TechDoc General Frequently Asked Questions

Questions frequently asked that do not pertain to a particular product

Switch from one SAML IDP to Another With Minimal Impact to Users

You can switch from one SAML Identity Provider (IDP) or even the type of authentication service an authenticator uses with minimal impact to your system or your users. For a major infrastructure change, it can take a while before the new infrastructure is ready and everyone can be transitioned over. So how do you test possibly for a long period of time and then quickly transition users over when your ready?

Our Authentication Identity Provider is Down, Can We Switch to Another One Easily

Yes, you can temporarily (or permanently if need be) switch the Identity Provider or even the type of authentication service an authenticator uses with minimal impact to your system or your users. Consider the following scenario...

Various JavaScript Features Don't Work In My Browser

Many of the UI features in TechDoc require JavaScript to be enabled. The action gear, calendar pop ups, and compose email are just some of the features that will not work without JavaScript.

The most difficult issue is that enabling JavaScript varies by type of browser and even by version of the browser. A very helpful web site for enabling JavaScript on most of the popular browsers can be found at https://www.enable-javascript.com/.

Why do I get the message "Unable to open <your url>. Cannot open the specified file", when I click on a link in a Word document?

This is a known problem with Microsoft Word. You can fix it by either setting your default browser to Internet Explorer or following the directions given by these websites.

"Cannot Locate the Internet Server or Proxy Server" When Clicking Hyperlink
Cannot Follow Hyperlink to Office Document

What TechDoc WWW Interface Callable Command Links can be made directly to the TechDoc document managers from another web page?

Supported calls include:
  • Display Document attributes.
  • Retrieve document and "Launch" Viewer for the Native format or PDF copy of the document
  • Display the Document Status
  • Display a group of documents that meet certain criteria
For the following examples, we will reference a TechDoc Search Manager or Document Manager using https://example.com/servlet/ where https://example.com should be replaced with the URL prefix to your TechDoc Search Manager or Document Manager.

Is there a brief definition for all the fields shown on the Document Status screen?

Field Name
Description
Number:The number of this document.
Revision:The latest revision of this document. If the document has not been released, this field will be blank.
Title:The title of this document.
Doc Type:The document type of this document.

On the Document Status screen what is the difference between the Point of Contact and the Document Owner?

The Point of Contact is the person to contact if there are questions concerning the contents of the document. The Document Owner is the person that put the document in TechDoc. They could possibly be one in the same.

How do I retrieve documents from the Search Results screen?

To retrieve a document from the Search Results screen, in the Revision column, click on the revision name of the document you want to retrieve. Selecting a revision that is Basic, A, etc., will open the latest revision of the document in the PDF format. A revision that is N/A means that the document is still in work and has not been released.

On the Search Results screen what is Hits? What determines the order of the documents?

The Hits column displays the number of occurrences that meets the search criteria. The document number is displayed in weighted order. This means the document with the most hits of the search criteria is displayed first.

How can I find a list of all the document types in a TechDoc system?

All of the document types in a TechDoc system can be found using a URL like this:

https://example.com/servlet/sm.web.ShowLookUpList?table=doctypes&output=...

Replace https://example.com with the URL prefix to your TechDoc Search Manager. The URL will list the document types in each of the Document Managers tied to your Search Manager.

When searching by Document Number are spaces allowed in the number?

No. Instead of spaces use the underscore or dash. Or you can enter the first few characters or digits of the number and use the asterisk (wildcard). For example: when searching for document number KHB_1820.4 instead of entering the entire document number you can just enter KHB* which will return all documents where the document number begins with KHB.

Are there any tips or rules when searching for text?

Entered search termsDescription of the documents returned on the results page
support Each result must contain one of the words from the list of words (support). Since there is only one word in the list, each result must contain the word support.
shuttle support mission Each result must contain one of the words from the list of words (shuttle, support, mission). Documents that

What are some of the features of TechDoc

  • Document Storage
    Any file type (MSOffice, binary, image, etc.) can be checked into TechDoc for management.
     
  • Electronic Notification
    Document owner can define a list of users to be notified when system events occur. System events generated by creations, modifications, deletions, etc.
     
  • History Tracking

What is TechDoc?

Purpose: TechDoc is intended to provide an easy way to manage documents of any type while being web-based, ISO 9000 compliant, NPG 2810.1 compliant, standards based, security customizable to the document level, inexpensive even with thousands of creators and tens of thousands of readers, and portable across hardware, operating systems, databases and browsers.

Why do I get a template error when opening an InfoPath document from TechDoc?

Why do I get a template error when opening an InfoPath document from TechDoc?

This is an InfoPath issue and not an actual TechDoc issue. When an InfoPath document is built using a template, Microsoft expects that template to always be available. If not, you will receive a template error when opening the document whether TechDoc is involved or not.

TechDoc and SharePoint Sometimes Hang when using AVG 2011

We have experienced problems with TechDoc and SharePoint sometimes hanging when using AVG Anti-Virus Business Edition 2011.

The problem is caused by the personal email scanner. It aggressively grabs many ports on the installed system when configured to scan incoming email. The current solution is to not install the personal email scanner or to disable scanning of incoming email in the advanced settings.

We typically use Outlook to read mail so we only install the Outlook email scanner, which does not exhibit the problem.

Why does attempting to install the SQL Server 2008 SP1 fail with an error?

When attempting to install Service Pack 1 on SQL Server 2008, I keep getting the following error:

"Invoke or BeginInvoke cannot be called on a control until the window handle has been created."

There is a flaw with various retail releases of SQL Server 2008 that can cause this problem. Sometimes rerunning the Service Pack multiple times with no other windows open will eventually get past this error.

Am I almost out of memory on Java because it looks like it on on System Info?

Am I almost out of memory on Java because "JVM Free Memory" on the System Info is almost zero?

“JVM Free Memory” doesn’t work how you might expect. Notice that there are three memory values showing on that screen. We’ll describe them in reverse order because that is easiest.

“JVM Max Memory” shows the most memory the Java VM is ever allowed to consume on your server. It is a setting that our installer defines.

Is there a way to have Fetch display a certain Page Number for a PDF File?

A user wanted to know if there is a way to have a specific page number of a PDF file displayed when using a Fetch URL for TechDoc.

This is a tricky one. Depending on the user’s computer that tries to click on it, their browser may or may not actually support it. If their setup doesn’t support it, the PDF file will still open but it will open on page 1 instead of the one you requested. The user can still page backwards or forwards (there is no way to say “show them page 3 to 5 only”).

How do I specify which organization or filter will come up on a Metric Dashboard URL?

How do I specify which organization or filter will come up on a Metric Dashboard URL?

You can use a "org" parameter and/or a "filter" parameter on the Metric Dashboard URL. For example,

To show metrics for all divisions of TA, use:

https://example.com/dm/metric/dashboard.jsp?org=TA

To show metrics only for division TA-C of TA, use:

https://example.com/dm/metric/dashboard.jsp?org=TA-C

Can't save WebDAV password when connecting to TechDoc

Some PCs don't display the "Remember my password" checkbox when using "My Network Places". Is there a way to enable the feature?

We did some research and found out that this problem is tied to the local machine (the client), it doesn't have anything to do with server settings. Some of the articles we came across stated that windows security updates can sometimes cause this to happen (rarely).

Why is TechDoc not in WAR (Web Archive)?

When we released the first Java version of TechDoc, there was no such thing as WAR files. Several years back, we received a request asking that we look into supporting WAR deployment. We restructured the layout of TechDoc a bit and made it WAR deployable, but all of the remaining configuration still had to be performed. When we began trying to setup all of the configuration steps, we found that WAR files were just too simple and did not support all of the features necessary to support an enterprise level product like TechDoc.

How can I prevent someone from printing a document once downloaded?

Once a document has been downloaded from a Document Manager or Search Manager it becomes application specific and TechDoc no longer has control over it. Because of this, TechDoc does not have a way to block the printing of a document. For situations like this, it may be a good idea to use a file format like Adobe PDF when creating/releasing a document. Adobe Acrobat allows you to place security restrictions on a PDF that will block it from being printed by other people.