Need Help with 404 error

Report · Dec 30, 2010

Hello,

I have completed the local folder, tesing server, and remote server setup correctly (i think so).

My testing setup and files shown below:

My local folder for site shown below:

My advanced settings shown below:

I have downloaded all the files to the local folder from my remote server which are working fine on the live website http://www.caremoreconstruction.co.uk.

No layouts of the files/folders etc have been changed, I simply moved them over from the FTP server in to local folder I had created.

Just to confirm I have XAMPP installed and Apache runnining.

When I open DW CS5 and select the index.php file form the FILES tab, the main home page opens up and I little bar comes up at the top and says "This page has server proccesing directives that design view cannot display. Switch to Live View".

So I click on Live View and the home page loads up. I then press ctrl and click one of the links. (See picture below)

For some reason I am getting the following error message when I click on my links.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. The link on the referring page seems to be wrong or outdated. Please inform the author of that page about the error.

If you think this is a server error, please contact thewebmaster.

Error 404

localhost
12/30/10 11:58:51
Apache/2.2.14 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l mod_autoindex_color PHP/5.3.1 mod_apreq2-20090110/2.7.1 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please can someone help me!!

Regards

James

Report · Dec 30, 2010

Since your home page is displayed fine in Live View, you have set up the local testing server correctly, albeit in a rather unconventional way. The reason your links don't work is almost certainly because you are using site-root-relative links in your pages (ones that begin with a forward slash). When testing locally, localhost is regarded as the site root. You have created your testing server in a subfolder of the server's document root (htdocs), so all site-root-relative links point to the wrong location.

There are several ways to remedy this:

Move the testing server folder to C:\xampp\htdocs, and use http://localhost/ as the Web URL.
Change the internal links in your site to document-relative.
Set up a virtual host for your testing server (see http://foundationphp.com/tutorials/apache22_vhosts.php).

Report · Dec 30, 2010

I have moved the testing server to C:\xampp\htdocs

Please see my new settings below:

I am still having to same problem

I have set up a virtual host (i think it has been done correctly but it has still not worked) I have included pictures of what I have changed.

I dont know if what I have done is correct. I also dont know if the above is correct what to do next; ie do I have to move my local or testing files to the new virtual host local. C:\vhosts

Report · Dec 30, 2010

The virtual host won't work because you have commented out the lines that define it.

In the hosts file, you have this:

# 127.0.0.1 localhost

# 127.0.0.1 phpdw

# ::1 localhost

You need to remove the hash signs from the first two of those lines:

127.0.0.1 localhost

127.0.0.1 phpdw

# ::1 localhost

Similarly, in httpd-vhosts.conf, you need to remove the hash signs from the definitions:

<Directory C:/vhosts>
  AllowOverride All
  Order Deny,Allow
  Allow from all
</Directory>
<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot "C:/xampp/htdocs"
  ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot "C:/vhosts/phpdw"
  ServerName phpdw
</VirtualHost>

By the way, "phpdw" is simply an example name for a virtual host.

The normal way of working with a testing server is to store all the files in the testing server root folder. If you're using localhost, put them in C:\xampp\htdocs. If you're using a virtual host, put them in C:\vhosts\phpdw (or whatever you decide to call the virtual host).

I don't understand why the change to your testing server definition didn't work. Setting C:\xampp\htdocs as the Server Folder and http://localhost/ as the Web URL should have solved your problem. Is there something unusual about the link you clicked? What page is it trying to take you to?

Also test the site directly in a browser so you can see where the link is leading.

Report · Dec 30, 2010

I have changed the lines in notepad.

I added another line which was ''AllowOveride All''. (Just to let you know that line wasnt on the link with the instructions)

My settings in dreamweaver are now:

On the above advanced tab I have selected the Testing Server Model option to PHP MySQL.

So then I clicked on index.php and it came up with the window where I would normaly see the code or design with a little bar saying ''an unknown error occurred while discovering dynamically-related files. Retry''

Just to confirm WAMPP is running and I havent been in WAMPP and changed the root folder (dont know if I have to or not so I havent)

I have also tried typing http://vhosts.com/phpdw into firefox and it just came up with http://www.vhosts.com/phpdw and and error message saying server not found.

I also typed http://localhost/ into firefox and it said Access forbidden Error 403. This was different then before I made adjustments to host file etc it came up with the home page of my website. Again none of the links to my other pages didnt work and it came up with error 404

Report · Dec 31, 2010

Sorry my mistake I have just read through the instructions again.

My settings for dreamweaver are:

Testing Server Details

Server Folder : C:\vhosts\phpdw\

Web URL: http://phpdw/

Same as original post:

When I open DW CS5 and select the index.php file form the FILES tab, the main home page opens up and I little bar comes up at the top and says "This page has server processing directives that design view cannot display. Switch to Live View".

So I click on Live View and the home page loads up. I then press ctrl and click one of the links and get the error message 404

I tried http://phpdw/ in firefox and again it came up with home page but all the links to other pages didnt work. When clicked they just gave error 404 (see below)

Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. The link on the referring page seems to be wrong or outdated. Please inform the author of that page about the error.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 404

phpdw
31/12/2010 12:44:04
Apache/2.2.14 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l mod_autoindex_color PHP/5.3.1 mod_apreq2-20090110/2.7.1 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1

I typed http://localhost/ and got this error message (see below)

Access forbidden!

You don't have permission to access the requested directory. There is either no index document or the directory is read-protected.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 403

localhost
31/12/2010 12:45:56
Apache/2.2.14 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l mod_autoindex_color PHP/5.3.1 mod_apreq2-20090110/2.7.1 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1

Report · Dec 31, 2010

Mr Construction wrote:
When I open DW CS5 and select the index.php file form the FILES tab, the main home page opens up and I little bar comes up at the top and says "This page has server processing directives that design view cannot display. Switch to Live View".
So I click on Live View and the home page loads up. I then press ctrl and click one of the links and get the error message 404

If the first page comes up correctly, it means you have set up the virtual host and site definition correctly.

I have taken a look at your live website, and the reason for the 404 is obvious. All the links in your site use "prettified" URLs. Instead of something like href="landscaping.php", it's just href="landscaping". That's why I asked you to test the site locally in a browser. The browser status bar displays the destination when you mouse over a link. Knowing that non-standard links are being used would have led to a quicker resolution.

I see that your remote server runs on Apache, so the links are presumably being prettified by mod_rewrite. Is there a file called .htaccess in the site root folder? If there is, you need to copy it to the site root folder in your testing server. You also need to check that mod_rewrite is enabled in Apache. You can do so by running phpinfo(), and checking the Loaded Modules section in apache2handler (highlighted in the following screenshot):

If you don't have .htaccess in the site root, you'll need to tell me how your internal pages are generated. That holds the clue as to how to follow the links correctly.

Report · Dec 31, 2010

OK, but I am unable to access the xampp page. I normaly put http://localhost/xampp/ into the browser and it comes up with the login page. I am getting an error message saying

Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 404

localhost
31/12/2010 15:35:12
Apache/2.2.14 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l mod_autoindex_color PHP/5.3.1 mod_apreq2-20090110/2.7.1 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1

and when I just type http://localhost/ it is saying:

Access forbidden!

You don't have permission to access the requested directory. There is either no index document or the directory is read-protected.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 403

localhost
31/12/2010 15:36:25
Apache/2.2.14 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l mod_autoindex_color PHP/5.3.1 mod_apreq2-20090110/2.7.1 mod_perl/2.0.4 Perl/v5.10.1

How can I access the XAMPP page?

Report · Dec 31, 2010

Mr Construction wrote:
How can I access the XAMPP page?

If you set up the virtual host according to my instructions, you should be able to access http://localhost/xampp.

I am attaching to this post copies of http-vhosts.conf and hosts with the correct settings. The hosts file has been saved with a .txt filename extension to make it easier to open. Compare the contents of the files. In the case of http-vhosts.conf, you can just use this one to replace your existing one.

The hosts file is a Windows system file, so you won't be able to use mine. As the tutorial instructions point out, to edit the hosts file on Windows 7 and Vista, you need to click the Start button, right-click Notepad, and select Run as Administrator. You can then use File > Open to navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, and select All Files (*.*) to see all the files in the folder.

Report · Dec 31, 2010

David_Powers wrote:
Mr Construction wrote:
How can I access the XAMPP page?
If you set up the virtual host according to my instructions, you should be able to access http://localhost/xampp.
I am attaching to this post copies of http-vhosts.conf and hosts with the correct settings. The hosts file has been saved with a .txt filename extension to make it easier to open. Compare the contents of the files. In the case of http-vhosts.conf, you can just use this one to replace your existing one.
The hosts file is a Windows system file, so you won't be able to use mine. As the tutorial instructions point out, to edit the hosts file on Windows 7 and Vista, you need to click the Start button, right-click Notepad, and select Run as Administrator. You can then use File > Open to navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, and select All Files (*.*) to see all the files in the folder.

Thanks for the files I had put a the top directory in the wrong place.

1. mod_rewrite is enabled in Apache I could see it as per your image

2. I dont have a htaccess file directly in my website. There is a folder called forum which is a phpBB forum, I got it from http://www.phpbb.com. There is no link to it on my website, because I have not been able to get pass this issue. Inside the forum folder there is a htaccess file but this has been generated when I installed the forum.

I have tried copying that file to the testing server in the root folder but it blocks out any access ie error 403 so I deleted it. I didnt think it would work because it wasnt not generated form my original website but it was worth a try.

What is weird is that all the links in DW CS5 work in the forum part but not on my website.

3. What do you mean by the way my pages are generated? (sorry im a bit of a layman)

Report · Dec 31, 2010

Mr Construction wrote:
3. What do you mean by the way my pages are generated? (sorry im a bit of a layman)

It's not clear how your website is structured. If you look at my website, http://foundationphp.com/, you'll see that all internal links point to pages that have a .php filename extension, such as books.php. This means that there's a physical page called books.php that generates the output. Behind the scenes, there are other files that build different parts of each page, but the principal remains that the URL points to a physical page.

In your website, the links don't point to physical pages, but to sections, such as building-work, building-maintenance, and so on. This means that the URLs are being rewritten by the web server to access the actual page content. I have looked at the source code to see if the site is created using a CMS, such as WordPress or Drupal, but the web design company has (very sensibly) left no clues in the HTML code.

I have also looked at the website of the company that designed your site (eantics), and see that it uses the same navigation technique. Without knowing how the website has been constructed, it's impossible to guess how to implement the correct rewrite rules.

Report · Jan 01, 2011

I will send you some code via private message and the relevant part can be posted.

Report · Jan 01, 2011

There's no point in posting any of the code here. In any case, it's too long. After removing most extra lines, it still came to more than 2,000 lines of code!

Looking at the code you sent, your web developer has created a custom content management system (CMS). From what I can tell, it's very well thought-out and constructed. For you to be able to view the different pages within Dreamweaver's Live View, you would need to export the data from the MySQL database on the remote server, and replicate it on your local version of MySQL. You would also need to set up a MySQL user account in your local environment, using the same username and password as on the remote system.

My article on setting up a PHP development environment (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/setup_php.html) describes how to create a MySQL database and import data, as well as setting up a user account. To transfer data from one MySQL server to another, you need to create a .sql file. If your remote server control panel has phpMyAdmin installed, you create the .sql file using the Export tab. Clicking the tab displays a fearsome looking screen, but as long as all the tables are selected at the top left of the screen, all the default settings should be fine. Just click the Go button in the Save as file section at the bottom of the screen. This saves the .sql file to your local hard disk. You then import the file into your local version of MySQL as described in my article.

You asked whether my books are on sale in the UK. Yes, they are. You can find details of them on my website at http://foundationphp.com/books.php. Delivery from Amazon.co.uk, Computer Manuals, and The Book Depository is usually fast and reliable.

Report · Jan 02, 2011

Thanks for looking over the code.

I dont think there is a database in phpmyadmin/mysql for my website.

In my remote phpmyadmin/mysql there are two database's.

1. information_schema

2. myusername (I dont want to display my username)

Both are to do with the phpBB forum because I didnt even have access to phpmyadmin until I upgraded with my server provider and installed the forum.

I have exported the database (myusername) and also imported to local phpmyadmin with no trouble, but I cannot import the information_schema because there is no option for it. Even if I create a new database name and then import it says it has imported but there is no database visable.

I have also managed to get database (myusername) into DW CS5 and I can see it under the database tab, but this has had no effect on my links working.

Whats next boss!

Report · Jan 02, 2011

Mr Construction wrote:
I dont think there is a database in phpmyadmin/mysql for my website.
In my remote phpmyadmin/mysql there are two database's.
1. information_schema
2. myusername (I dont want to display my username)

The name of the database accessed by the files you showed me is d***hel*********y.

Whats next boss!

I think you need to talk to the company that developed your website.

Two possibilities spring to mind:

You want to make some changes to your site, but can't contact the company that developed the site because of the Christmas/New Year holiday.
You're unhappy with the web development company, and want to move away.

In the first case, you should be able to get in touch on Tuesday.

In the second case, you should be able to copy the content of your site by saving the pages from the web. How you proceed beyond that depends on your original contract with the web developer. Since it looks like a custom-built CMS, you might not have the right to use the PHP scripts, although you should own the rights to the design (visual look) of the website.

Report · Jan 02, 2011

Please could send this in a personal message

d***hel*********y

and also where you found it.

I am on good terms with website designer and I will contact him on Tuesday and update this topic.

Thanks for your help

Report · Jan 02, 2011

Mr Construction wrote:
Please could send this in a personal message
d***hel*********y

It's a red herring. I found it in the first file you sent me, dbconnection.class.php; but I have discovered that the command that includes the database connection is commented out.

All the content of your site is in include files. For example, includes/aboutus.include.php contains the contents of the about-us page. If you have copied the site files exactly to your virtual host folder, there is no obvious reason it shouldn't work in a browser or in Dreamweaver's Live View. But without seeing all the files, it's impossible to know what the problem is.

Everything is controlled by index.php, which pulls in the relevant include files depending on the value following the final slash in the URL.

Report · Jan 02, 2011

David,

This is the responce I have had from my website designer.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Happy new year to you also. Re Dreamweaver it’s not a tool we use I’m afraid, we generally use tools like Netbeans and code oriented text editors so I’m not best placed to advise on the config of it. I have used it back in 2003, it’s a great development platform, but I just ended up working with other tools.

Looking at the post though, you seem to have got the site running but the issue seems to be the friendly URLs. As David correctly identified, .htaccess and mod_rewrite are used to effect this. If you don’t have the correct .htaccess file in place this aspect of the navigation won’t work. You should also be running the site from the root directory – both the production (live) website and our development environments are setup in this way, so though I don’t think we implement root relative URIs in the site navigation, I can’t say there won’t be issues running it in a subdirectory off http://locahost without reviewing all the code, which I haven’t.

The .htaccess file you need is on your live website, but many FTP clients will not display this by default, so your FTP download may have missed it.

You can create it yourself, it needs the following directives. The “.” on the front of the filename is very important.

RewriteEngine On

RewriteBase /

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1

That should solve your navigation issue, providing the Apache mod_rewrite module is enabled. If it doesn’t I can’t really help you further, other than to suggest you get a second hosting account online. I seem to think you can use a remote development environment in Dreamweaver. The advantage here is that you’ll have an environment that you know to work, with all the components installed. No disrespect, but even we can spend ages configuring our development servers to work as we need, and much depends on the installation approach you use in setting up Apache, PHP and MySQL

Re the database, as David has sussed there is no MySQL database to concern yourself with. Other red herrings include login and register handlers which are not implemented. Your original brief included the possibility of a customer login to access your quotes & progress reports down the line, so we allowed for that in the initial build and planned for MySQL access but didn’t implement those features.

Hope that helps. Great to see how far you’ve come with this – I probably couldn’t get as far building in the same time! Also glad to see that the comments re the code and structure are good – it’s always interesting to see what another developer, who obviously knows his stuff, thinks of your code!!

Regards

Oliver Phillips

http://www.eantics.co.uk

------------------------------------------------------------

OMG ITS WORKING NOW!!!!!

1. Move all files and folders for the website to the main root directory http://localhost/

2. Open notepad and copy/paste code above in to note pad.

3. Click Save As from files menu. Change save format to all files and call it .htaccess (dont forget to put the ''.'' before htaccess)

4. Move .htaccess file to the root directory of the local/testing site.

and that's it!

There is just one small problem, I have had to move the XAMPP folder out of the root directory http://localhost for the links to work in DW CS5. When I first tried the link on my home page (both in DW CS5 and Browser) it redirected me to the XAMPP home page.

I think the solution for this would be to put XAMPP back in http://localhost/xampp and move website file and folders to vhost.

Report · Jan 03, 2011

Mr Construction wrote:
There is just one small problem, I have had to move the XAMPP folder out of the root directory http://localhost for the links to work in DW CS5. When I first tried the link on my home page (both in DW CS5 and Browser) it redirected me to the XAMPP home page.
I think the solution for this would be to put XAMPP back in http://localhost/xampp and move website file and folders to vhost.

Glad to hear you finally got it working.

What I recommend you do is to create a new virtual host in the vhosts folder.

Create a folder called caremoreconstruction inside the vhosts folder.
Add the following line to the hosts file:
127.0.0.1 caremoreconstruction
Add the following at the bottom of the httpd-vhosts.conf file:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot "C:/vhosts/caremoreconstruction"
  ServerName caremoreconstruction
</VirtualHost>

After making those changes, restart Apache. You should then be able to access the local version of your site as http://caremoreconstruction/.

This is the way I have set up the local development environment for foundationphp.com. It makes it easy to switch between the local and remote versions by adding or removing the .com from the URL. In your case, you would add or remove the .co.uk.

Report · Jan 03, 2011

What I recommend you do is to create a new virtual host in the vhosts folder.
Create a folder called caremoreconstruction inside the vhosts folder.
Add the following line to the hosts file:
127.0.0.1 caremoreconstruction
Add the following at the bottom of the httpd-vhosts.conf file:
<VirtualHost *:80>
  DocumentRoot "C:/vhosts/caremoreconstruction"
  ServerName caremoreconstruction
</VirtualHost>

After making those changes, restart Apache. You should then be able to access the local version of your site as http://caremoreconstruction/.

This is the way I have set up the local development environment for foundationphp.com. It makes it easy to switch between the local and remote versions by adding or removing the .com from the URL. In your case, you would add or remove the .co.uk.

I have done that but instead of using caremoreconstruction and have used public_html which seems to be working fine now, but yes you are correct it would be better to call it caremoreconstruction.

I am having a problem with URLS when tring to acces XAMPP

http://localhost/xampp (I get 404 error)

http://localhost/ (I get 403 error)

I can acces phpmyadmin with no trouble

http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

I have used the file you sent over and double checked that everything matches apart form the obvious (server name).

Report · Jan 03, 2011

Mr Construction wrote:
I am having a problem with URLS when tring to acces XAMPP
http://localhost/xampp (I get 404 error)
http://localhost/ (I get 403 error)

It sounds as though you have screwed up the XAMPP installation when you moved it out.

Since you have only just set everything up, the simplest way of handling it is to reinstall. I assume you don't have any data stored in MySQL. If you have, and don't want to lose it, you'll need to export it first.

Stop Apache and MySQL.
Save httpd-conf and httpd-vhosts.conf to your Desktop.
Delete C:\xampp, and everything inside it.
Install a fresh version of XAMPP.
Make sure that it's working.
Replace httpd-conf and httpd-vhosts.conf with the versions you saved to your Desktop.
Restart Apache.
Enjoy.

Report · Jan 03, 2011

It sounds as though you have screwed up the XAMPP installation when you moved it out.
Since you have only just set everything up, the simplest way of handling it is to reinstall. I assume you don't have any data stored in MySQL. If you have, and don't want to lose it, you'll need to export it first.
Stop Apache and MySQL.
Save httpd-conf and httpd-vhosts.conf to your Desktop.
Delete C:\xampp, and everything inside it.
Install a fresh version of XAMPP.
Make sure that it's working.
Replace httpd-conf and httpd-vhosts.conf with the versions you saved to your Desktop.
Restart Apache.
Enjoy.

David,

Everything is working now, moving XAMPP did mess the installation up and re install fix it.

I would just like to say thank you for your help over the past week.

Regards

James Bowler

Report · Jan 03, 2011

Mr Construction wrote:
Everything is working now, moving XAMPP did mess the installation up and re install fix it.
I would just like to say thank you for your help over the past week.

Glad you finally got everything working in the end. Now, if only sorting out a new bathroom were as easy...

Report · Jan 03, 2011

David do you think I should change the name of this topic?

Report · Jan 04, 2011

You can't change the original subject line of a thread. Only a moderator can.

Anybody can change the subject line of a reply, but it's counterproductive, because it has no effect on the original subject line. Moreover, if you want to change the subject in the middle of a thread, it's a sign that you should start a separate thread for the new topic.

FWIW, I have moderator status, so I can edit the main subject line of a thread. I occasionally do so when a subject line is completely meaningless, but in this case, there's no point. Your problem started with a 404 error, so it's an appropriate subject line. The resolution of the problem is unlikely to help others, but that's not really important. Few people ever bother to search the forum for answers before posting.