Attaching a non-DWTIG compliant DWT

When moving from one DWT to another, the mapping between regions must be carefully planned or data will be lost or the design will be thrown out of alignment. As with any global operation, we recommend that you backup your web before starting this process, it is always easier to restore the web from a backup than to undo the global changes to a web.

Step 1: Use the DWT Manager / Browser to select and copy the new DWT to your web
Bring up the DWT Manager / Browser by selecting the "Format->Dynamic Web Templates->Browse/Copy Dynamic Web Template to Web..." menu. Select a DWT from the DWT List and copy it to the web using the Copy to Web button. After this operation, you will find the new DWT in the "dwts" folder in the root of your web. See the Using the DWT Manager / Browser page for more information.

Step 2: Make a copy of the master DWT
You will need to edit the DWT directly before attaching it to any pages and it is likely you will need more than one DWT instance for your web, so we recommend making a copy of the master DWT in the web.

Step 3: Edit the DWT
Bring up the new DWT file in FrontPage by double clicking on the copied master DWT file. Edit any items like logos and other common areas of the design placing your web specific information in these are. If you applied a DWTIG  compatible DWT to this page the first time and removed any editable regions, then you should remove them is this DWT as well (See Planning your conversion to DWT based web tutorial for more information).

Step 4: Attach the DWT to a single page in the web
To attach the DWT to a page in the web, bring up a page in the Web. Then select the "Format->Dynamic Web Templates->Attach Dynamic Web Template..." menu item. The "Choose Editable Regions for Content" dialog will appear.

Now select an item in the Editable Regions List and then press the Modify button. The "Choose Editable Region for Content" dialog will appear. Select the mapping for the editable region and press the "OK" button to make the region assignment. Do this for each editable region in the design.

Mapping of Editable Regions - note some regions are mapped to "None" (which means that will disappear)

Once you have completed the mapping of editable regions, press the "OK" button again to attach the DWT to the page. Now take a look at the page with the attached DWT. If you would like to back up and undo the attach operation to modify the DWT or map the regions differently, just press control-Z to undo the DWT attach. Then you can go back to Step 4 and edit the DWT.

Note: A DWT Detach operation is not the same as undoing a DWT Attach. When you detach a DWT, you abandon the editable regions and make them inline code on the page. After a Detach operation, the page have no editable regions that can be mapped to a new DWT.

Step 5: Attach the DWT to other pages in the web
To attach the DWT to other pages in the web, select one or more pages in the "Folders List" using a control click operation. Then select the "Format->Dynamic Web Templates->Attach Dynamic Web Template..." menu item (in general, we recommend page by page attachments when using non-DWTIG  DWTs).