Overview of FrontPage Discussion Web architecture

This article describes which files and processes are needed to administer a FrontPage Discussion Web and offers tips for keeping a Discussion Web functioning correctly.

The following main components provide the foundation for the FrontPage Discussion Web, assuming you selected the Use Threaded Replies option when you created the Discussion Web by using the Discussion Web Wizard.

• WebBot Discussion component.
• disc#_toc.htm or disc#_tocf.htm (framed), where disc# is the name of your discussion Web.
• Tocproto.htm.
• Service.cnf.
• The Discussion Web folder. By default, this folder is named _disc# where # is the number of discussion webs that you have created so far.

NOTE: In FrontPage 97 and earlier versions, you must not use upper case characters, and you must begin the folder name with an underscore (_) character. In contrast, you can use upper case letters in the Discussion Web folder name in FrontPage 98.

All of these items will work only when used with the FrontPage Server Extensions.

If any of these components are damaged or configured incorrectly, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• New posts will be appended to existing posts.
• Messages will be threaded incorrectly.
• Posted articles will not appear in the table of contents even when you refresh the page.

What Happens When an Article Is Submitted?

When you submit an article, the WebBot Discussion component does the following:

1. Scans the Service.cnf file for an article number and converts this number to hexadecimal.
2. Creates the article using an eight-digit hexadecimal integer. For example, 00000001.htm or 0000000a.htm.
3. Updates the Tocproto.htm file with threading structure and hyperlink information.
4. Uses the WebBot Include component in the Toc.htm file and copies the body of the Tocproto.htm file to the Toc.htm file for threading structure. The Toc.htm file contains a header (also included by a WebBot Include component), which creates the Next, Previous, Up, Post, Search, and Reply hyperlinks.

What is Tocproto.htm?

The Tocproto.htm file is located in the _disc# folder. Note: This is only true if the discussion folder was not renamed. It has a specific architecture that is maintained by the WebBot Discussion component and changes every time an article is posted. For example, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) code for the article structure initially looks similar to this: After the first article is posted, the Tocproto.htm file will reflect the changes as follows.

NOTE: To conserve space, only the body of the file is shown. The asterisks indicate the additions to the file. The position of a new thread is indented only once, and replies to that thread are indented even further. Notice below how the addition of another article (the reply) to that posting is indented. A new thread posted to the discussion group will begin at a new indention and replies to that posting will appear indented under the new thread as shown above. This structure will continue throughout continuous replies and with replies to a reply.

What Components Make the Tocproto.htm Work as it Does?

The Tocproto.htm file is comprised of three components:

• <DT>, <DD>, <DL>
• "FormInsertHere" (with the quotation marks)
• s-repliesto=x

<DT>, <DD>, <DL>:

"FormInsertHere" (with the quotation marks):

s-repliesto=x:

disc#_toc.htm or disc#_tocf.htm (framed)

The disc#_toc.htm file is used as the contents page of your discussion Web. The disc#_tocf.htm file is created when you use a frameset to create the discussion Web.

Disc#_tocf.htm: Disc#_toc.htm:

What is Service.cnf?

The Service.cnf file is a configuration file located in the _vti_pvt folder in the current Web. This file contains information about the Discussion Web as well as other FrontPage Web specific configuration information. The section of this file that the Discussion Web directly relates to contains the article number variable. For example, if your discussion group is called "_bob", the configuration information will be stored in the _vti__bob_articlenumber key. The number will increment each time an article is submitted. If you change this number, you can alter the next article number. However, if you change this number so that it is less than the number of articles you have, newer articles will be appended or added to an existing article.

NOTE: If you rename or modify a file in FrontPage Explorer, all subsequent links and configurations will be updated automatically. Because experimenting with the structure of your Discussion Web could cause it to function incorrectly, you should make these types of adjustments to a test Web first. When you have attained the desired results, check and recheck your Web before you implement the changes on your primary Web.

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: