.htaccess ,please help

[ioannis]

I am totally new on these things . I need some help with this : i am going to have subdomains under my domain which i want to be as individual member areas . That means that each one of the sub domains will require a unique password for for each visitor to gain access . I have talk with iBill and they told me that they can handle this .My point now is the following , i was told to create .htaccess file . Does anybody knows in which directory i have to do that ?
I created a txt file with notepad ,i uploaded it and then i renamed it from htaccess.txt to .htaccess . After that i can't locate it anymore , it is not appearing anywhere inside the directories....
I uploaded the txt file originally in my "domain-www" directory ...
Thank you in advance...

[ThePenguin]

Hi ioannis--

You would need to put an .htaccess and a corresponding .htpasswd file in each of these subdirectories. Here is some info that can help you out:

http://www.websiteresources.com/content/htaccess_password_protection_tutorial/

It's really quite easy. It would probably be much better for you though to edit these files through an SSH connection as they can become hidden when you rename them from the text files via FTP.

Hope that helps....

- Penguin

[petesmc]

Also, .htaccess disappears because we are using Unix..

Do you use a FTP client, if so what one?

Usually you can add a filter, if so, you add a SERVER filter called:

-a

If this doesn't work, create a normal filter called:

*

This shows you the .htaccess file...

here is a nice like tutorial on .htaccess for you that i wrote:

http://www.codingclick.com/article.php?aid=3

[JordanTLClive]

Thanks for that great tip about the mask! I did not know about that and I've been either overwriting the htaccess or using the control panel file manager to get at it.

[Intervisionz]

Most decent FTP clients such as LeapFTP 2.7 have an option to unhide hidden files.
Crappy FTP programs like Cute FTP you have to add it to a list of the files that you want to be able to view.
So you would add *.htaccess.

[petesmc]

CuteFTP isn't crappy...

Second, there are lots more hidden files that just .htaccess and it is only on unix syustems

[gnorthey]

yes, it can't be crappy, *crappy* is a politically incorrect term.

Intead I will say it is 'unable to perform the necessary functions of an FTP program."

I use WS-FTP (puking), but it's at least half decent

[petesmc]

What can't CuteFTP do?

The oly problem i have found with it is the hidden files thingo.

[Intervisionz]

Cute FTP just isnt user friendly and too cluttered. Sorry I should have been clearer instead of saying Crappy.

Everything in it it too hard to find or you have to search all over for something.

With LeapFTP... everything is just there, easy access and very user friendly. Its excellent for the FTP beginer and also the more advanced user.

Take a look at it. Its really good!

[FFWD]

If I have never added a .htaccess file would there be one by default, also do I need to add one to every directory to change the default index file to .php in the subdirectories ? The reason I ask is becuase I don't see one and i'm not sure if i'm just not seeing it.

[jetsetter]

I'm not sure if there will be one or not, but you only need one in the root.

You can have multiple .htaccess files, but only the most specific one, according to the directory, will have control.

If you put it in the diretory /public_html it will work for the whole tree structure.

If you put it in the diretory /public_html/sub_dir it will work for /sub_dir tree structure.

[FFWD]

Thanks jetsetter

I tried something pretty simple, I created a sub-directory and added .htaccess. Then I went to the CP file manager where I could see it, I see no others anywhere else so I figure I can't do any damage by adding a new one in my root.