No File Extension

MiniK

Sep 29 2007, 04:08 PM

On MediaWiki, the URL of the content is http://YOURWIKI.com/index.php/Blah

Is it possible to create a page or two that doesn't have a file extension? If so, how is it done?

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shadowx

Sep 29 2007, 06:15 PM

I dont think there is a way as the browser and the server needs the file extension to know what to do with the page and if it had no extension it would most likely just send out the raw code to the users which isnt good!

The only way i know of to get a url like the one you posted is to use an index file and a folder, eg setup a folder called, in this example, "blah" and inside that folder put an index.HTM/.PHP file or similar and usually all the user will see is www.url.com/blah i think....

As for the URL you posted that is of course using PHP to take the "/blah" as a variable and somehow use that to show content. Only thing is the link you gave doesnt go to a website so i dont know if its a real life example or just a theoretical example

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jlhaslip

Sep 29 2007, 06:37 PM

Apache mod_rewrite will allow the URL to your pages show like that, too. http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html
Check out the URL when you navigate on this site.
Mod-rewrite is a standard feature of the sNews CMS system. http://www.snewscms.com/

The generated URLs are search engine friendly, can be indexed by the bots, and they are easier to use, too.

Of course, using the folder/index method works, too, but for truly dynamic content, try mod-rewrite. You need to set up an .htaccess file for the site and apply the rules according to your query string format.
Here is a sample of the .htaccess file as used by the sNews CMS:

CODE

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /snews
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteRule ^(.*) $1 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?category=$1 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z_]+)/([^/]+) index.php?category=$1&title=$2 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z_]+)/([^/]+)/([^/]+)/ index.php?category=$1&title=$2&commentspage=$3 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([a-z0-9_-]+)/([0-9]+)/ index.php?category=$1 articlespage=$2 [L]

The query string in this example will be inspected and the first string is the category, the second string is the title, etc.
search: Apache mod re-write for a full explanation of the tool and its usage.

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Stenno

Oct 1 2007, 05:25 AM

You can use a header, so the browser knows what kind of file it is. (anti-spam-content-type:) Html/Text for example. You can do it in html with a Meta-Tag <meta blabla> or in php with a header: Header("(anti-spam-content-type:) ");

So i think it is possible

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