Is MenuPlus compatible with FrontPage Server Extensions?

When the MenuPlus components were initially designed, most people edited webs on their local machine and then copied to their Web server using FTP and maybe our other product KISSfp FrontPage FTP Add-On. This is why we initially replied something like "The best way to use the components with any server is to develop the Web on your local machine and upload using FTP." to this question.

Since then, servers supporting FrontPage Extensions have become more popular and we have investigated the issue and fixed certain problems in the latest update v2.4 of MenuPlus. Now MenuPlus generally works well with FrontPage Server Extensions. Usually you would only install the MenuPlus components on the local machine used to edit the Web, and not on the actual Web server. This works well as long as the MenuPlus components are NOT used in a shared border. 

So if you are not using MenuPlus components in a shared border of your web, stop reading (and worrying) here.

Because MenuPlus components are dynamic, and generate fresh HTML each time the page is saved, this has to be done "server-side" rather than in the FrontPage client.  We have found that in most cases, this server-side expansion is done on the local development machine by FrontPage, but when the component is in a shared border, they are expanded on the destination server when the web is published to a server with FrontPage Extensions.

This means that in this particular case, MenuPlus components need to be additionally installed on the remote server in order for the expansion to work. If you have no control over the server (for example a third party hosts your web) then the components cannot not be expanded if they are in a shared border. 

To develop on a Windows NT server with FrontPage Extensions, the components must be installed on the server.  We do not support a Unix version of the components, so local development and FTP upload is the only option for a remote Unix server with FrontPage Extensions if you want to use the MenuPlus components in the shared border of your Web.

Again, in summary:

• MenuPlus cannot expand components in shared borders when the web is published using FrontPage (not FTP'd) to a host server with FrontPage extensions, unless the components are installed on the server.  This is due to the way FrontPage works.
   
• We do not currently support a Unix version of the components (and there are no plans to do this).  Therefore the components cannot be installed on a Unix server.
   
• The components can be installed on an NT/Win2000 server if the host is willing to do so.  They will then work properly even in shared borders.
   
• Publishing and FTP'ing are incompatible.  So if you want use the facilities of FP Extensions on a Unix server for other purposes, then you can't use MenuPlus components in shared borders.