Problem with localhost showing pages

[WayneS]

Hello,

From within Alpha 5 one can start the server. I've set the Application Server Settings as shown in 200812TTWEBAPPF/videos01.html, a training video. I simply cannot get a simple html page to show. It always comes back with the message:

Connection Interrupted

The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.

The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again.

My initial thought was that the server was simply not running so I started it - I purchased an unlimited license for the Application Server. That still would not work.

Question:

1. From within Alpha 5, when you start the server should you see an icon in the tray showing the server is actually running?

2. If I start the Application Server first and then start Alpha 5, A5 shows that the server is not running, yet it shows in the tray. Clicking on the button in A5 gives an error message that the port is already used. (As per training materials, I'm using port 8080.)

Thanks for any input.

[Dan Blank]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Hi Wayne,

The web server is a seperate program from Alpha Five. So that explains why in one you see the web server running in the system tray while the Alpha 5 program doesn't show the server running. The web server doesn't need to running if you are using Alpha 5. You can just turn the server on through Alpha 5. This will allow you computer to "Act" as a server in the localhost "mode".

For your training videos, I would suspect something is not quite right with your settings. To watch the training video you do not even need to be running the web server. That is all pretty much regular web page activity. You may need to restart you machine, or unzip the files again.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Thanks for the reply Dan.

In the General tab, the software defaults to putting the name of the system in the Server Name input box. The video showed to change the port from 80 to 8080. Everything else is pretty much left to the defaults that the Application Server presents.

Still have the same error message.

I'm using comcast but will eventually upload to godaddy.

Might you or anyone else have any ideas on what causes such an error?

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Dan Blank]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Hi Wayne, You really only need to set the port to 8080 if port 80 is already in use.

If you are just wanting to see regular *.htm pages you don't even need the web application server. The regular *.htm pages should display just fine in a regular web browser.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Hi Dan,

Thanks again for the reply. I did set the port to 8080 but it still cannot produce an htm page within Alpha 5 editor. I can get the preview ok but when you publish and then open, I still get the error mentioned above.

I'm using a Vista operating system.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

When one executes a page after designing the html, you'll see localhost/livepreview...

This yields nothing but a page not found under internet explorer and gives the error message above under firefox. However, changing localhost to an address 127.0.0.1 produces the page but the components do not show.

I guess this is progress.

Any ideas as to why and how to fix?

[Dan Blank]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Hi Wayne,

If you are using components then you will need to make your page an *.a5w page and not an htm page. You will also need to have the web application server turned on through Alpha Five.

Make sure you publish both the components and the *.a5w page.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Hi Dan,

Thanks for sticking through this. I did get the page to work properly but still have the problem with "localhost" i.e. need to change it to 127.0.0.1 just to see the page. Kind of a pain doing this each time, if you know what I mean. Do you know what might cause this or some work-a-round?

Thanks again,
Wayne

[Steve Wood]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

127.0.0.1 is localhost is 127.0.0.1.

Can you provide a clear map of where you are now:

- when you say "the page", what is the extension, is it an *.A5W page or an *.htm/l page?

- Is the Alpha Application Server on and set to 80 or 8080?

- Do you have IIS or some other web server running on this computer, and if so, it is on port 80?

- Do you have the Application Server running or just Alpha Five (localhost).

- Are you actually publishing your files from Alpha to the server or localhost; or are you just attempting to open them without publishing.

- have not seen this video, but there is no reason to use port 8080 unless your port 80 is in use. And if it is in use, its best to discover why and probably kill the offending software and use port 80 for Alpha.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Thanks for the reply Steve.

I've attempted many things in trying to get this to work properly. Here's a brief reply to your points:

Reply to: - when you say "the page", what is the extension, is it an *.A5W page or an *.htm/l page?

Created a simple traditional web page with content "Hello World". Actually tried both htm and html. It was created with the editor that comes with Alpha.

Reply to - Is the Alpha Application Server on and set to 80 or 8080?

Following the video, one is supposed to use 8080. Tried that. Also tried 80.

Reply to - Do you have IIS or some other web server running on this computer, and if so, it is on port 80?

Do have IIS7 installed. It does use port 80 for its Default Web Site. Root for this is the usual directory: inetpub\wwwroot. However, I turned it off (stopped the server) while I was using Alpha. There should have been no conflict with 80.

For the keck of it, I tried making the webroot in IIS7 the C:\A5Webroot directory and then ran WAS, setting it up as an application at first and then removing it as an application. At the time of this test WAS was set to port 8080. My assumption was that more than one server could be used at the same time on the same system - I've done that many times in the past so I know it works.

Reply to - Do you have the Application Server running or just Alpha Five (localhost).

I stopped using the Application Server ie the standalone one and stuck with Alpha 5. I guess the claim is that Alpha 5 has its own internal server that it uses when the end user creates pages and then tests them. All the videos that I watched had working projects without a server license installed.

I found two options that allow you to test how the page is presented. One is from the toolbar when you create or edit a web page (either a5w or html) and the other is from within Web Control Panel - one can right click on a file (a5wpages or html pages) to "Publish (Local Webroot) and open".


Reply to - Are you actually publishing your files from Alpha to the server or localhost; or are you just attempting to open them without publishing.

After I create the page "Hello World" I published, even though "Execute Page" button publishes it already. My assumption here is that Execute Page writes the file to the LivePreview directory for viewing and not your webroot.


Reply to - have not seen this video, but there is no reason to use port 8080 unless your port 80 is in use. And if it is in use, its best to discover why and probably kill the offending software and use port 80 for Alpha.

The video I refer to is by Mr. Workings.

I guess I could completely uninstall IIS7 and test again but it doesn't seem to be a point of conflict - at least not one that's obvious. Two servers can live in harmony as long as they're both listening on different ports, right?



I hope this clarifies some of the things I tried.

Again, thanks for the input.

Wayne

[Steve Wood]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

Although I cannot pinpoint your problem, this info may help.

A5 has no relationship with IIS. It can run in harmony as you suggest, or you can Stop the IIS server to allow A5 to run on port 80.

A5 pages that contain components, xbasic or any Alpha Five feature must use pages created with an A5W extension, using the A5 editor. A page with the extension HTM/L will run under A5, so long as it does not contain any of the A5 features described above.

Forget about Execute File and LivePreview and ensure you are publishing to localhost for a complete test. Those other options test individual pages or components and don't tell the whole story.

There is a routine you must follow when publishing files, especially for the first time. Please set your document root to c:\a5webroot. In your Profile for the project, add a Target Folder. When you publish, publish All, click Clear History and check the box for web security data tables (you only do this last step only one time).

Ensure the local web server is running. There will be a green icon in the Alpha toolbar.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

I'm not sure this information that follows is directly related but does bring to light something else related to the localhost thing.

After the last post, I looked at the session tab to see the license. The activate button was "live" so I clicked it. Alpha 5 then told me I that I couldn't activate the account until I turned off some security measure that is actually recommended by Microsoft. I turned it off and then rebooted, as suggested.

After the reboot, the tables that I experimented with all disappeared from the hard disk and the entry within Alpha 5 no longer existed. I activated the license and then reset the information I was told to change. Rebooted.

Inside the App Server I changed the host name to 127.0.0.1. It is interesting to note that App Server does not allow you to use localhost but does accept the ip equivalent.

I created another table and tried publishing again using both the toolbar and right-click method pointed out above.

Before I actually tried the toolbar, I published everything and then opened index.a5w. Then I tried the execute from the toolbar.

That again yielded localhost.

Closed the file and then tried the right-click. Oddly enough instead of localhost appearing, 127.0.0.1 appeared with the rest of the url. Don't quite understand why they both work differently when they should, in my mind, yield the same results. Maybe you can shed some light on this.

Before when I made a component, the preview would give an error now it doesn't. Strange.

I think your advise,

"There is a routine you must follow when publishing files, especially for the first time. Please set your document root to c:\a5webroot. In your Profile for the project, add a Target Folder. When you publish, publish All, click Clear History and check the box for web security data tables (you only do this last step only one time)."

was only attained by experience with this software and is indeed correct. Maybe the sysop needs a tidbit corner for all of us new to the software stating such things. Personally, I felt I wasted a couple of days working on something that should have worked without question or, in other words, should have been trivial.

Much of the documentation that one finds, which is a journey itself, glosses over this kind of stuff yet, it really is one of the most important initial steps to complete.

In the end, it looks like I got it to work but that I say with reservation. There are still open questions like what happened to the original tables I created? Things just don't disappear into a /dev/null now, do they?

Then why is localhost for the server name not ok but 127.0.0.1 is? Weird at best.

Anyway, I really want to thank everyone for their input and if there are any more ideas out there then please post them. Maybe we all can learn something new.

Wayne

[Steve Wood]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

The word "localhost" or "127.0.0.1" do not get set anywhere at all. The suggestions I made are actually how Alpha operates out-of-the-box. I think part of the problem is that you approach based on experience with another environment. You've also confused the local copy of the App Server with the stand-alone version - which I see is easy since the Help doc doesn't discuss the local App Server, just the stand-alone product. You also seem to expirement and jump around a bit, and that sends you off track.

Also - there is no reason to enter or Activeate any license on the local copy of the Alpha App Server.

[WayneS]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

OK...

So by default, the App Server uses the name of the machine as the server name. Somehow, and I'm unclear how this is relating to the binding that one would normally find in most server environments, this gets bound to localhost. Is this actually what App Server is doing?

When I put in this license number, and then published, looking at the page in the right click scenario above, yields http://machinename:8080/test where test is the subdirectory for publishing the files. Only problem is, it don't work.

Using "127.0.0.1" at least generates the page and allows viewing of it in two browsers - explorer and firefox. The original error in the first part of this message is gone and the page renders.

Assuming one minimizes Alpha 5 window and starts a fresh copy of the browser, localhost still will not work but 127.0.0.1 does.

So, I guess I simply do not understand where I went wrong in the setup. I followed the video's exactly and rechecked several times. I experiment, sometimes extensively, not only to get something to work but learn at the same time. Kind of like Edison. You know that story?

Are you running a vista box or an xp box, service pack 3?

[Dan Blank]

Re: Problem with localhost showing pages

OK...

So by default, the App Server uses the name of the machine as the server name. Somehow, and I'm unclear how this is relating to the binding that one would normally find in most server environments, this gets bound to localhost. Is this actually what App Server is doing?

When I put in this license number, and then published, looking at the page in the right click scenario above, yields http://machinename:8080/test where test is the subdirectory for publishing the files. Only problem is, it don't work.

Basically in the URL you should just type http://localhost/your_page_name_here.a5w and you should see your page. That is without any 8080 type set up.

As Steve mentioned, Set the web server path (the one in A5 Platinum) to C:\A5webroot and that will get your page to show.

If not then the IIS or some setting is different on your machine. It really is a simple process.