Dreamweaver and CSS

[vansos]

So, my first site I developed completely using Miva technology. My second site, I used Dreamweaver to edit the pages and then created an external CSS file and uploaded them into my 5.5 site. Now, I'd like to use Dreamweaver for as much as possible. My first question is where do I upload the Dreamweaver site. Should I be uploading it into the Merchant5 directory? I'll want to make sure that my product, category, and shopping cart pages all match the theme of the rest of the site, so, I want to make sure I'll be able to utilize the CSS and images from within Miva. Please understand (if you can't already tell), that I've only been doing this for about 4 months, so, I'm definitely still a newbie. Thanks

[Pamela Hazelton]

Re: Dreamweaver and CSS

I'm not sure what you mean by "Dreamweaver site" as it could mean .html pages, or something else.

Ideally, running all pages from within MM 5.5 makes updating quite a bit easier. You can always write headers/footers, etc. and simply copy/paste.

[PCINET - Andreas]

Re: Dreamweaver and CSS

Vansos, are you referring to Dreamweaver Import/Export Settings in MM admin?

[zdumlao]

Re: Dreamweaver and CSS

5-Step Guide to Using Miva Merchant 5.5 / Dreamweaver


1. Install the Dreamweaver Extension

For this to work you will first need to download Miva Merchant Designer (a DreamWeaver Extension). You can find it here:

http://www.mivamerchant.com/support/downloads

Download it and run it. When you're done, Miva Merchant Designer should show up in the list of Installed Dreamweaver Extensions.

2. Export Page Content

In the Store Admin, click into Pages.

To Export a page template, click on the Export box that pertains to the page you want to work on and click the Update button.

You've exported the page content onto your server.

You can define where to export content to, by going into Edit Store and clicking on Dreamweaver Import/Export Settings.

By default its set to create a folder called /dreamweaver_templates/*your_store's_store_code*/ inside your webroot folder.

3. Retrieve Exported Page Content

To get to the exported content, you will need FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access to your server.
FTP on to the server and browse to the location defined in your Dreamweaver Import/Export Settings.

You'll notice that even if you only exported one Page Template the process created a handful of files. Look closer and you'll see that there is one page.htm file and many different item.htm files. The item.htm files are child objects of the main page.htm. Because the page.htm is built with a bunch of item.htm files, you'll want to download them all to work on them in Dreamweaver.

Also, the exporting process creates a graphics folder which cantains a copy of all the images referenced in the in-line code of the page template you exported. Download those too.

Next, you want to download the style sheet that your store uses. By default its called mm_styles.css and can be found in your mm5 folder. (mm5 refers to your scripts folder and may not actually be named mm5. Its somewhat common to see it named Merchant2 or Merchant5).

Lastly, the export process doesn't read the style sheet, so it won't know to pull any image files defined in the style sheet into your working graphics folder. You'll have to hunt those down yourself.

Recap! Make sure you've downloaded:

1. all the item.htm and page.htm files
2. the graphics folder
3. the style sheet
4. the graphics mentioned in the stylesheet

If you miss anything, your Page Template wont look correct in Dreamweaver.

4. Tips on Using Dreamweaver for MM5.5 Exported Page Templates

Be sure to define in Dreamweaver what style sheet you'll be working with.
If it looks like you have broken images or content, you may have missed something. Review step 3.
You can click onto item.htm content while working within a page.htm file. In the properties panel, it will load the item.htm values, which you can then edit.

5. Importing edited Page Template content back into MM5.5

Once you are done with editing your Page Template you will have to return it to the server where you found it. This is done via FTP.

Remember, you're importing everything you worked on. This includes: item.htm and page.htm content; the graphics folder content; the graphics files mentioned in the style sheet; and the style sheet itself.

Finally, log into your store admin and click into the Pages section. Click the checkbox in the Import column of the Page Template you were working on and click update.

This will pull all of your changes you made with Dreamweaver into your store.

Viola.

[DMoney]

Re: Dreamweaver and CSS

Total newbie here, so don't laugh if this is basic. I am trying to export to Dreamweaver & have been trying to download a page. I check the export box in Pages and hit update and I get the error "Page "SNFT" is required by the User Interface and cannot be removed". What am I doing wrong? I have tried a few pages and get a similar erroer

[vansos]

Re: Dreamweaver and CSS

careful. each row contains three checkboxes. two on the right side are for import and export. but, there's one all the way on the left which is for removal (deletion) of a page. it sounds like you're checking the remove box for SFNT instead of export. i've done it many times. fortunately, the system won't let you delete certain pages, but, it will delete and pages you've created yourself.