Htaccess: if image not exist redirect to coming_soon.jpg

Server Config
1

Hi,

I hate writing mod_rewrite rules and I just end up killing my website when I try to hack it :cry:

I have created a jQuery slide image replacment system (based on a UK map, using image maps).

I need the site to show the images if they exist, but if not show coming_soon.jpg.

Here is what I hacked together myself so far (I know it is crap and wrong):

# regional slides
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/design/images/regional/? [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ coming_soon.jpg [L]

Basically, if the browser (javascript) requests h**p://www.example.com/design/images/regional/cumbria.jpg and it exists, show the image. If the image does NOT exist, serve h**p://www.example.com/design/images/regional/coming_soon.jpg instead (but serve it with the filename cumbria.jpg (or whatever was requested).

AND I only want this rule to apply if the are requesting something from h**p://www.example.com/design/images/regional/*

Any help you can provide the tiny, rotting bit of my brain that is dedicated to url rewriting would be hugely appreciated.

Many thanks,

atw

2

Awww, you’re very close!

Try this:


RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/design/images/regional [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule .? design/images/regional/coming_soon.jpg [L]
3

@ScallioXTX: Thank you for the quick reply.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work.

One point I forgot to mention before is that this is actually running on IIS using ISAPI Rewrite (Helicon Tech - IIS modules and ISAPI filters for URL rewriting and search engine optimization) – I believe that this uses the exact same syntax etc…

4

Hi,

Don’t worry, I had to change a load of other things for another reason and this has allowed me to change my approach and I am now dealing with this as an if statement in the javascript.

Many thanks for your time.

atw

5

atw,

Since you actually wanted to redirect IMAGES to coming_soon.jpg, use image extensions in the regex of the RewriteRule. That should solve your problem with mod_rewrite (EVEN in IIS’s implementation).

Regards,

DK