CyberObjects/Actions

GoLive 3.x sometimes has trouble parsing its own CyberObjects / Actions scripts after CyberObjects / Actions have been added / deleted many times, especially if your page is intense in its use of Components / CyberObjects / Actions.

The only solution I've found to this problem [I've only had it once but have heard from others that have had it as well] is to reinsert the CyberObjects / Actions into the page in the order they appear so that GoLive can re-create its script. Also, naming each CyberObjects / Actions / Component uniquely is essential to enabling GoLive to create clean scripts.

Components

The right way to create components is to save them in your root folder, THEN drag them over to the Components folder. The same goes for Stationery.

Many users on the GoLive Talk List have suggested that saving your Components in the same folder as the pages that use them helps stabilize GoLive 3.x's handling of Components. Others have suggested refraining from using many CyberObjects withing your Components. I have never had to do either of these to get my Components/CyberObjects to work, but if you're having trouble you may want to try these suggestions.

Koen van Hees from the List also suggests looking at problematic pages in BBEdit or any other text editor, and checking to see if your Components have an end-tag [</csobj>]. If they don't, add it in. Once again, I have never had to do this.

One more time: naming each Actions/Component uniquely is essential to enabling GoLive to create clean scripts.

I have not had any problems with my Components/Actions in 4.0, and Adobe has been very vehement in its defense of 4.0's improved CyberObjects/Components handling.

UPDATE [28/04/99] - Reader Merlin Mann writes in with his Components / CyberObjects / Actions experience when moving from 3.x to 4.0:

Since I DL'd my copy of 4.0 from the web, I didn't have the benefit of a manual (still don't), and might be able to offer an addendum that will save other folks from a lot of grief.

As I've painfully discovered, GL4's components work best (and sometimes only) when you have selected the "Import CSScriptLib" radio button in Edit>Preferences...>LiveObjects; it's not the default, unfortunately. Moreover, sites being updated from 3.x are likely to experience weird problems with components, especially when the components contain rollovers. I think this has been pretty well documented, and finally has been acknowledged recently by Adobe.

I had talked with a couple other GL evangelists when 4 came out, and we all agreed that our Actions-Based (using the "Button Image" from the pallet) rollovers were horribly bunged when updating our sites to the newer version. Apparently, the JavaScript library that now gets created for each site is the only "according to Hoyle" way to make Actions etc. work correctly from within Components. (As a side note, you may remember that 2.0 had serious problems with writing the HEAD JavaScript code into its daughter documents; this was fixed in 3.x and has apparently been replaced by this library solution in 4.0).

The solution to the broken site, unfortunately, can involve doing the preferences thing above, then opening _every_ page in the site and ensuring that the "Import CS Library" radio button is clicked on in the HTML tab of the Page Inspector pallet. In some cases, I also had to copy-save-paste-save components as well (this cleaned out the residual code written to the doc from 3.x). Finally, it's a good idea to frequently "Clear" the site, ensuring that the components and pages are referencing the library in your site directory (usu. in a folder called "GeneratedItems) and not the local copy in your GoLive folder. _That_ has caused some bummers for me!

I guess the odd thing to me is why the "Write Code into Page" option is even available; the library solution is not only more efficient, but many of the internal operations of GoLive's proprietary tags will bomb out if you choose the "Write Code into Page" option in 4.0. This is particularly obvious on Windows browsers, which cough hard on any but the most bulletproof "CS" tags (e.g. it generates errors on tags like "<CSSCRIPTDICT IMPORT>," "<CSACTIONS>," if the library is not installed and running perfectly).

Anyway, just wanted to offer a little (hopefully useful) advice from over a month or hair-pulling trial and error.

Best Regards,
Merlin Mann