URL parsing in DHTML menus, funky server behavior

Poster: MJ
Dated: Thursday February 2 2006 - 14:46:35 GMT

Introduction:

Hello everyone,
First, I hope this post isn’t too long – I’ve done lots
of troubleshooting on this so I documented it. Hope it helps. Thank you, in
advance, for your patience.

I’m a site planner and designer - no expert in Javascript.
Nevertheless, I’m able to poke around and get the gist of things.
Sorry I won’t be able to be very active in the forum – too
many irons in the fire. But I hope my issue will help someone else. I've
dutifully read through many of the support resources, but suspect this isn't a beginner question.

For the Milonic folk: In 2000, I went walking, solo in the Lake District for
four days and absolutely loved it. The youth hostels were charming and
everyone I met treated me kindly. mBaaaa! I want to go back!

My Problem

I guess the simplest way to start is by asking this: does any part of the
milonic_src file affect how the root of a URL is determined? Has anyone ever had problems
with the menus in relation to one URL pointing to another on a (windows) server?

(I’m using Menu Version 5.71, testing on IE 6.0 and Netscape 7.0
for starters. Please see FYI at the bottom of the post)

If you go to http://www.miltoncatused.com (the main company site is
http://www.miltoncat.com ) you’ll see that most of the main menu items
you click (About Us, Parts, etc.) returns a “page not found”
error. The strange thing is that a “phantom” directory
called “contact” gets stuck in there, so the links break.
http://www.miltoncat.com/contact/parts/index.html

One odd exception is the Machines link, which does nothing except add a
hash mark (#) to the URL http://www.miltoncatused.com/index.html#.
Once you’ve clicked that, all those top-level menus are frozen. You
have to delete the # to get the 404 error again.

Originally menu_dataMAIN.js “Machines” link had a hash
mark. I corrected it and the link in menu_data.js to mdivision/main.html
and uploaded them. It’s been more than a day since then so the
server must have refreshed (I refreshed my FTP windows and cleared my
browser History). This is the code I have in both menu files:


The host company - Hostway - seems to think it’s the Javascript
that’s the cause of the problem. They assure me that there is no
such “contact” directory (besides the one that should be
there). I can’t see this phantom directory via my FTP client either.
For that matter, I can’t see the index.html file for
miltoncatused.com.

I really don’t think it’s the Milonic code, but rather has to
do with the server file structure. Our menu_data files are correct –
they work everywhere else on the site.

Hostway thought the breadcrumbs code might also be the problem. I see a
breadcrumb function on the pages but I don’t think they are
enabled – at least if they are I couldn’t see where the
function gets called.

FYI
* All the .js files are located in a folder called js off the root.
* I’m using Menu Version 5.71, testing on IE 6.0 and Netscape 7.0
for starters.
* Someone else built the site. I think they owe Milonic a fee for the DHTML
menus, which I’d be happy to discuss with the support folk.
* When I log in to either URL with an FTP client, the path is exactly the
same: /home/www/miltoncat/

Poster: Ruth
Dated: Thursday February 2 2006 - 15:50:30 GMT

Hi MJ,

Yes, there is a fee owed. You'll need to upgrade to the newest menu version, also. That menu version is way downlevel, the newest [pre-release] is 5.743, the final until the pre-release goes out is 5.742. There have been fixes to some small bugs and a lot of new features added since your version.

As to discussing it with the support, we are only volunteers and do forum support, you'll need to contact Milonic. You can download and purchase the menu online. You'll need to register at the main site to do that. For information about the various licenses check http://www.milonic.com/licensing.php

I'm not sure which you would need, but probably the professional license which is very reasonable, around $50 which gets you use of the menu forever on your chosen website, and a number of other things listed at that link I provided.

I'm sorry I can't help until you have an upgrade because many things have changed since that version and I really have no way of knowing what was going on at that version release.

Ruth

menus, funky server behavior

Poster: MJ
Dated: Thursday February 2 2006 - 20:22:41 GMT

Ruth,
Thank you for your quick response. I appreciate your generosity as a volunteer very much. I'll send this info along to the customer now.

Perhaps the upgrade will help. I did browse the update summary but none mentioned my particular issue.
Back soon.

Cheers!
Mary