Subtext FAQ

by Faith A

WebMatrix supports installing open source community applications from the Web Application Gallery, and publishing to hosting providers, including a set of Beta partner hosting providers. This FAQ contains information about installing and publishing, as well as any issues that may occur after publishing.

Installing and Publishing Subtext

How do I install Subtext?

To install Subtext, use the following steps:

  1. Open WebMatrix and select Site from Web Gallery.
  2. Select the Blogs category on the left-hand side.
  3. Find Subtext in the list and install it.
  4. In any workspace, on the Home tab, in the Site group, click Run or press F12 to open the site in your default web browser.
  5. Follow the instructions to complete installation.

How do I publish my Subtext website?

To publish a Subtext website, use the following steps:

  1. In any workspace, on the Home tab, in the Site group, click Publish.
  2. On the Publishing Settings dialog, enter the server info you received from your web host.
  3. Click Validate Connection to ensure that the settings are correct.
  4. Click Publish.
  5. If you have not published your database before, select the Database checkbox.
  6. After previewing the changes, click Continue.

Known Issues

Issue: Subtext gives a "Server Error in '/' Application" when you download a published site

Workaround #1: Open up the site's web.config file and replace the user ID and password in the database connection string with the SQL Server administrator credentials (i.e. "sa" credentials).

Workaround #2: Give the user account you are logged in with db_owner permissions.

  1. Install SQL Server Management Studio using the Web Platform Installer
  2. Connect to your local SQL server (.\SQLEXPRESS by default)
  3. Click Databases > [localSubtextDatabase] > Security > Users > [localSubtextuser - default is "subtextuser"] and right-click for properties. Check the box for "db_owner" in the role membership section.