Enforce Protocol Server Behavior for Dreamweaver

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"Enforce Protocol" Server Behavior
for Dreamweaver

This product is fully compatible with Adobe Dreamweaver CS5!

When applied to a page this Server Behavior will enforce a particular protocol (either http or https) to the web document making sure it's always viewed over the specified (secure or non-secure) connection.

Even though the extension was developed for ASP (VBScript) and PHP (MySQL) server models, the installation package also includes the client-side, JavaScript version of the extension -the Enforce Protocol Command which would work with any server technology in a JavaScript-enabled browser.

The purpose of this extension

When building web applications and e-commerce solutions you often have to ensure that a particular page is always viewed over either secure OR normal, non-secure connection. A typical example: you get to a page with "https" URL (e.g. an order form) and now any link you click is accessed via "https" whether or not it is necessary. Or vise versa: a user would types a URL starting with "http" and arrives to a page which is supposed to be "secure".

Implications?
Anything starting from "broken" links, unnecessary security warnings and application errors.

Sure you can specify the full URL including the protocol for each and every link and action, and often even for the sources of the assets you use ( images, Flash, Java applets, video and audio files). This approach however proves to be both inflexible and unreliable: it fails if the page is being accessed through an outdated bookmark or typed URL and requires additional maintenance when the page or application is being moved or cloned.

The Enforce Protocol extension for Dreamweaver will rid you of the trouble! It will "guard" the page it is applied to and enforce the correct protocol.

Benefits?

Improved customer experience
Prevented web application errors
Decreased development time
A more efficient way to manage your projects

applying the Behavior

.. is extremely simple:

Make sure that the SSL certificate on the web site is installed, valid and properly configured!
Select Enforce Protocol in the Server Behaviors panel.
Select either "Secure: https" or "Normal (non-secure): http" from the Enforce Protocol dropdown.
Enter the secure port number (default value is 443).
Click OK.

If your hosting package does not support either PHP or ASP you can still apply Enforce Protocol Command from the Commands menu. It will have the exact same effect as the Server Behavior, but will not work if if the JavaScript in the visitor's browser is turned off.

Tip: For more flexibility you can apply the Server Behavior with particular settings to a blank page and use Server Side Include to add it to other pages as in the examples below:

PHP example:

1. Create a blank page and apply the Server Behavior selecting "Secure: https" for the Enforce Protocol and "443" for the Server Port.
2. Save it as "enforce_https.php"
3. On any page you want to force the secure connection use <?php include("enforce_https.php"); ?> at the very top of the web page.

ASP example:

1. Create a blank page and apply the Server Behavior selecting "Secure: https" for the Enforce Protocol and "443" for the Server Port.
2. Save it as "enforce_https.asp"
3. On any page you want to force the secure connection use  at the very top of the web page (Adjust the path to the "enforce_https.asp" according to the location of your file).

Similarly you can keep the client-side Command script in an external JavaScript file for more efficient page management.