gmStudio's approach to ASP translation is directed by translating groups of pages (aka Sites). This involves preparing a Site translation script containing a list of pages and processing that script. The list should contain only pages, not include files. Include files are be automatically process when you process a page that references an #include.
Processing #includes directly does not make sense because they often depend on content in other #includes that may be integrated through the page.
gmStudio can help you identify pages and includes automatically using the Set Build Order operation from the Tools menu. In simple terms: any .asp file found is #include element is considered to be an #include, otherwise it is considered a page.
However, there can still be a problem: some pages may no longer be active. They are in the site directory, but they are never referenced by a user or any other process such as a redirect. We call these dead pages and they often contain out of date or invalid code that causes problems with translation. So, an important step in preparing for an upgrade is identifying precisely which files are dead and which are active. The dead files should all be removed as the first step in preparing a copy of the site for translation.
There are a lot of ways to deduce which files are active:
- Exclude File based on names (e.g. named "file-old.asp" or "copy of file.asp", etc.)
- Exclude Folders based on names (e.g. named "backup\" or "old\", etc.)
- Looking at Production web logs to see pages actually served
- Analysis of navigation directed by code or data
- Redirect statements in pages know to be active• Hrefs in pages know to be active
- System documentation (only upgrade the pages that you know how to use)
- Test Plans (only upgrade the pages that you know how to test)
- Page content (e.g. files that are clearly not active pages or are defective in some way)
Failing to do this cleanup will waste time during your upgrade project and increase technical debt and maintenance costs afterwards.