Debugging Your ManiaLink Creations

As you might know by now, you need to register your ManiaLink pages (ManiaLink_Link) and upload them to a web space. There is however an easier procedure, if you are still designing your pages, which neither involves registering your pages nor uploading every little change before you can actually see it.

All you need is a local web server.

Once you have set up a local web server, all you need to do is to copy your ManiaLink pages to the htdocs directory of the web server, the one where the local web pages do reside. You also can put all your files in a subdirectory of htdocs to keep them properly together. However to access your files, you need to type in the path to them, so the directory name should not be extensively long unless you like to type very much, e.g. TML.

Once the web server is running and you have at least created one ManiaLink page, e.g. home.xml, and put it into the right place to be accessible, start TrackMania United and click on the Manialink menu item in the game. If you move your mouse pointer to the top of the page, the address bar appears and you should see the address ManiaLink:Home.

Assuming the examples from above, a subdirectory TML and a page home.xml, click on the address and enter the following:

http://127.0.0.1/TML/home.xml

You now have local access to your ManiaLink page(s).

It's a great way of playing around and testing stuff without getting real and without even the need to be connected to the internet.

Notes

An easy to install package including a (local) web server is for example XAMPP, but any web server running under Windows will do.

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