What if I have more than one copy of Visual Studio .NET installed on my machine?
- Setup will ask you which versions of Visual Studio .NET you would like to have PagePorter installed to.
I have Visual Studio 2005 installed on my machine along with Visual Studio .NET, and PagePorter refuses to install. What can I do?
- PagePorter does not work with Visual Studio 2005 because Visual Studio 2005 is so fundamentally different in how it handles web projects over Visual Studio .NET. By the time Visual Studio 2005 ships, there will be a version of PagePorter that will work with it. For now, you can upgrade to version 1.0.1710 or later, which handles the existence of Visual Studio 2005, or you can use this method to trick PagePorter into installing to Visual Studio .NET, but not Visual Studio 2005:
- Make sure all instances of Visual Studio and Visual Studio .NET are shut down.
- Run regedit.exe and rename HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0 to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\x8.0. This prevents the PagePorter installer from recognizing Visual Studio 2005 as a valid Visual Studio installation.
- Run the PagePorter installer. PagePorter should install to any installations of Visual Studio .NET or Visual Studio .NET 2003.
- Undo the above rename so Visual Studio 2005 will run properly.

Exceptions and Warnings

When I run a new PagePorter Web Site, I get exceptions in gdi+, or an exception that says the file access permissions aren’t properly set.
- You may have an IIS web folder permissions problem. The Link Bar control needs to be able to write to files in the _derived folders in the project, but the folder permissions may prevent the Visual Studio .NET "user" from being able to. Click here to see how to make sure that modify permissions are granted to Visual Studio.
  - Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the Web Root Folder (usually C:\Inetpub\wwwroot).
  - Right-click on the folder and choose Properties.
  - Select the Security tab. If you do not see the Security tab with Windows XP, you must disable "Simple File Sharing." From the Windows Explorer menu choose Tools, Folder Options, View tab, and uncheck the Use simple file sharing (Recommended) option. This will enable the Security tab on file and folder property dialogs.
  - Look in the Group or user names list for aspnet_wp account (machine_name\ASPNET) where machine_name is the name of your computer. If it is not present, click the Add... button and type ASPNET in the box and click the OK button.
  - Select the aspnet_wp account (machine_name\ASPNET) user. Make sure the Allow check boxes are checked for the Modify and Write permissions. Click the OK button.
I get "The path is not of a legal form" exceptions when I try to create a PagePorter web site.
- PagePorter web site projects require the file share web access method to avoid conflicts that occur with the FrontPage Extensions method. With Visual Studio .NET, you may choose either FrontPage Extensions or file share for the method used to access the local files in the web project. The default method is file share, but may be changed by choosing Options... from the Tools menu, then choosing Projects, Web Settings, and setting the Preferred access method.
- You can upgrade to version 1.0.1710 or later, which enforces the proper web access method, or you can set it yourself.
When developing a PagePorter project locally, I get an "Parser Error Message: Access is denied" and a "LOG: Publisher policy file is not found" message after a while.
- The Windows Indexing Service is the culprit. You must turn Indexing Service off.
- Windows 2000: Select Start ► Search ► For Files or Folders... Under Search Options, click the Indexing Service link if it is not currently disabled and choose No, do not enable Indexing Service.
- Windows XP: Select Start ► Search ► For Files or Folders... Click Change Preferences. Click With Indexing Service (for faster local searches) and choose No, do not enable Indexing Service.
I get exception errors when I try to create a PagePorter project in a folder that used to contain another project. I deleted the files first, what’s wrong?
- The problem is that IIS is caching the pages. Instead of using Windows Explorer to delete the old project, use the Internet Information Services applet under Administrative Tools in the Control Panel to delete the old project folder.
I get lots of "warning CS0169: The private field '<variable>' is never used" when building my PagePorter project.
- These are a perfectly harmless side-effect of creating instances of controls in your pages. If you don’t need to access these from the code-behind file, you may remove them.

Operational

After converting a FrontPage web to a PagePorter Web Site, I don’t see the navigation bars or anything from the shared borders. Why?
- The shared borders don’t show up in the Visual Studio .NET designer. You’ll have to build the project and display the page in the browser to see them.
Why are some or all of the PagePorter toolbar buttons and menu items grayed out?
- Most of PagePorter’s commands operate on the currently selected item or items in the Solution Explorer. If the selections are not part of a PagePorter project or span multiple PagePorter projects, many commands will be unavailable.
Why can’t I see the PagePorter tab or items in the Toolbox?
- The PagePorter tab in the Toolbox window is normally only visible when a PagePorter web page is open for editing in Design mode.
Why can’t I see the PagePorter toolbar?
- The PagePorter toolbar is normally only visible when a PagePorter project is open in the solution explorer.
Can I get rid of FrontPage completely after converting a site?
- Yes, you can. There are some features from the FrontPage web that may not convert to PagePorter, and will have to be rewritten or removed. See Supported Features for more information.
Can I run PagePorter and FrontPage at the same time on the same project?
- It’s not recommended because of the configuration file caching that both applications do. We’ve seen FrontPage corrupt the _vti_pvt/service.cnf file because PagePorter was changing it behind FrontPage’s back. Instead, we recommend that you open the project in one application at a time.
Can I convert part of a FrontPage web site and use both FrontPage and Visual Studio .NET to develop and maintain the site?
- Yes. When you create the site with the PagePorter Web Site Wizard, make sure you check the Allow web site management from FrontPage box. Refer to the documentation for issues concerning co-managed projects.
What is the difference between converting and importing pages?
- Converting pages involve converting FrontPage web pages that are already inside the PagePorter project. The hyperlinks to these pages are renamed when the converted file name changes. Importing pages involve converting FrontPage web pages that are outside the PagePorter project, and aren’t assumed to have any valid hyperlinks. The other difference is that there is no action to be taken with the FrontPage web page in the case of importing.
Can I convert ASP pages generated by FrontPage to ASP.NET?
- Not automatically. You will have to convert the ASP code to ASP.NET code by hand.
Which FrontPage features are not supported by PagePorter?
- See Supported Features for more information.
Which FrontPage features are enhanced by PagePorter?
- See Supported Features for more information.
Will the PagePorter converter work with FrontPage themes?
- Yes, but you must use CSS to apply the theme to the FrontPage web before converting it. Themes are currently used by the Link Bar component to define the graphical buttons.