"An error occurred during a connection to (web site)"

Classic General
1

PROBLEM: The user clicks a link. An error message appears in a browser window:

Hmm. We’re having trouble finding that site.
An error occurred during a connection to www.site.com
Where www.site.com does not exist and takes the place of the correct url.

SOLUTION: Edit the Contents.plist file and replace the wrong url with the right one.

HOW?

First, duplicate your Project File and save a copy. Then
Right click on the Project File in the Finder and choose Show Package Contents. Edit the Contents.plist. I use BB Edit. Find the XML line:

[http://(wrong url) and replace it with[http://(right url)
Save the result.
Publish.
Pray it worked.

BACKGROUND I maintained a large website with over 100 pages until about a year ago when the host server went down. Last month I found a new server. At that time I replaced RW7 with RW8 and loaded the Project File into RW8, which modified it. After I published it I found that the above error occurred when I clicked a link to most Resource graphics. I was puzzled because the old url was not used anywhere in the RW8 Publishing setup. Remote image stacks displayed Resources correctly, but the site-map stack gave the same error message when I clicked a link in it. Once I corrected the problem in Contents.plist I had to go back and re-link every one of the Resources. I am still having a similar problem with site-map, which now displays a path error instead of going to the linked page, even though the url appears correct.

Discussion is invited.

2

I think it would be better to try and solve this via RapidWeaver’s User Interface. I would not recommend trying to manually edit Contents.plist files as that could result in unexpected issues down the road.

If you have the original project file that was causing issues with an incorrect URL for the resources you can send it over to us per our FAQ here How do I share my project file with Realmac Support for troubleshooting? and we can take a look for you.

3

Thanks for your response. I understand the preference for using the RW User Interface, however I spent weeks trying to do that without success. Unfortunately the web site in question is proprietary and I don’t have permission to share it.

4

Understood. We can also do one-on-one live sessions to help troubleshoot issues. This could be an option if you cannot share the physical project file, but can do a screen share for troubleshooting it.

The site URL is entered in two places in RapidWeaver, once in the Settings >> General section, and once in the Publishing settings. The URLs need to match between these two locations otherwise you could experience an issue as you described with incorrect URLs being set.

I’m happy that you found a solution to your problem, however I would advise against manually modifying those plist files for most users. It shouldn’t be necessary as URL corrections can be made via the UI. I’m not aware of any support cases where that hasn’t been the case.