F. Nelson Stover, Intelligent Technologies, Inc.

The SQL database is on the application server -- a dedicated machine.  The WCM site is on a web server.  The two machines are in the same building connected to a hub and firewall.

Our web server is at a data center accessing the application server and the data server through a VPN. I have noticed by removing much of the styles in the standard templates greatly improves the performance. We have not gone live with our WCM sites because we have ran into various issues, however we would really like to go live with two of our sites by the end of this month. Are you guys having any other issues?

1. Telerik Editor hangs once an images is used in the content. As long as the content does not contain images it works fine. We can only edit content with images only from the web server.
2. When editing content from the Web View if we upload files or images the files get uploaded to the application server and not the web server.
3. We have had various issues with stability. The site errors sporadically. With no obvious cause.
4. We have problem with performance
5. We have issues with errors in the publishing service, along with the publishing service stopping and having to be restarted.
6. Editing content takes an extreme amount of time.
7. We can't do direct links to PDFs or file uploads. When we upload file content in a content record it creates a content record with a link to the PDF instead of going directly to the file.
8. We have an issue with a limited amount of characters in content records.
9. We are limited on the amount of web parts we have in a content record based on the type of content it is.

Please let me know if you have ran into or have any suggestions about any of these issues.

Thanks,

Andie

Andie,

#2 at least is currently "just the way it works". You will need to upload any images to the public server as well, since those images are currently not stored in the database. #1 is probably related to #2 -- also, note that when you insert an image into content, you will probably want to manually edit the HTML source and change the image's URL to remove the "/imis15/" and replace it with "[Root]" -- that will ensure that even if your public and app servers use different virtual directory names, the image still gets the right URL when published. (It will look broken in the RadEditor, but should publish fine).

For #3 and 5, you'll want to check any .log files in the bin\ folder, as well as the Windows Application Event logs, for any errors and include those in reports to TS.

For #7, you can always take the link that gets produced and use it directly in other content; it should work fine.

#8 and 9 are known issues that should hopefully be resolved soon.

Hi Eric,

The reason I suspect #1 is related to #2 is that it sounds like trying to edit content with images in it hangs when editing on the public server; the issue would be that the image doesn't exist on the public server (due to #2).

I absolutely understand the frustration with not auto-copying images (and, for that matter, master pages, theme files, etc). It's one of the warts on WCM we did not manage to resolve prior to GA. Please feel free to pester your favorite ASI Product Manager with requests to replace this with an automated process--the more they hear it, the more likely it is they'll ask us to work on it. :)

I didn't mean to imply that WCM didn't have performance issues; there certainly are ways we can improve on this (and are).

For #7, AFAIK we based this on how eCM worked, lacking any better ideas at the time. If you have other use cases or better suggestions, again, your friendly neighborhood ASI PM will, I'm sure, be happy to hear them. :)

• The WYSIWYG editor works when you are editing content while on the web server, but nowhere else. The only other way we can edit the content in is to delete and re-create it.
• It only hangs when images are in the content. I have a content record with a flash in it using the flash manager and it edits fine.
• I have three websites setup and they all have the same issue.
• The sites are on a standalone WCM web server accessing the database and the application server through a VPN.

Andie, we found and fixed a similar issue recently, I don't know if it's the same one you're seeing or not.

Make sure the file Net/RadControls/Window/Skins/WebBlue/CssImg/RadWWrapperBodyLeft.gif exists on all the relevant servers. If it doesn't, copy it from the appserver.

The files are already on both servers.

I am able to get the Telerik editor to work on content with an image on a machine that I have IE8 on. Do you think there could be an issue with IE7?

It's entirely possible; both the CSS and javascript engines have updates (my guess would be the JS engine, especially if it still works in IE7 compatibility mode).

Hi Eric,

Is there anything that can be done to resolve this isse? Is this something that ASI is going to work out?

Thanks,

Andie

You'll probably have to work with TS on that one; I don't know if it's been reported or not.

Andie, we've been looking at this issue and are having trouble finding a solution we can put in the code. (Although it appears that the upcoming 15.1.2 release doesn't exhibit the issue, so that's something to look forward to.)

One thing we've discovered is that if you click the surf to edit button, let it sit there for a few minutes, then close the (hanging) dialog box and click Configure on the web part, it should load (it is for us, anyway).

Once that happens, you can use the STE icon just fine -- on that computer. There's some script or other resource that's taking too long to download or something; once IE has cached it, it seems to work fine, it's just that first time (on an individual PC). You may need to verify that IE is set to use cached scripts (make sure the cache setting is not set to "check every time").

Let me know, just as a data point, if you can get the workaround to work for you; we'll keep trying to resolve it here.

You might also try copying the file Net\AsiCommon\Controls\AtomPainter2\Scripts\Tools.js from the appserver to the WCM server; that may or may not have any bearing on the issue (in case it's not clear, this is a very frustrating issue to resolve ;)).

Hi Eric,

We have found that when we login as Administrator on the local machine the Telerik editor works. I am leaning toward it being a permissions issue.

Thanks,

Andie

From our testing, the local machine works regardless of who you log in as -- which explains why we never see this in development and have to resort to all kinds of weird test environments to debug. ;)

I believe it's a timing issue -- the web part editor window is waiting for some resource (js/css/image/something) and somehow doesn't detect that it finished. Then when you hit it the second time, it's cached, so it doesn't have to download it. We're not seeing it over fast links either (which helps explain why appservers aren't showing the problem, although I *have* duplicated it on an appserver over a slow link), even on standalone WCM servers.

These are all still very wild guesses, since we've spent a lot of time watching HTTP traffic, logs, and debugging live code to no real effect as of yet. :(

it might be that it works when logged on as an Administrator, but not as a different user because of IE settings in that user's Windows Profile.

How can we target which settings might be causing this?

The most likely culprit is probably the IE caching settings (Tools > Internet Options > Browsing History > Settings, make sure it's set to Automatically check for newer copies of stored pages, not either of the Every Time settings).

Other than that I guess it would be mostly trial and error. :(

I always have my browsers set to check for newer copy of stored pages. I am going to do a side by side comparison on a machine that works and let you know how it turns out. I'm still not convinced that's what it is, but there is only one way to rule it out. Thanks for your help!

andie

This may come as a surprise but the one setting I found to be different on the machine that worked was this particular setting. It was set Automatically on the machine that worked. I tried it on my machine and it worked. The setting does not need to be Every Time. this is what is causing the hang.

Right, that's what I was trying to say. :)

We're tracking down exactly which files are causing the issue; I think we have it narrowed down.

Carolyn Mize

We have the need to load a large number of PDF files on a new website using WCM.  I am wondering if anyone has found a creative solution to this.  As far as I can tell there are two ways it can be done, but neither is a good solution.

1. Load the PDF as a separate piece of content and include a link to the URL for the PDF in the page where it should be displayed.  When you do this, it takes 4 clicks to finally have the PDF open because it presents a separate page for the PDF itself, after selecting the link on the display page.

2. Load the PDF as a second piece of content on the page where it is going to be displayed.  When you do this, it only takes 2 clicks to open the PDF which is better from an end-user perspective.  However, if the PDF needs to be displayed on multiple pages, you have to load it to each page.  In this case, they do need to be displayed in multiple places.

Any additional insights would be appreciated.  Thank you, Carolyn

You can actually mix the two to good effect. Add the PDF as a ContentFile to one content record. Save and publish that content record, and then copy the URL for the PDF link from that published content. You can link to that URL from any other content and it will successfully download, so that it's only uploaded once but you can link to it from any number of places.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Carolyn Mize

Yes, I understand that the method you described works.  However it takes 3 clicks (I mispoke when I said 4 in my first comment) to finally have the PDF open.  The client thinks that is totally unacceptable.  Is there a way to keep the second page from displaying and go straight to opening the PDF?  If so, then yes, this is a great solution.  Carolyn

I'm not sure what you mean by "3 clicks". Adding a ContentFile web part and publishing, then clicking the link in the published page, opens the Save/Open/Cancel dialog directly for me. (This might depend on what PDF reader -- Adobe or Foxit or something else -- you have installed and what its settings are, though.)

Once you have that first page, you can right-click the link to the PDF (which should have a URL similar to http://server/imis15/CMDownload.aspx?ContentKey=b0958793-b0dd-497c-bf20-316dd53b7492&ContentItemKey=a5d5302e-518a-41cd-9492-c1f5e681b6cb) and reuse that link in any ContentHTML web part you like, without having to reupload the PDF at all.

Does that clarify?

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Carolyn Mize

3 clicks refers to the web user trying to read the PDF file, not the process of adding it to the site.

The scenario is as follows:

1. There is a page with some summary information about the PDF and a link to the PDF.  The first click is to select the link to the PDF.

2. Then the user sees a landing page for the PDF which only shows the title of the PDF and (Adobe PDF) underneath the title, as shown below.

A Closer Look at Allergies
(Adobe PDF File)

The second click is to click on "A Closer Look at Allergies".

3. Then the popup window displays asking if you want to open or save the file.  The third click is to select either open or save.  If you click open, the PDF opens.

Is there a way to bypass the second page and go directly from the first click to the popup to either open or save the PDF?  If there is a parameter that would make it skip this page, then this scenario would be ideal.

If you load the PDF directly to the display page, as opposed to putting in the link to the URL for the PDF content on the display page, the user only has to click twice without a second landing page being displayed.

I hope this clarifies what I am talking about.  Carolyn

Yes. Rather than adding the ContentFile web part directly to the content record, add it to some dummy content record (that you never link to -- but you can also use this trick to link from other content records to a file uploaded to a "live" content record as well). Publish that content, then open the published content's ASPX page (by clicking the link on its Edit page).

Right click the link to the PDF (the "A Closer Look at Allergies" link in your example) and select Copy Shortcut from the context menu. Then, when you create the ContentHtml web part thatyou actually want to link to the PDF in, insert a hyperlink, and as the address use the copied hyperlink. (The URL will look something like the example I posted).

That way, the user who is reading the content can click the link and immediately get the Open/Save/Cancel dialog rather than having to click to the content record that actually hosts the ContentFile.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Thanks

I don't know of any planned improvements, but you're always welcome to communicate with product management and TS about desired improvements. :)

The other option is to enable the Document Manager in the HTML editor and use that to upload/insert links to files. You can do that by editing the ToolsFile.xml file(s) in the website.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Carolyn Mize

I had found the Document Manager in the documentation for the editor and had tried to see if it worked, but the option is grayed out.  If the Document Manager in the editor works, why is it not already enabled.  Has it actually been tested to see that it works with the rest of WCM?  If we turn it on, will it be supported if there are problems or will it be viewed as a customization that we have done?   

It's not enabled by default for two reasons. One, we never tested it, so it's not supported and will be considered a customization.

Two, in the initial release of 15.1.1, uploading files that way behaved just like uploading images using the image manager (those files/images are not auto-copied to other WCM servers and thus would have to be reuploaded to every server manually). This is no longer a concern as of the most recent 15.1.1 patch and in 15.1.2, since WCM now detects that you've linked to a local file or image and does auto-copy.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Carolyn Mize

Can you provide some additional instructions on how to enable it?  We just looked for the place to enable it and did not find it..  Once it is turned on, where should we expect to see it displayed to access it?  Will it appear in the left nav like Manage Images or will it only be visible in the editor?  If only in the editor, which type of content should be selected in order to use it? 

You'll need to edit the file Net\RadControls\Editor\ToolsFile.xml.

Find the following line:

		<tool name="ImageManager" shortcut="CTRL+G"></tool>

Add the following line directly below it, then save the file. You do not need to restart IIS. The file manager will appear as an icon when editing ContentHTML web parts.

		<tool name="DocumentManager"></tool>

You can also add the MediaManager the same way.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Hi Eric,

Is there any information on the additional tools that can be added to the Telerik editor?

Thanks,
Andie

Hi Eric,

Is there an additional step to the process? I have the file manager turned on but it's not allowing me to upload documents or create folders. The upload tab is disabled and if I click to create a new folder it says create is not allowed. Actually it looks like it's not getting set to any specific path.

Thanks,
Andie

As far as I know it should work. Make sure that the CM.ImagePath variable is set (in System Setup > Set up content management) to a valid subpath that the NETWORK SERVICE user has full control over.

Regarding other tools, see http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet/editor/usintthetoolsfile.html for the full documentation.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

The image path is set, and all of the other tools work except for that one. Is it working for you guys?

Thanks,

Andie

It looks like we don't correctly set the path for the Document Manager. We do for the Image and Media Managers, but not for that one.

You might be able to get it to work by opening the Net\AsiCommon\Controls\ContentManagement\ContentDesigner\ContentHtmlEdit.ascx file and changing this:

 <asiweb:BusinessHtmlEditor ID="BodyInput" runat="server" BoundPropertyName="Body" CssClass="HtmlEditor"></asiweb:BusinessHtmlEditor>

to this:

<asiweb:BusinessHtmlEditor ID="BodyInput" runat="server" BoundPropertyName="Body" CssClass="HtmlEditor" DocumentsPaths="~/images" UploadDocumentsPaths="~/images" DeleteDocumentsPaths="~/images"></asiweb:BusinessHtmlEditor>

You can use a different directory if you prefer, of course.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

That is awesome Eric, it's exactly what we were looking for. Why can't TS be more like you?!  Thanks so much for your help.

Thanks,
Andie

TS is much better at their job than I would ever be. ;) Their bad luck is that since they don't work on the code they have to work with the documentation they're given and whatever they're able to learn on their own and from webcasts etc. I have a few advantages in that I actually wrote some of this stuff, so I'm intimately aware of exactly what it does and how it works -- and when I'm not sure, I can go look, another thing TS doesn't have going for them (while we could give them read access to the source, without being programmers and specifically programmers very familiar with the iMIS code, that wouldn't really help them).

Glad to hear it's working!

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

I agree and I was just giving them a hard time, it's just that patients isn't my strong point. :) We really do appreciate your help and theirs as well.

Carolyn Mize

Eric, Thank you for your help on this.  We have it working now and it is doing exactly what we were looking for.  Is this going to be turned on as part of the application in a future release or do I need to report it to TS to get it included.  Thanks again, Carolyn

Hi Eric,

I am having this same problem with 15.1.2, and the resolution giving in your post is working. Any idea's why the document manager isn't working?

Thanks,

Andie

Andie, I assume you mean it is not working in 15.1.2? We changed versions of the Telerik controls between 15.1.1 and 15.1.2, so the needed changes are different.

For 15.1.2 and up, you would need to insert the following between the <asiweb:BusinessHtmlEditor> and </asiweb:BusinessHtmlEditor> tags:

<DocumentManager ViewPaths="~/Documents" UploadPaths="~/Documents/New" DeletePaths="~/Documents/New/Articles,~/Documents/New/News" />

You can likewise add a similar <SilverlightManager... /> tag to control the paths for the Silverlight dialog, if you have them enabled. The paths for the Media and Flash managers should already be set to the CM.ImagePath, but if you want them set to a different value you can try adding <FlashManager... /> and <MediaManager... /> tags as well.

If that doesn't work (I haven't tried it), it may be due to the way we're setting file paths with the new version; you would need to get TS involved to have the issue fixed in an update.

Eric Means
System Architect, ASI

Yeap that's what I meant and the solution worked great. Thanks for your help!

Andie

We just completed the upgrade to 15.1.3.6699 and the Document Manager has again gone vacant. Did the Telluric editor change again that it wouldn't be using these same settings?

Telerik did change from 15.1.2 to 15.1.3, but it appears to be a smaller upgrade with less earth-shaking changes in approach.

The particular file you have to update was probably overwritten by the upgrade as well -- make sure it includes the necessary changes.  This is a standard problem with editing files distributed by ASI -- you will likely have to edit them again after every upgrade, and potentially after any minor update if that file was part of a fix.

--
Bruce Wilson
Director, Technical Services
RSM McGladrey, Inc.

Hi Eric,

Where do I go to change the maximum file size that can be uploaded by the DocumentManager?

Thanks,

Andie