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Last updated 11/08/06

Guestbook Does Not Update

Symptoms
When someone adds an entry to your guestbook, it does not display on your guestbook page - even after you reload it.

Cause
FrontPage 98 (not 97) has an interesting issue concerning Read/Write access to the Guestbook page.  Although the guestlog.htm file (where the entries are stored by default) has write authority, the guestbook page it is "included" in does not.   As a result, the entries are usually saved to guestlog.htm properly, but you will never ( until you republish you site ) see them on your actual guestbook page.

Resolution
You must create a separate folder in your FrontPage web called Guestbook (or something similar and meaningful to you) and move  your Guestbook file to that folder.  Next, make  sure the path for your include file (guestlog.htm) within your guestbook file reflects the change you made.  Publish your web as usual.  Finally, inform Web Panache that you have done this, and we will assign the appropriate permissions to that folder at the server level.

Lost Guestbook Entries

Symptoms
Any time you make changes to any part of your web, then publish again, the guestbook is either blank or not current.

Cause
When people add an entry to your guestbook, that entry is saved in a file on our server, not your personal PC.  As a result, your personal copy is never updated.  The next time you publish, if you have made any changes that impact the guestlog file (even changing your global navigational bar), your personal file will  over-write the one on the server and you entries are lost without warning.  

Resolution
We are researching a better work-around - however, what works without fail is to open the web on our server first, copy the HTML code in the guestlog file, then paste that code over what is in your personal copy just before you publish.  This is cumbersome, but we hope it is only an interim solution as we wait for a more "intelligent" guestbook from Microsoft.