Operation Manual

505
USING DREAMWEAVER
Preparing to build dynamic sites
Last updated 3/28/2012
Several web hosting companies offer plans that let you use their software to test and deploy web applications. In
some cases, you can install the required software on the same computer as Dreamweaver for development purposes.
You can also install the software on a network computer (typically a Windows 2000 or XP computer) so that other
developers on your team can work on a project.
If you want to use a database with your web application, you must first connect to it.
More Help topics
“Setting up a ColdFusion development environment” on page 507
“Setting up a PHP development environment” on page 507
“Setting up an ASP development environment” on page 507
Web server basics
To develop and test dynamic web pages, you need a functioning web server. A web server is software that serves web
pages in response to requests from web browsers. A web server is sometimes called an HTTP server. You can install
and use a web server on your local computer.
If you’re a Macintosh user, you can use the Apache web server already installed on your Macintosh.
Note: Adobe does not provide technical support for third-party software such as Microsoft Internet Information Server.
If you need assistance with a Microsoft product, please contact Microsoft technical support.
If you use Internet Information Server (IIS) to develop web applications, the default name of your web server is the
name of your computer. You can change the server name by changing the name of your computer. If your computer
has no name, the server uses the word localhost.
The server name corresponds to the server’s root folder, which (on a Windows computer) is most likely
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot. You can open any web page stored in the root folder by entering the following URL in a browser
running on your computer:
http://your_server_name/your_file_name
For example, if the server name is mer_noire and a web page called soleil.html is stored in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\, you
can open the page by entering the following URL in a browser running on the local computer:
http://mer_noire/soleil.html
Note: Remember to use forward slashes, not backslashes, in URLs.
You can also open any web page stored in any subfolder of the root folder by specifying the subfolder in the URL. For
example, suppose the soleil.html file is stored in a subfolder called gamelan, as follows:
C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\gamelan\soleil.html
You can open this page by entering the following URL in a browser running on your computer:
http://mer_noire/gamelan/soleil.html
When the web server is running on your computer, you can replace the server name with localhost. For example,
the following URLs open the same page in a browser:
http://mer_noire/gamelan/soleil.html
http://localhost/gamelan/soleil.html