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Password Protection and
FrontPage, Part 1
A Guest Tip
and Trick from Andrew Wasson - andrew@lunadesign-studios.com
I have done some password
protection schemes with JavaScript with pretty good results
but it only really works for the link, and anyone can bookmark
the pages and come back whenever they want.
If the site you are running is on a UNIX server you can
incorporate UNIX password protection. If you are running a
Microsoft Server the easiest approach for password protecting
that I have found does involve some coding, but it’s not
that difficult.
Prerequisites:
You will need to have a server running FrontPage extensions
and it also must be capable of supporting ASP files (Active
Server Pages).
The username and password will be stored in a MS Access
database and the server must support this as well. If you have
a copy of MS Office running on your machine you are laughing.
The easiest way to develop the password protection on your
computer is to run either PWS 4.0 with Windows 98 or IIS with
a version of NT or Win2K. Both of those servers support ASP
and FrontPage Extensions. If you are developing this on the
live server, once you have finished and tested the site you
are done. If you are working on a development server all you
have to do is publish to your production server when you are
done. If this makes sense then forward on.
It looks like a lot of info but it really isn’t.
Step 1 admin.asp
This page allows you to add user names, and passwords
remotely to the Access Database
I usually open the site live on the server in
FrontPage by using File – Open Web… then choosing
the http://nameofthesite
Ok. Open up your web in FrontPage and create a new page in
the main (root) directory. Rename the new page admin.asp The
asp extension tells the server that it is an Active Server
Page and that it will more than likely have some scripting
that needs to be done on the server before it goes to the
browser. The reason this one is renamed an ASP is because you
will also want to use the password protection on it, and that
requires processing on the server.
Create a form with two one-line text fields one for
username and one for password.
Right click the text field for username and click Form
Field Properties in the Name: field type
in "name" without the quotation marks (Make
sure you use lower case). Right click the text field for password
go to Form Field Properties and in the Name:
field type in "password" also without the
quotation marks.
Ok you are almost done with this page.
In the form right click your mouse and:
1. Select Form Properties.
2. Select Send to Database
3. Click on Options
4. Click Create Database
FrontPage will create an Access database called admin.mdb
and will pace the results of your admin.asp form in the table
called Results.Click Ok… Click Ok… and then you should be
back at the page view in FrontPage. You can save this file
now. It’s pretty much finished for the time being.
If you are working on a live site you can try this page out
by typing the url of the page and entering a username, and a
password. If you are working in a file folder on your machine
you will need to publish this page to use it. I strongly
recommend working in the site live for this type of work.
Ok test it out. After you enter a username and a password
you will be directed to a confirmation page that tells you
that you have just entered a username a password, and clicked
the submit button. If you don’t believe it you can look in
your web directory where you will find a directory called fpdb
inside is the database, and you will find your username and
password in a table called results.
Now that you have a place to store your password, and the
ability to create as many as you need you need to create some
applications to use this.
End
of part 1. Click here for
part 2.
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