[thelist] DWMX and Contribute Configuration Issues

[Michele Foster - WizarDev]

Hi Folks ...

I apologize in advance for the length of this message and for cross-posting
it to DW-specific lists.  The client is getting rather anxious and I'm out
of ideas.  :)

A client is having problems with their Dreamweaver configuration.  They have
DWMX (not 2004) and Contribute 2.0.  For over a year, the configuration
worked fine with no problems reported.  Towards the end of 2004, the main DW
user (i.e. Contribute Administrator), got a new computer, running Win2K
instead of Win98. At this time, the in-house tech guys installed DWMX and
configured it based on the documentation I left them.  Ever since then there
have been problems.

A few weeks ago, I went to their office and fixed *everything* again.
Deleted all definitions and recreated them from scratch, grabbed a copy of
the live site and put it on the local C: drive.  Wiped the entire testing
site (from Explorer, not DW).  Then I checked all files back in from the C:
(local) to their testing site.

A bit of background information... here it is set up.  They have two site
definitions, one for Live, one for Testing (development).  There is one user
using DWMX and a couple using Contribute.  Contribute users can *only*
modify files on the Development server; they do not have access to the Live
server at all.  The DWMX user uploads all changes from Development to Live,
once approved.  The DW user edits files on her Local C: drive and uses Check
In/Check Out to/from the Development server.  Then she switches site
definitions and uses Put to place new files on the Live server.

So, to simplify the site definitions ...

Live site definition:
        Local Info:  Testing Server
        Remote Info:  Live Server
        User uses Get/Put to post files from Testing to Live

Testing site definition:
        Local Info:  C: drive on machine wither DW installed
        Remote Info:  Testing Server
        DW User uses Check In/Check Out
        Contribute users can modify site

Additionally, Check In/Out is turned *off* on the Live site definition, and
Contribute is *not* enabled on there either.  Remote info for both site
definitions is via FTP, while Local access for the Testing Server (Live Site
Defn.) is with local/network (mapped to the web server within Windows).

The problems that keep coming up are:

 (1) DW User checks files in or out of testing server to local drive, but
the files are not locked/unlocked correctly. i.e. she checks something in,
but it still shows the green check mark

(2)  Contribute users, even though they have published pages, the DW User
gets a warning that Contribute User has the file checked out.

(3)  DW User, when trying to Put files to Live server (from testing) gets
errors saying that she has the file checked out already.

What I can't understand, is why files will not stay Checked In from local to
the testing server.  It's as if DW is able to "record" that the file has
been Checked Out, but is not able to properly record when the file has been
checked back in.  Also, I can't understand why DW thinks that there are
files checked out from the Development server, when that is not even turned
on there in the site definition.

One final point, when I was at the office a few weeks ago and reconfigured
the site definitions, I *know* that CheckIn/Out was not enabled on the Live
Site definition.  However, a couple of days later, when the problems
reappeared, the client called me, and we discovered that it was enabled.
The last thing I did before I left, was create a new User Key with
Contribute for the Testing server.  The client is sure that she did not
accidentally use Check In instead of Put.  Somehow, that is enabled again,
when it shouldn't be.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  I really don't know what to
do next to get this working again.  It is very frustrating, and a lot of
time has been wasted trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong.

Thanks in advance for assistance,

Michele
__________________________
Michele Foster
Web Design and Development Solutions
mailto:michele at wizardev.ca
http://wizardev.ca/