Disabling link checking

[RSteinwand]

Hi Albert,

I finally found the cause of a problem that has puzzled me for over a year. Under certain circumstances I'd be working on reports and I'd have unexpected hits to Excel and Pdf conversions, which I never understood. They only seemed to happen in development, never on the live servers.

Today I was having the problem again and checked the IIS logs and found the hits seemed to be coming from CSE, which coincidentally I was using to view the source. So I assumed that link checking was checking the links in the source and causing the conversion to Excel (relatively fast), and PDF, at least 30 seconds.

So I opened the Validator Engine Options and unchecked all the check boxes and I still have the unwanted hits problem.

Link checking with CSE has never worked for me. With several websites on my development computer and links that start with /css or /images, there's no way it's going to check my links and if I do want to check them, I could always use other tools. I'd rather have it do a more extensive check of syntax, and script errors, because CSE is good at that stuff. Link checking is unimportant to me and a waste of time.

Could we have just a checkbox that enables link checking and everything related to link checking could be disabled (grayed-out or however you do it), unless the option is checked? That way, one checkbox turns it on and off yet still preserving the settings.

In the meanwhile, how can I disable link checking when viewing the source from IE in CSE?

Thanks.

[Albert Wiersch]

So I opened the Validator Engine Options and unchecked all the check boxes and I still have the unwanted hits problem.

Hello,

I think that in this case the option you want is in the Link Checking page of the Options->Editor Options (in v10). Do you have the "Automatically check links in the background" option unchecked?

Link checking with CSE has never worked for me. With several websites on my development computer and links that start with /css or /images, there's no way it's going to check my links and if I do want to check them, I could always use other tools. I'd rather have it do a more extensive check of syntax, and script errors, because CSE is good at that stuff. Link checking is unimportant to me and a waste of time.

Are you using v10? I bet you could use the link checking if you setup some path mappings in the Link Checking->Path Mapping page of the Validator Engine Options. Setting up paths will help CSE HTML Validator check the correct link.

Could we have just a checkbox that enables link checking and everything related to link checking could be disabled (grayed-out or however you do it), unless the option is checked? That way, one checkbox turns it on and off yet still preserving the settings.

That sounds interesting. There is an Options->Offline Mode setting. I wonder if that would do what you want? I'm afraid that such an option as you suggest may make things too complicated.

[RSteinwand]

I think that in this case the option you want is in the Link Checking page of the Options->Editor Options (in v10). Do you have the "Automatically check links in the background" option unchecked?

Hi Albert. No, I wasn't aware of that setting. I assumed all the link checking settings were in that one area.

Yes, that fixed it.

Are you using v10? I bet you could use the link checking if you setup some path mappings in the Link Checking->Path Mapping page of the Validator Engine Options. Setting up paths will help CSE HTML Validator check the correct link.

Yes. Like I said, link checking is not important to me. In the past you've mentioned adding special code to each file and I didn't think it was worth the trouble. I have over 70 css file for example, each with links to images. Adding a path would be easier. I'll check into it when I get a chance.

There is an Options->Offline Mode setting. I wonder if that would do what you want?

Based on the description, that's exactly what I needed. I didn't know what that did until now.

I suspect either setting will fix the problem.

Thanks for your time.

[Albert Wiersch]

Hi Albert. No, I wasn't aware of that setting. I assumed all the link checking settings were in that one area.

Yes, that fixed it.

Great, I'm glad that did it. I've added a NOTE in the Link Checking options page in the Validator Engine Options:
NOTE: The option to disable automatic background link checking in the editor is in the Editor Options, not the Validator Engine Options.

[RSteinwand]

I wonder if Offline Mode should be the default setting, with a warning that CSE will be hitting your server when it's turned on? I've heard of some problems with search engines hitting all the links on dynamic pages.

[Albert Wiersch]

I wonder if Offline Mode should be the default setting, with a warning that CSE will be hitting your server when it's turned on? I've heard of some problems with search engines hitting all the links on dynamic pages.

Hello Rick,

Thanks for the suggestion, however, at this point, I don't think that would be the best option. It's been that way for years and I've had virtually no negative feedback on it. I think defaulting it to off would be more confusing and problematic as people will wonder why it's not working (of course I could try to work around this with more messages and tips, but I think there may be too many of those already).

[CA Traveler]

After initially enabling link checking how do I now disable it for batch mode?

In the editor link checking both boxes are unchecked. In the validator link checking all boxes are unchecked. What else do I need to do?

[Albert Wiersch]

After initially enabling link checking how do I now disable it for batch mode?

Hello,

In the Batch Wizard, link checking is enabled or disabled in the Batch Wizard Options, Tool to Use page.

[CA Traveler]

Thanks