Problems with IIS6 Create Virtual Directory on remote server

FinalBuilder Bugs
1

I'm experiencing difficulties when creating IIS virtual directories when the server is NOT localhost.

  1. When I click the 'Update List' button on the New Virtual Directory tab, the only thing that comes back is ROOT, even though there are many other virtual directories on the server in question. I can see these other virtual directories from the box on which FB6 is running via the IIS6 MMC applet - using the same user id that I'm using on the FB action, so it doesn't appear to be a security issue.
  2. In spite of problem described in #1 above, I can create a virtual directory - when the parent is ROOT. But I get various errors when trying to create virtual directories that are children of other virtual directories that are not the ROOT. Sometimes the virtual directory is created, but errors are reported back that I had a null object in my script (I have no script). Other times the virtual directory is created, but an "application" is not created and put into the pool on the remote server and I get an error back in FB6 that the physical directory wasn't found (even though it was; the application just wasn't created).
  3. A minor annoyance that may possibly be related: when I use FB variables to represent the server name and/or parts of the virtual directory or its phyical directory, FB takes a LONG time to bring up the Action dialog box when I request it in the Action Studio - 20-30 seconds. When I hard-code the names, I do not experience the problem. I have not mistyped the variable values and the variables do have default values; I triple-checked. This issue does not affect problems #1 and #2 above; I experience them whether I have used variables or hard-coded values. Nevertheless, it does make one wonder.

I'm experiencing other issues, and will submit my FB6 project file separately to support.

2

Hi William,

Thanks for sending in the project. I have some comments on the issues you're seeing here:

1) Are the directories on the server actual virtual directories, or just physical subdirectories of the ROOT directory? At the moment, the list only shows defined virtual directories (you can see the difference by looking at the icon in the IIS management snapin.)

2) I think the null script error relates to the other thread. Please see my reply there.

With reference to the application pooling, AFAIK it is impossible to have different application pool settings in the child virtual directory, when the parent virtual directory has a pooled application. The settings are inherited from the parent. You can verify this by attempting to perform the operations in the IIS Management Snapin - the relevant options are greyed out in the child virtual directory.

Looking at your project, in some cases you are explicitly creating a parent virtual directory, and then a child virtual directory, when the physical directory of the child VDir is contained inside the parent's physical directory. AFAIK this is unnecessary (you can skip the child action.)


3) This is a limitation in the action, at the moment it doesn't resolve variable references when looking for the server at design time. The pause is WMI timing out while trying to access invalid server name at design time. We should be able to correct this shortly.

Also, the design time IIS page automatically attempts to reload design time details each time you open the action. I'll change this so it only loads when you explicitly request it by clicking an "Update" button.