ARGH!!!! SOMEBODY -PLEASE- GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER!!!

Red Leader · Post by **Red Leader** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 11:13 am

I've done EVERYTHING everyone has told me including the latest to use the Storyline Tag for navigation and you know what? IT'S NOT WORKING!!! Now, if you try to select a comic, it sends you to KeenSpace.Com! I'VE DONE EVERYTHING EVERYONE'S SUGGESTED!!! WHY WON'T MY COMIC PAGE F-ING WORK?!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WRONG?!!!!!!!!! [collapses into tears of madness] You can see the problem for yourselves here:

gamingreality.keenspace.com

Brian Young · Post by **Brian Young** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 12:44 pm

Hi, could you please post the content of you're dropdown.txt file? That might help a little. Also people are just trying to help, so while it's understandable that you're frustrated please stay calm. ^_^

Post by **Kisai** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 1:28 pm

It would appear that the dropdown cgi script isn't forwarding to the intended page.

I can't find anything wrong with the code, does anyone else have a similar problem?

Post by **STrRedWolf** » Sat Feb 16, 2002 2:34 pm

There's a few problems with your dropdown.txt. Try recreating it using mine as an example:

Code: Select all

Stalag '99 Homepage,/
Archives by date,/arcdate.html
Archives by topic,/arctopic.html
BOOK 1: Remain Calm,/d/19990905.html
 "In the begining, there was confusion...",/d/19990905.html,9/5/1999
 The Cheeze Embargo,/d/20000313.html,3/13/2000
 To the stars,/d/20000528.html,5/28/2000
 Road to Shotgun Shells,/d/20000729.html,7/29/2000
 Drygers!,/d/20001230.html,12/30/2000
 Customs,/d/20010308.html,03/08/2001
 Down the Rabbit Hole,/d/20010403.html,04/03/2001
 The Holocaust,/d/20010607.html,06/07/2001
 "Python, Rashana",/d/20010703.html,07/03/2001
 Interlude #1,/d/20011023.html,10/23/2001
 "Python, Rashana",/d/20011101.html,11/01/2001

Red Leader · Post by **Red Leader** » Sun Feb 17, 2002 12:13 am

Okay, here's the content of my dropdown.txt:

#11 - 2-18-02,/d/20020218.html
#10 - 1-28-02,/d/20020128.html
#9 - 1-14-02,/d/20020114.html
#8 - 12-20-01,/d/20011220.html
#7 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011219.html
#6 - "",/d/20011218.html
#5 - "",/d/20011217.html
#4 - "",/d/20011216.html
#3 - "",/d/20011215.html
#2 - "",/d/20011214.html
#1 - "",/d/20011213.html

Seven3 · Post by **Seven3** » Sun Feb 17, 2002 6:33 pm

It looks to me like the problem would be caused by those quote marks - there should be nothing outside them. You can try using " to create them as HTML characters, but I have a feeling you may have to find sometihng else to indicate strips with no name.

Red Leader · Post by **Red Leader** » Mon Feb 18, 2002 11:46 am

I fixed the text and it STILL sends me to KeenSpace.Com. Any other ideas as my comic now rolls into Week 4 of pre-emption?

Seven3 · Post by **Seven3** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 1:18 am

It's got me stumped. I expected some problems due to the fact that it calls on a CGI script on the old server, but why your comic is affected when others aren't is beyond me. Could your post new dropdown.txt for us to check the changes? We may spot something else, but I'd doubt it.

I think this is one of those problems that requires <a href=mailto:help@keenspace.com>serious help</a>.

Luchito · Post by **Luchito** » Tue Feb 19, 2002 3:28 pm

On 2002-02-17 00:13, Red Leader wrote:
Okay, here's the content of my dropdown.txt:

You clearly forgot the last field, which should be the date in yyyymmdd format, as in:

#11 - 2-18-02,/d/20020218.html,20020218
#10 - 1-28-02,/d/20020128.html,20020128
#9 - 1-14-02,/d/20020114.html,20020114
#8 - 12-20-01,/d/20011220.html,20011220
#7 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011219.html,20011219
#6 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011218.html,20011218
#5 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011217.html,20011217
#4 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011216.html,20011216
#3 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011215.html,20011215
#2 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011214.html,20011214
#1 - Pre-GameCube Launch Strip,/d/20011213.html,20011213

Also, I've looked in the source code of your page and in the value of the "option" tags used for the dropdown there's an extra carriage return character... Looks like the dropdown generator doesn't handle well dropdown.txt files in MS-DOS format (with line endings with CR-LF). It's a bug on it.

Temporary workaround: try changing the format of your dropdown.txt file to UNIX format (line ending with LF). This can be done in a number of ways.

One of it is uploading dropdown.txt (and ONLY dropdown.txt) in ASCII mode instead of BINARY mode (this should be fairly easy to select with your FTP client; be sure to switch back to BINARY after uploading it, so you don't upload your images in ASCII mode - that corrupts them)

Another way is using a text editor that supports line ending mode changing. AFAIK, only <a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> and <a href="http://www.yudit.org/">yudit</a> have this capability. I've heard that Microsoft Word can save text files in Unix format too.

Of course this is tricky, and a pain in the @$$ for you users of Micro$oft Windows. It's even easier to wait until the Keenspace Admins add an "s/r//;" line to the Perl code that reads dropdown.txt to generate the whole thing anyway.

Red Leader · Post by **Red Leader** » Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:58 am

[sigh] Well, I tried re-uploading the file in ASCII mode as suggested and sure enough, that eliminated the extra spaces in the source code, however... The links still don't work. [sigh] I really wanted a nice drop list for fast, easy navigation, but this isn't working... I think I'm about to tear the whole thing out and go back to the old and index page cluttering link list. It's ugly but it actually WORKS. >_<

Red Leader · Post by **Red Leader** » Wed Feb 20, 2002 1:34 am

Wow. I just made mess of my index page... [sigh] Okay, forget everything I've been asking about until now... New question...

Is there a way to simply put a link to the latest comic on my main page or am I going to have to overhaul the index page design to host the comic on the index page despite the fact that it wasn't supposed to?

Seven3 · Post by **Seven3** » Wed Feb 20, 2002 7:14 pm

Yup, try this:
<a href=/d/***raw_date***.html>Today's comic</a>

If that fails, you may need some javascript:
head:
<script language=javascript>

</script>


body:
<script>document.write(link);</script>

Oh, BTW, you shouldn't have the date at the end of every line in the dropdown.txt; it's used to work out how the nesting should go, so only use it when you're starting a new section.

_________________
Don't Panic. - Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Isaiah 43.

[ This Message was edited by: Seven3 on 2002-02-20 20:18 ]

Red Leader · Post by **Red Leader** » Fri Feb 22, 2002 12:39 pm

Well, that first suggestion worked beatifully! Thanks! ^^ Finally, after all these weeks, the site's starting to come together nicely! Hopefully, within a matter hours, it'll be ready to be premiered to the World!

Thanks for all the help!