Commonly, a customer wants to make this change to .shtml so that the server will parse the file for server side includes (SSIs). This is possible, according to the following procedures.

All procedures found on this page are UNSUPPORTED. To clarify, UNSUPPORTED means that NO SUPPORT is provided by DiscusWare for either performing the procedures, or for cleaning up anything that goes wrong as a result of following these procedures. Requests for support with regard to any procedures on this page, or problems arising therefrom, will be ignored.

1. Log in to your board as superuser, go to Board Manager (Topic Manager in 4.0), and delete all topics. NOTE: YOU WILL LOSE ALL DATA IN YOUR TOPICS BY DOING THIS, AND YOU CANNOT GET THIS DATA BACK!

2. Edit your discus.conf file, changing the line "ext=html" to "ext=shtml" (substitute in whatever extension you wish to use). As always, when editing files, use a plain text editor (such as Windows Notepad or UltraEdit) and transfer the file in ASCII mode.

3. When creating new topics, note that the extension of the message pages is changed.

1. Edit your discus.conf file, changing the line "ext=html" to "ext=shtml" (substitute in whatever extension you wish to use). As always, when editing files, use a plain text editor (such as Windows Notepad or UltraEdit) and transfer the file in ASCII mode.

2. Rename all *.html files under the "messages" directory to *.shtml (or whatever other extension you want to use). If you have telnet access on a unix server, 'cd' to the messages directory and issue this command (all one line):

   find . -name '*.html' | perl -e 'while (<STDIN>) { my $o = $_; s/\.html/\.shtml/; rename $o, $_; }'

   If you have only FTP access or you're on a Windows system, you'll find it very tedious to manually rename all of the files...

   If you are running Discus Professional and you have any read-restricted topics, you must also rename all files under the "secure" directory in the same way as you did those under "messages".

This is supported only in Discus 3.10 and higher!

1. Edit your discus.conf file, adding the line "board_topics_file=board-topics.shtml" (substitute in the exact file name of the topics file, using whatever new extension you choose). As always, when editing files, use a plain text editor (such as Windows Notepad or UltraEdit) and transfer the file in ASCII mode.

2. Rename the board-topics.html file to board-topics.shtml (or whatever new name you want to give it).

3. Log in to your board as superuser and go to Options Manager. Check the "Use alternate URL to topics page" (in version 4.0 this is under the "Other" tab) and enter the full URL to the topics page, reflecting any changes you made to the extension. This URL should probably look like "http://your.site.com/discus/messages/board-topics.shtml".

4. Regenerate your subtopic/message lists by going to Appearance Manager, clicking the "Regeneration" tab, and choosing to regenerate the board. (In version 3.1, choose to regenerate subtopic/message lists.)

5. You probably have to fix links or URLs in some of your pages. See the next section.

1. If you notice that some pages are giving you broken links (you will find this especially true if you have changed the extension of the topics page), you will need to make fixes. All editing of files should be done with a text editor (like Windows Notepad or UltraEdit).

2. If you get "Not Found" in the right frame, or in a no-frames installation if you are redirected to a missing page, edit index.html, which is likely to point to the wrong name for the topics page in establishing the right frame.

3. If you get "Not Found" clicking on a no-frames topics icon, edit newpage.conf (or the appropriate skin file), which still points to the wrong topics page.

4. You may need to edit the topics link from the board-menu.html file (version 3.10 and below only).

5. If you need to change the extension of the documentation pages, then you have a much larger project. Rename appropriate files and edit all files that point to that documentation.

If you are your own server administrator, or you have a cooperative server administrator, you may be able to avoid the hassle of renaming files and changing program defaults as noted here. If the only reason you are making this change is so that the server will parse pages for SSIs, check out our SSI tips.

Reminder: UNSUPPORTED means that DiscusWare does not provide any support whatsoever for performing the operation or the steps provided. Requests for support with any UNSUPPORTED procedures or operations will be ignored.