changes in how path aliases are defined. They can only be defined in View > Settings. You can no longer edit them in Project Properties.

The reason my uploads fail is because the Path Aliases are not being recognized.

For instance, I have a path alias [PathAlias.Docs] = C:\A5Webroot\Documents\

This will test it:

function testPathAliasDocs as c (e as p)
dim js as c
dim _path as c = "[PathAlias.Docs]"
dim filename as c = _path '+ "name"
filename = filename_decode(filename)
js = "alert('" + js_escape(filename) + "');"
testPathAliasDocs = js
end function

On the development server It returns c:\Alpha5\name

On the WAS it returns c:\A5Webroot\Documents\name

Looking for someone to test this...

[WayneH]

I’ll check my versions. I ran into problems with my path alias as well on the (oct I think) upgrade. I reported it but unfortunately it was no reproducible by Selwyn. My suspicion was it was my project files or something. I emailed him a couple of days later and told him I didn’t think the debug time was worth the effort vs me just coding the file location into a session variable at the login screen.

Curious to see the resolution on this so subscribed for sure.

[Pizzadude]

This issue is deeper than I first thought. In the release notes for build 8540:

UX and Grid Component - Fix connection strings and aliases - A new utility function has been added to the Bulk
Operations menu in the Web Projects Control Panel. The Fix connection strings and aliases command will scan all Grid and UX
components in a project looking for explicit connection strings and will replace these connection string with named connection
strings. If a named connection string does not exist a new named connection string will be created. Also, all Xbasic code will
be scanned for explicit file paths and these will be converted to use aliases.

I am leery of operations that will make changes to code, and I found no documentation on this other than the release notes.
After making sure I have a fresh backup of all files in my project folder, I decided to experiment with this.

I ran the operations and it started with this:

FixConnectionStrings.png

I entered a suffix and ran the utility. When it completed it had created multiple aliases in Settings > Aliases, and had created duplicate components.
I have some hard coded explicit paths defined in my code that I use for debugging xbasic code. But these are commented out before publishing.
This utility modified every instance of the commented out code.

In addition, I added an explicit connection string to a component and published it.
The string was modified when I published, without running the utility.

I then deleted all the duplicate components and also deleted all the aliases that the utility had created.

When I next published a component, I received this:
ConnectionStringErrors.png

As far as I can tell, none of the connections listed exist anywhere in my project.

I clicked Ignore problem and the component was published.

[Pizzadude]

New Alpha build 8565 released yesterday. I just installed the developer version. This issue is unchanged.

Bottom line is that the developer server and WAS interpret path aliases differently.

[Pizzadude]

I anyone willing to test this and post the results?

[RustyB]

I'm currently on version 8483. I haven't had time to try the new versions yet. I have never used an alias before, but Alpha seems to be forcing them on me. Even though I never ran the "Fix connection strings and aliases " bulk operation, I am finding [alias_1] in my xBasic code. If I remove it and put back the path that I had before, click Save, then close and re-open my project, [alias_1] is back. I suppose I would be fine with it, but it seems to have broken my app. Can no longer do a file download to IIS Server like I was doing before. The alias does exist under View, Settings, although I never created them.

[Pizzadude]

This is what I have found so far....
Using a path alias that includes a sub folder within the webroot no longer works when published locally.
It seems to work fine when published on my production machine using the WAS.
So if I have an alias defined as this:
PathAlias.Docs]|C:\A5Webroot\Documents\
And then in an xbasic reference it like this:

dim _path as c = "[PathAlias.Docs]"
dim filename as c = _path '+ "name"

It returns the wrong path.

But if I define a path alias like this:
[Pathalias.WebRoot]|C:\A5Webroot\
And change my code to:

dim _path as c = "[Pathalias.WebRoot]Documents"
dim filename as c = _path + "\name"

This will now work on the development server and the WAS.

I have not tested referencing a folder in a download action in a builder, but I suspect it would have the same issue.

So folks will start seeing this problem when downloading files.

And when publishing to a production server, if you see new aliases being created such as [alias_1] . [alias_2] , etc., it is because Alpha now does that automatically. It changed my code in xbasic functions to [alias_1], [alias_2], and created new connection strings.

[RustyB]

No such luck for me with the download of a file. I tried your suggestion with the sub folder. I even tried a completely different directory not in the web root. The "On Upload Complete" runs, I just never see the file on the server. No errors or anything. I suppose I will put together a test case when I have a chance.

[Pizzadude]

a5_application.a5i is a file that gets published every time a component is published. It contains path alias values that your application uses.
This is an excerpt from the file:

At run-time, your Xbasic scripts can lookup an alias as follows:
myAlias = _A5_Aliases.get("myAliasName")

_A5_Aliases.get() is not mentioned in Alpha's documention.

This will return the correct path, including sub folders. It works with the development server and the WAS, and in working preview:

dim _path as c = _A5_Aliases.get("Pathalias.temp")