Up and Running with Frontier Web Site Management
by Matt Neuburg
Before we start building a Web site with Frontier, let's get some acquaintance with the Frontier package and the program itself. Before starting up Frontier, notice what's inside the Frontier folder. You should see:
Other parts of the package, while valuable and interesting, don't have much bearing on the present discussion, so we'll leave them for another time.
- UserLand Frontier: that's the Frontier program.
- Frontier.root: that's Frontier's database. The database is not just some secondary appendage; it's integral to Frontier's operations.
The database contains programming information that Frontier uses in order interpret its own scripting language, UserTalk; it contains lots and lots of UserTalk scripts that give Frontier its actual functionality, and which Frontier executes in response to your commands, for example when you choose from its menus; and it contains anything else you choose to store in it, including the pieces of your Web site.
Frontier always opens Frontier.root automatically when it starts up.
- Misc Stuff: inside this folder is another folder called Copy To System Folder, and inside that is an extension called OSAMenu. If you drop this on your system folder, then the next time you start up you computer, any time Frontier is running, the Finder will contain an extra menu, Scripts, which actually belongs to Frontier, so that you can ask Frontier to perform useful tasks while you're in the Finder. You don't have to use this feature if you don't want to, but you may find it convenient, and I recommend it.
Now start up Frontier. The first time you do this, you'll be asked a few questions about yourself, which you should answer carefully because they'll become part of the database and determine some things about how it's structured.You'll then see Frontier's Main Window, also called Frontier.root in the Windows menu; it should look something like this:
If you don't see the row of buttons at the bottom, but instead just the top half of the window, like this:
then click on the little "mailbox flag" icon at the far right.
If you don't see a message like the one shown here, telling you the time and the amount of free memory Frontier has available (and how many "threads" Frontier presently has running), press on the triangle towards the left of the window to get a popup menu and choose StatusMessage. (If you still don't see the message, try choosing Enable Agents from the Main menu.)
You can drag the Main Window by its top half. You can resize it by dragging the tiny square in the middle of the right-hand edge.
You can also dismiss it by clicking in its go-away box at the far upper left. However, if you do this, Frontier will close the whole database and won't be able to do much of anything; so it is better to leave the Main Window present.
Also it's a good idea to park the Main Window where you can see it most of the time, because scripts often use it to send you messages, as you can convince yourself by choosing from one of the submenus of Misc in the Main menu, such as Hello World or Count to 10.
Whenever you are sent a message in this way, you can dismiss the message and go back to seeing the clock and the free memory by clicking on the top half of the Main Window.
Now click the Object DB button of the Main Window. You'll see a window like this:
If the font and size you see aren't like the picture, you can change them with Font and Size in the Edit menu, though I generally use one of the Common Styles in the Main menu.
This window is referred to in the Windows menu as "root" (as opposed to the Main Window which is called "Frontier.root"). It is the gateway to Frontier's database.
At this point, at the risk of making you a trifle nervous, I must inject a word of warning. This is your database to store things in as you like, and soon we're going to begin storing Web page elements inside it. You are also free to explore the database, and doing so is one of the classic ways of learning about Frontier.Nevertheless, it is also Frontier's database, and you can bring the program completely to its knees by making wanton changes. For example, the highlighted line in the picture says, in its first column, "system". If you were to change this name, or, worse, if you to press the delete key and remove the line altogether, Frontier would stop working, and you might have to download a clean version of the database to get it going again.
To minimize risks, I suggest you follow two simple rules.
If, despite your best efforts, you think you've screwed something up, quit Frontier, saying "No" when you are offered a chance to save the database, and start it up again. If you want to return to a previously backed up version of the database, quit Frontier, rename Frontier.root to something else (or even throw it away), bring out the most recent backup from the Backups folder so that it is in the same folder as Frontier, and rename it Frontier.root.
- Make a backup of the database often!
You do this with Backup in the Main menu. As a safety feature, Frontier does not overwrite earlier backups when you make a new backup, so after a while you will probably want to throw away some older backups manually from the Finder, as they are rather large.
- Keep repeating to yourself the words my father impressed upon me when he first taught me to use power tools: "Never stop being careful."
I'm sorry if this little lecture has made you edgy; if so you can relax now. The point is simply that Frontier, unlike most other programs, exposes its inner workings to you. That gives you a lot of power, which is the whole point of giving you this freedom, but with that power comes a lot of responsibility.
All text is by Matt Neuburg, phd, matt@tidbits.com. This page created with Frontier, 7/8/97; 9:17:52 AM.