C4 Absolute links - completely useless

[PaulJMurphy]

We want to use Contribute for an Intranet system, but we already have a
well-established file structure which contains reference material which is
edited by end-users. When we insert a link to a Word document, PDF, or other
file, Contribute shows the absolute file:// URI for the document, but silently
changes this to a relative link and then copies the file to the site when it is
saved.

This is precisely what I want to avoid, and it seems that C4 has no way to
override this facility. Perhaps I'd be better scrapping the idea of using
Contribute?

All of the files I want to reference are available via a UNC path, so I want
the document owner to have full control over when/if/how the document is
updated, without having to use Contribute to update a secondary copy of it, as
they will inevitably forget and leave me with two incompatible versions of the
same document.

Is there a way to do this?

Thanks,

Paul.

[Arun Kumar M]

PaulJMurphy wrote:

> We want to use Contribute for an Intranet system, but we already have a
> well-established file structure which contains reference material which is
> edited by end-users. When we insert a link to a Word document, PDF, or other
> file, Contribute shows the absolute file:// URI for the document, but silently
> changes this to a relative link and then copies the file to the site when it is
> saved.
>
> This is precisely what I want to avoid, and it seems that C4 has no way to
> override this facility. Perhaps I'd be better scrapping the idea of using
> Contribute?
>
> All of the files I want to reference are available via a UNC path, so I want
> the document owner to have full control over when/if/how the document is
> updated, without having to use Contribute to update a secondary copy of it, as
> they will inevitably forget and leave me with two incompatible versions of the
> same document.
>
> Is there a way to do this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul.
>

If you dont want contribute to re-write the url, Yes There is a way to
do this in Contribute 4. Use the following:

Insert->Link->Browse To Web page->

You will see the Dialog where you can enter the link Text and the Web
Address URL, Just enter the UNC Path of your file in that address.
(ex: \\myComputer\itworks.doc and give a link text, "testwork")

Hope this helps.

Thanks
Arun

[PaulJMurphy]

I've so far managed to get this to work once in about 10 attempts. If the file
name contains a space, or you switch windows to confirm the absolute path, C4
"magically" rewrites the name and forces an upload. I can just about get it to
work using manually-entered URL-encoded paths, but even this is sometimes then
re-encoded by C4 so that my %20 entries turn into %2520 - wonderful...

I'm the IT Manager - my Contribute users are office staff with no
understanding of the difference between absolute and relative paths, and who
also have no idea of what URL encoding is - and neither should they have to
know. That's the whole point of Contribute. When they insert a link, and it
is detected to be to a local file, they should be asked whether to copy this to
the web server, or link to the file directly using a UNC path.

This is a really irritating fault in Contribute, and is something which is
making me reconsider using it for a major project. Please get it fixed and a
patch issued ASAP - the only alternative at the moment seems to be to ditch
Dreamweaver and Contribute and move to something else.

Paul.

[richsky]

Hi,

In Contribute 3.0 I fix the problem by rewriting my path and the before
clicking ok or apply (can't remeber) I use to place my cursor in one of the two
drop box at the bottom either "Target" or the other one. And magically, the
path I wrote is remebered as is supposed to be. Funny.