Verifying Links

ColdFusion Studio simplifies the job of maintaining sites by testing each link in a selection and reporting any problems it finds. You can verify links to local HTML files, graphics and other media files and other Web sites. By default, ColdFusion Studio checks all links in a selection, but you can skip specific links. Tags in comments are skipped.

If you have installed Linkbot 5.0 or greater, you can use it within ColdFusion Studio. Select Tools > Verify Links with Linkbot to check links in specific files, or select Tools > Verify Project with Linkbot.

Note

You cannot use the link checker to verify links to secure pages (HTTPS), FTP links, or mailto links. You also cannot perform link verification on large binary files such as EXE, PDF, ZIP, and media file types. This would significantly slow down the operation. Therefore, ColdFusion Studio installs a list of excluded file extensions in the Windows Registry LinkVerifyExcludeExts key.

To set options for link verification, do any of the following:

To change the URL or local directory that ColdFusion Studio should use to process the relative link, select a link in the list and click the Set Full URL toolbutton.
Entries that you make in this dialog box are stored in the drop-down list for future use. Setting the root URL does not modify the source document; it just tells ColdFusion Studio how to test relative links.

To enter a time value after which the link verifier moves to the next link in the list, click the Set Timeout toolbutton.

If the link is routed through a proxy server, click the Set Proxy toolbutton and enter a server name and port number.

To verify links in the current document:

Select Tools > Verify Links from the menu to open the Links tab on the Results window.

The link list shows the following information for each link in the document:


Field	Description
Source	Current document name, preceded by an icon identifying the link as a document or media file
Link	Link as referenced in the document, including links set with the `name` attribute in the Anchor tag
Full URL	Path or IP address of the link
Status	Status of the link, initially set to Untested

Then, ColdFusion Studio checks each link in order. The Status column displays OK for successful links and, for failed links, a File not found message or the server-generated code.

To end the link validation before it completes, click the Stop button.

To verify links in a project:

In the Resources window, on the Projects tab, right-click a project name and select Verify Links.

In the Verify Links in Project dialog box, select a root URL option for project files.
(Optional) Set a timeout value for the processing of each link.
Click OK to run the verification routine.
To end the link validation before it completes, click the Stop button.

To verify a single link:

In the Results window, on the Links tab, right-click a link in the list and select Verify this Link.

To produce a report of failed links:

In the Results window, on the Links tab, click the Print button.
The report displays in your default browser. You can publish the report, e-mail it, or print it from the browser.

To edit a link:

In the Results window, on the Links tab, right-click a link in the list and select Edit this Link.

To browse to a link:

In the Results window, on the Links tab, right-click a link in the list and select Browse this Link.

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