Dreamweaver Plugin Stopped Working

[wfl]

Since yesterday and for no apparent reason my DW plug in has stopped functioning. I made no changes except for importing Chris's snapshot.

The menu and files are all still there but the Submit Changes to Actinic option remains stubbornly greyed out. See attached.

Using 8.5 with latest plugin and so on. Restarted Actinic, DW and PC.

[wfl]

Now it seems to be really broke and it is making working a pain

In the 2 main designs I have (1 for brochure & 1 for catalog) I can do everything except for "Submit Changes to Actinic".

If I do a "Edit Layout in Dreamweaver" to my these layout pages it does recognise and open them but with the same result.

The Register box is ticked and I have been using these for some weeks without a problem. One thing I did do was a "Save As" .bak just to keep a copy.

Now I have found that anything else I do an "Edit Layout in Dreamweaver" to comes across but it will ONLY offer "Submit Changes to Actinic" and nothing else.

If I do a "Edit Layout in Dreamweaver" to my main layout pages (the files above) it does recognise them.

[wfl]

OK it gets worse.

I thought I would try and remove the designs and start again. Guess what - Actinic won't let me delete anything from the library. Delete is greyed out.

It is not site specific because the same problem is on my other sites.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the extension so it must be Actinic. Looks like an uninstall, clean the registry and reinstall.

[wfl]

Can it get any worse?

Either I am doing something really daft or it is looking decidedly like a yellow Reliant van.

I have uninstalled deleted the folder and reinstalled but still the same problem.

Everything else (Office, Adobe, Macromedia and so on) works on the PC without a problem.

No Virus issues, it is Sophos'ed every couple of hours.

Desperately in need of some pointers as I can't work!

[pinbrook]

Can't really help, but thought I'd post to give moral support.

If it were me, i'd uninstall actinic

then uninstall and reinstall DW

then reinstall Actinic

[leehack]

The guy from Guernsey or Jersey had a problem with this i think also, there was a large thread about it very recently. Maybe a search and finding that will help you with the solution.

I'd add a vote to Jo's suggestion too.

[wfl]

Thanks guys.

I've just done an uninstall Actinic and then DW & Ext Manager. Reinstall DW & Ext Manager and then reinstall Actinic.

Problem is still the same.

I think I found the thread you refer to but the problem I was slightly different? Can't find it again though!

I have found in the library that I can create a new layout or variable and delete it. But if I create a new design in DW and register it and then deselect it in Design Options I still can't delete it.

[leehack]

Ah the lingering unwanted external design that you can't get rid of, yeah that appears to be a bug that we are all suffering. I think Jont posted something on what you can do about it, however it has a knock on effect of some kind. Short answer is that it appears to be a bug and we are hoping that it is cured in future releases.

[wfl]

I really wouldn't mind the design hanging about at the moment. Just add it to Chris's creepy crawly list.

All I really need is to be able to work in my DW designs and and submit the changes to Actinic just like I could 36 hours ago

Looks like a call to Actinic Towers in the morning

[cdicken]

Hi Alistair.

Sorry to hear about your traumas. Here's a method of getting rid of external designs that you don't want. The problem is that if the design is used anywhere then Actinic will not let you delete it.

The first place to check is going to 'Design | Themes', clicking the 'Advanced' button and going to 'Page Layouts'. Check your design is not selected at all in that screen.

If it still won't delete then it means it might be selected somewhere in your section/brochure hierarchy.

Go to 'Design | Library | Layouts' and expand the 'Web Page Outer Layout' group. Open the 'StandardLayout' selector and de-select 'Section'. Click 'OK'. Now go back into it and re-select 'Section' and click 'OK'. Now do the same for the 'BrochureLayout' selector (except this time de-select and select 'Brochure'). This will effectively re-set all the outer layout selectors back to whatever's set as the 'Top Level Value' for the selectors (make sure this isn't your unwanted outer layout btw!).

You should then be able to delete the unwanted external design.

[wfl]

Hi Chris

I called the Dreamweaver extension problem in this morning.

As for deleting designs I think I have done all that. Can you point me to the db table that holds that and I will have a look in there to see if they are being used?

[wfl]

I have found a new slant on this.

If I edit the design in DW and force the view to refresh by moving from a say a brochure page to a catalog page and back or save it and then save / reopen Actinic it uses the modified layout. Perhaps it would have done that anyway?

[cdicken]

Hi Alistair

This certainly would force Actinic to use the new design - but, obviously, something has gone wrong as it should use the design automatically.

With regards to database tables, the thing you need to do is

1. Back up your Actinic installation
2. Open the ActinicCatalog.mdb database
3. Locate the 'DesignObjects' table and locate your layout within it. Make a note of the 'nID'.
4. Then go to the 'UserDefinedProperties' table.
5. Search in the 'nValue' field for instances of the 'nID' of the external design. You can just delete these values from the field.
6. Now close the db and go back into Actinic.
7. You should find that all the overall layout settings are now set to 'Use Parent'.

Hope that helps out.

[wfl]

Chris

This problem occurred again so I checked UserDefinedProperties but the layouts were not in use. If I delete them from DesignObjects they remain on the properties drop down.

[cdicken]

Hi Alistair - here's a guide to deleting unwanted layouts from Actinic.

1. You need to make sure the layout isn't used in any sections or in site options.
2. Go to 'Design | Library | Layouts'
3. Go to the 'Web Page Outer Layouts' group.
4. Double-click on each layout selector (excluding the email ones)
5. Ensure that the layout you want to remove is not selected within the 'Top Level Value' or 'Initial Value' of any layout selector.
6. Once you've done this, you should be able to delete the layout from the library.