PHP preview problems with Firefox

[Mike D M]

I have Webuilder 2010 ver.10.01 installed. I've set up Apache 2.2 and PHP 5.2 .10. I've got everything pointing to C:/htdocs.

I did a test and everything works fine with both an index file and a php info file that I saved into the folder. http://localhost works in IE and Firefox with no problems. I've set the server mappings in Webuilder and in doing a test to see if the preview works everything is fine in IE. When trying to preview in Firefox I get an a dialog box saying there was an error in the Mozilla ActiveX Control. I downloaded and installed MozillaControl1712.exe and installed it. After doing that I got a long series of dialog boxes about errors regarding missing files when trying to preview in Firefox. I just ran the executable file. Do I need to put it in some other location or associate it with Firefox in some other way. I've uninstalled the ActiveX control for now.

Hope someone can help me on this as I'd really like to be able to preview files in Firefox using Webuilder.

[davenz]

I think the Mozilla activeX control is only for previewing the files within WeBuilder and has nothing to do with Firefox as such. WeBuilder uses Trident, Internet Explorer's rendering engine for the main preview, but if the Mozilla activeX control is installed, then that preview is available if selected. Firefox is a standalone browser and if there are files missing there then it must be something to do with the PHP install; then again, I don't know anything about that and without knowing what exactly the missing file messages are I can't really say. All I can say is that - as far as I am aware - the activeX control is for WeBuilder's preview and has no effect on anything outside that software.

Dave

[Karlis]

This might help:
http://kb.blumentals.net/kb/index.php?V ... ntryID=122

[Mike D M]

I tried uninstalling the control - restarting - and then re-installing and rebooting. Same thing. I don't think I want to install the experimental version of the Active X control as I can't seem to find out much about it. I did a little research but most of what you can find goes back to 2005 and much older versions of Firefox. I did find some info that said that Mozilla Active X control is not compatible with Firefox 3. I have version 3.5

This used to work fine for me with Webuilder 2008 although I had set up my web server with XAMPP. This time I decided to install the components separately. Don't know if it's that or the version of Firefox.

I can still preview pages (html or php) in the htdocs folder by using the "Preview In" browser dropdown in Webuilder which works well enough for me. I just can't use the internal preview feature with Firefox.

I love Webuilder by the way. It's the best product of its type that I've ever used.

[Karlis]

There are no differences in this area between 2008 and 2010.

[Mike D M]

I've done a little more research. It looks like this is a Firefox 3.x issue. My hard drive crashed recently and had to be replaced. Prior to that I was running Webuilder 2008 and had used the XAMPP package to install my web server. As I said I've installed the components separately this time. I was also running an earlier version of Firefox.

The following is from the Mozilla support site.

"ActiveX is the system Internet Explorer uses in place of the NPAPI plugin system that most other browsers use. There was a plugin for Netscape-based browsers that grants the browser partial ActiveX support - this would allow Firefox to use the Windows Media Player ActiveX Control and the majority of its functionality, and so work on many otherwise Internet Explorer-only pages.

However, the most recent version only supports Firefox 1.5 and does not work in Firefox 2 or 3. More detailed information can be found in the ActiveX article."

The link is http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Usi ... th+Firefox

As I said the dropdown preview works when previewing files in Firefox (Also IE and Opera), so it's not a huge issue for me.

I just wanted to post this information for others who might find it helpful.

[Karlis]

For me with FF 3.5 installed on Vista, FireFox preview with Mozilla control works just fine.

[Mike D M]

Hi Karlis, Thanks for following up.

I'm running XP Pro but that shouldn't make any difference.

I first ran the active X executable and let it install in the default location. That didn't work and I uninstalled it. When I re-installed it I tried setting up the preview in Webuilder to point to the only .exe file in the Mozilla Active X folder (don't remember the exact name and I've uninstalled it again) instead of C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe. That didn't work either. I still got an error message when I tried the internal preview in Firefox.

I must be missing something as far as setting things up so that Webuilder is finding the correct path to what it needs for the preview. I know that my web server setup is correct because I can view any files in any browser on my computer by typing http://localhost/pathname into the address bar.

Mike

[Karlis]

WeBuilder does not need any path for this. activeX control is a complex library which must be registered properly in Windows system. WeBuilder can not use it directly. It looks like the culprit is this registration/installation process process.

Solution might be manual ActiveX control registration from command line. Somebody has done this already there was an article in forums somewhere.

[chrisjlocke]

I find running Firefox and using ALT+TAB is the best approach. The ActiveX control is a heavily cut-down part of the Firefox rendering engine, and isn't guaranteed to produce output exactly the same as Firefox.

[syrupcore]

I find running Firefox and using ALT+TAB is the best approach. The ActiveX control is a heavily cut-down part of the Firefox rendering engine, and isn't guaranteed to produce output exactly the same as Firefox.

+1

[Mike D M]

Thanks to all who posted with suggestions. I was not able to get the internal preview working in Firefox, even though windows showed the Mozila Active X control as being properly registered.

I like the ALT + TAB approach as that will speed up checking my work in various browsers I have open while developing. In the end I always did a final check in Firefox (and other browsers) while using Webuilder 2008 as the internal preview was not always accurate especially with complicated CSS layouts. I would still be doing the same thing with Ver. 2010.

In any case I still love the program. I'm just starting to learn PHP and I can tell already that the auto complete for PHP is going to be a huge help especially as I get more familiar with it .

[Karlis]

When you re-install your system or get a new PC, be sure to try getting Mozilla ActiveX control installed once again. I bet it would work. It is Windows ... go figure.