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INTRODUCTION TO RECOVERY STRATEGIES
In a perfect world, problems never occur. But until our world is perfect, you'll want to know the best strategies for protecting your site files against happenstance, and what to do to recover should the unfortunate occur.
The protection and recovery procedures described below might seem excessive if you've dealt more easily with errors in other kinds of applications. For example, if you've ever experienced a problem with a text or word processing file, you might have seen special characters in the middle of the text where the problem occurred. In this situation you can correct the problem simply by retyping any text that was lost and replaced by the special characters. A word processor or text editor can make error correction this easy because in text, the value of a word or character does not depend on the word that preceded it. If the application cannot read something it expects from the disk, it can simply display a character that means "there was supposed to be something here" and go on to the next thing it can read.
The core of NetObjects Fusion is a built-in, user-invisible database. This means it has defined a location for every byte of data in your site file, just as a zipper has a required location for every tooth along its length. The position of each byte depends on the bytes that precede it. If for some reason NetObjects Fusion cannot read what it expects from the disk, it gets stuck, like a zipper that is missing a tooth. Going on to what it can read would be pointless because it can't determine where to put the subsequent information, just as a zipper pull can't count how many teeth are missing and go on to match teeth perfectly after a gap.
This sensitivity to errors is present in all applications founded on database technology, including banking, medical, and government applications. Like the security of the data used and maintained by these institutions, the security of your NetObjects Fusion site data ultimately depends on your backups.
BACKUPS: YOUR DATA´S BEST DEFENSE
NetObjects Fusion 2.0 provides three ways to back up your site and asset files.
- NetObjects Fusion automatically creates a backup of your .nod file when you open it. The backup resides in the same folder as your .nod file, and ends with .nod.bak. This guarantees you can always return to the state of your site when you last opened it, so long as your assets are undamaged and in place.
- You can easily create backups of your .nod file at any time in Site view using the Save Site As... command on the File menu. A .nod file references asset paths absolutely; for example, c:\NetObjects Fusion 2.0\User Sites\My Site\Assets\photo.gif. This means in order for assets to appear in your site as you expect, assets must be located exactly where the .nod file expects them to be. A .nod backup you create guarantees you can return to the state of your site when you saved it, so long as your assets are undamaged and in place.
- You can create a backup of your site and all its assets at any time in Site view using the Export Template command on the File menu. A template (.nft) file references asset paths relatively, for example ..\My Site\Assets\photo.gif. This means you can store your template folder anywhere on your disk or LAN, or even move it to a colleague's computer and when you insert it in a site or open a site based on it, NetObjects Fusion can locate the assets and include them in your site as you expect. A template backup guarantees you can return to the state of your site when you created the template, secures your assets by making backup copies, and removes dependency upon assets' locations. In some cases creating a template can also overcome problems because in the course of creating a template, NetObjects Fusion verifies your site's internal database.
Each of the above can be valuable when problems occur. We strongly recommend that you use the Save Site As... command to back up your .nod file at regular intervals during long editing sessions. For example, if you create a backup every couple of hours, you'll never have more than a couple of hours of work at risk.
We also recommend that you back up your .nod file before importing a large number of pages either from a template or from a local or remote site. This is because import and conversion occur in memory. If the number of pages you are importing is high relative to the amount of RAM and free disk space in your computer, import can test the limits of your computer's virtual memory system.
Back your site up as a template when you've made significant changes to its assets, when you upgrade from a pre-release version of NetObjects Fusion to a released version, or if you detect problems as described below.
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RECOVERY PROCEDURES
In Page View, if you see anything you don't expect to see, STOP. Some examples of suspicious behavior are:
Elements you know you placed are missing or have moved.
MasterBorders are larger or smaller than the width you specified
Formatting in a text block or table is no longer what you specified.•Changes you make don't "take;" for example, you select some characters, click the Bold button, and the characters remain plain on the screen.
Do the following to begin the recovery process:
- Exit NetObjects Fusion.
- Move your .nod.bak file out of your site's folder.
Do this so it won't be overwritten when you re-open the .nod file.
- Launch NetObjects Fusion to re-open your site.
In an extremely rare case, a problem with the page you were viewing might prevent the site from reopening. If this occurs, hold down the Control key as you launch NetObjects Fusion. This compels NetObjects Fusion to open in Site view. From there you can delete the problem page and create a replacement.
- In the re-opened site, check whether the suspicious behavior persists.
NetObjects Fusion's self-regulation on Open most often corrects problems. However, if the problem persists, you must choose a course of action for recovery.
• If you have a recent backup, you can restore from a backup .nod file as
described in step 10.
• If you have made significant changes since your last backup, you can try to
preserve them by restoring as described in steps 5 through 9. At each of these
steps, weigh whether the hours of work you are trying to preserve are greater
than the effort this kind of restoration requires.
- Switch to Site view and export the site as a template.
- Open a new blank site and import the template. Do not create a new site based on the template. NetObjects Fusion performs more self regulation when importing a template, and generally, this corrects any problems. In the imported pages, check whether the suspicious behavior persists. If all is well, return to Site view and restore your site's structure as follows. On your imported Home page, use editing commands to Select All and Copy, then navigate to the new site's Home page and Paste. Then drag each child of the imported Home page to be a child of the new site's Home page. When the imported Home page has no more children, delete it.
If the problem persists, you can fall back on your backup, or go on to step 7.
- Open a new blank site.
- Import the problem .nod file as follows: choose the Import Section... command, then in the Import Section dialog that appears, select the Other option and click Browse. In the Open dialog that appears,. navigate to and select the problem .nod file and click Open. NetObjects Fusion 2.0 can import a .nod file, and this can correct some problems. In the imported pages, check whether the suspicious behavior persists. If all is well, return to Site view and restore your site's structure as described in step 6. Because NetObjects Fusion's .nod file import does nothing with assets, you must manually move your asset files into the appropriate folders of the new site, then use the tools in Assets view to reset the asset paths to reflect their new locations. If the problem persists, you can fall back on your backup, or go on to step 9.
- If you have recently previewed your site, create a new blank site and use the Local Site option to import the preview. This process eliminates suspicious behavior, but many NetObjects Fusion benefits as well. For example, you will need to restore MasterBorders to all imported pages, verify that all elements are in position on every page and do not overlap, and resolve asset paths if necessary. You'll also have to return to Site view and restore your site's structure as described in step 6.
- If the above steps fail or are inappropriate, open your most recent backup .nod file.
If your most recent backup is the one you moved in step 2, do one of the following to make it appear in the Open dialog: choose All Files (*.*) from the Files of Type list or rename it with the simple .nod extension before trying to open it.
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