Unique
IDs
Full Paths
Identifying Full Paths and Unique IDs
Resources
Web Crossing assigns unique ID numbers to users, folders, chat rooms, and discussions when they are created. The idea is to take a short unique ID and map it to the underlying object so Web Crossing can find it quickly. A uniqueID is a hexadecimal number (base-16, commonly used in computer applications).
You won't see unique IDs for users unless you export a discussion (and look at the SGML format) or a user list (and choose "unique IDs" in the list of user attributes to export). However, unique IDs for discussions and folders are visible at the end of URLs all over Web Crossing. It's the seven- or eight-digit number beginning with a period and, usually, "ee." Some examples are .ee6b9d8 or .ee6b295.
The advantage of using unique IDs in URLs you construct are three:
- If you move items around within your forum, your links will still work if you've used a unique ID to construct the link.
- If you use very long folder and discussion names, you won't exceed the 255-character limit on URLs imposed by some browsers.
- You can link to a specific discussion or even a specific message in that discussion, which you can't do with Full Paths.
You can find a unique ID for any individual chat room, folder, or discussion by going to that location and checking the location bar in your browser for the seven-digit hex number at the end of the URL, or by exporting a list using Export.
Unique IDs are always identified by a leading period.
Full Paths are simply the full names of all the folders in which a another folder lies. For instance, if you have a folder named Books, and inside that, Fiction Books, and inside that, Women, and inside that, a folder named Feminist Fiction, the Full Path to that folder would be:
/Books/Fiction Books/Women/Feminist Fiction
To actually use this in an URL, however, it needs to be a folder you're referencing, (it doesn't work with discussions or messages), and it needs to be URL-encoded. This means that URL-unfriendly characters are "escaped" with different ones the browser can handle. So a space is URL-encoded and changed to "%20" in each instance. Using URL-encoding, our Full Path now looks like this:
/Books/Fiction%20Books/Women/Feminist%20Fiction
Full Paths are always identified by a leading slash.
Identifying URL-Encoded Full Paths and Unique IDs
If you want to find the Unique IDs and Full Paths for everything in your site, go to the top level of your site and choose Export (OR to the Control Panel > Site Management > Export site information). From there, choose Unique IDs and Paths for all Folders and Discussions. A text file called expPaths will be generated in your webx system directory containing both the Unique ID numbers and the URL-encoded Full Paths for all your Web Crossing locations.
Web CrossingFAQ:
Sysop Documentation
Sysop Control Panel