December 2001 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Release Notes for the General Release of ERL WebSPIRS 5 for Sun Solaris, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Red Hat Linux =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ========================= About these Release Notes ========================= These Release Notes should be read together with the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide. This is available in PDF format from the ftp site (see Section 1 below). You will need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available from http://www.adobe.com) to view the guide. The ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide contains full details of how to install and configure ERL WebSPIRS 5. You should download that document before you start to install WebSPIRS. These Release Notes contain the following additional information (along with other items listed in the Contents): * Any downloading and installation information that is specific to this release. * Any late-breaking information about WebSPIRS that has not yet been included in the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide. * Details of features that are new or are changed in this release. * Details of known issues in this release. Additional WebSPIRS Documentation --------------------------------- In addition to these release notes, and the Administrator's Guide, the following other items are available: * WebSPIRS online help system: provides detailed,user-oriented information on searching with ERL WebSPIRS 5. * WebSPIRS Administration Tool online help system: provides detailed, user-oriented information on configuring ERL WebSPIRS 5. =-=-=-=- Contents =-=-=-=- 1. Downloading the Software 2. Requirements 3. Installing and Configuring WebSPIRS v5.0 4. Late-Breaking Information 5. New Features and Changes in this Release 6. Known Issues in this Release 7. Contacting SilverPlatter Technical Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. Downloading the Software =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Downloading the Beta Release software using ftp: --------------------------------------------------- 1. Use anonymous ftp to connect to SilverPlatter's site: ftp.silverplatter.com 2. Login with username: betatest and password: feedback. 3. Change to the /swbeta/webspirs5/OS directory, where OS is solaris, linux, or nt. 4. Make sure you will download the file as a binary file. (To do this, enter bin) 5. Download the file from the directory. (To do this, enter mget *. You are prompted to enter y to download the file.) The file (ws5_0) will download into whatever is your local directory. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 2. Requirements =-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Full details of the hardware requirements for installing and running WebSPIRS are given in the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide. This release has been tested on the following supported platforms: NT 4 with service pack 6 Windows 2000 Solaris 7 and 8 Linux Red Hat 7 The following is a summary of the requirements: * ERL 5.0 Beta 2 or higher IMPORTANT:WebSPIRS 5 does not work with ERL Server 4.11 * 65 MB of hard disk space * 4MB of available RAM per simultaneous user, and a minimum of 128MB of total installed RAM. * A WebSPIRS-compatible browser: - Internet Explorer 4.0 on Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows NT - Netscape 4.7 on Windows 98, Windows 2000, or Windows NT - Netscape 4.7 or higher (excluding Netscape 6) on Macintosh As WebSPIRS 5 uses cookies, we recommend that you set your browser to accept cookies. If all cookies are disabled, WebSPIRS functions correctly, but generates larger sized pages. To ensure optimal performance of WebSPIRS v5.0, we recommend that it is used with browsers running on these platforms. You may experience problems using browsers on other platforms. NOTE: The browser's JavaScript capabilities must be enabled at all times. Java must be enabled only if you subscribe to SilverPlatter full text databases that use the Table of Contents feature. * You will be asked to provide the Hostname or IP address of the ERL server you want WebSPIRS to access during the WebSPIRS installation. You must enter a valid internet address, either a hostname or an IP address. Consult your ERL system administrator if you do not know the internet address of your ERL server. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 3. Installing and Configuring WebSPIRS v5.0 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Installing WebSPIRS =================== Details of how to install the WebSPIRS software are given in Chapter 3 of the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide (w5adgd.pdf). Details of how to configure the WebSPIRS software are given in Chapters 5 and 6 of the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide (w5adgd.pdf). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 4. Late-Breaking Information =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- (not in this release) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 5. New Features and Changes in this Release =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * Easy-to-use new interface * Improved performance and scalability * Industry standard Java technologies * Support for Personal Users * Support for LinkWizard links * Support for metadata-enabled databases * Deduplication functionality * Filtering by Availability functionality * Table of Contents functionality * Conversion tool for converting WebSPIRS 4.3 configurations to WebSPIRS 5.0 Details of how to use the conversion tool are given in Chapter 7 of the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide (w5adgd.pdf) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 6. Known Issues in this Release =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Important performance note -------------------------- The first time that you use WebSPIRS 5 you will experience slow performance as the WebSPIRS pages are compiled. Performance improves greatly on second and subsequent runs. Browser caching for Internet Explorer 5.0 and Netscape Navigator 4.x -------------------------------------------------------------------- Some browser cache settings can interfere with the proper operation of WebSPIRS 5. If you set the cache so that new versions of the pages are never checked against cached versions, WebSPIRS 5 will not operate correctly. This cache setting should not be used with WebSPIRS 5. Rarely, when using Internet Explorer 5.0 (not 5.5) with the browser set to check for new versions of stored pages "Automatically", WebSPIRS 5 may not operate correctly. We recommended that you set your browser cache as described below. * Internet Explorer 5.0: Select Tools/Options from the menu and click on the "Settings" button in the "Temporary Internet Files" section. In the radio button group "Check for new versions of stored pages", select "Every visit to the page". * Netscape Navigator 4.x: Select Edit/Preferences from the menu and open "Advanced". Click on "Cache". In the radio button group "Document in cache is compared to document on network", select "Every Time". Memory size ----------- The installer prompts you for the size of the physical memory of your machine in Megabytes. If you do not know how much memory is in your machine use one of the following commands: * Solaris: prtconf (usually /etc/prfconf). Total memory is the second line printed * Linux: free -mo Total memory in megabytes is the first number printed * Windows: Right click on the taskbar or press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and select "Task Manager". Select the "Performance" tab. The total memory in Kilobytes is shown in the "Physical Memory" group on the right hand side of the window. Divide by 1024 to get the total memory in megabytes. The physical memory size affects the number of simultaneous users that WebSPIRS will support. Four megabytes of physical memory are required for each user. We recommend that you do not install WebSPIRS on a machine with less than 128 Mb of memory. If you install WebSPIRS on a machine with 64Mb of memory it will automatically be configured to support only 1 user. We do not recommended that you run dbserver on the same machine as WebSPIRS. However, if you want to do this, you should enter a smaller amount of memory than the full amount of system memory, for example, half the system memory. Entering an incorrect value for the physical memory size will cause unpredictable performance problems. Important: 1800 Mb is the maximum that works reliably. Memory usage ------------ WebSPIRS allocates a block of virtual memory for itself when it starts. By default it allocates a block of virtual memory of about 20Mb. WebSPIRS also has a parameter that specifies the maximum amount of virtual memory that it will use. By default this is set to the size of physical memory entered during the installation procedure. If you run dbserver or other software on the same machine you may want to reduce this. To do this edit the file /tomcat/bin/startup.sh. Edit the TOMCAT_OPTIONS variable and change the value of the following parameters: -Xms - minimum amount of virtual memory used by WebSPIRS -Xmx - maximum amount of virtual memory used by WebSPIRS where is a number followed by the letter ‘m’ (for megabytes) or ‘g’ (for gigabytes). For example, to set the minimum amount of memory used by WebSPIRS to 512 megabytes and the maximum to 768 megabytes, use -Xms512m -Xmx768m. To set the minimum and maximum amounts of memory to 3 gigabytes, use -Xms3g -Xmx3g. Do not alter any of the other parameters in the TOMCAT_OPTIONS setting. (Windows 2000/NT) Installer problems on systems with 16 color displays ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WebSPIRS cannot be installed on systems with 16 color displays. This is a known limitation of the Java runtime, which prevents any GUI Java program from starting on 16 color displays. A workaround is to alter the display settings to a mode that supports 256 colors or more. For systems using the generic VGA driver it may be necessary to download and install a new display driver. Console Window -------------- Do not suspend output in the WebSPIRS console window. This may cause WebSPIRS to appear to hang. On Windows 2000 it is possible to suspend output in the console window simply by clicking on it. This puts the window into "select" mode. You can avoid this by changing the properties of the WebSPIRS console window. To do this, select "Properties" from the window’s system menu, select the "Options" tab and turn off "QuickEdit Mode". Delay using the goto or page back/forward buttons to display available ---------------------------------------------------------------------- records ------- When the records display is set to show only records available in the library, and a hotlink is followed, a delay may occur on the first use of the goto or page back/forward buttons on the main records display. Subsequent use of the buttons is as expected. Deduplication not indicated when duplicates are on more than one ERL server --------------------------------------------------------------------------- When databases are opened on several ERL servers and the display is set to show deduplicated records, the deduplication takes place only within each server. A record which appears in a database on server A will not be indicated as a duplicate of the same record appearing in a database on server B. Admin tool does not display newly converted customers: (13159) ----------------------------------------------------- If the WebSPIRS 5.0 system is left running whilst customer configurations are converted from 4.3 using the conversion script, entries for the converted customers will not be shown in the WebSPIRS admin tool until WebSPIRS is stopped and restarted. The configurations will be active however and customers can log into their accounts using WebSPIRS. A workaround is add the following line: <% webspirsConfig.init(); %> just before the entry in the file "OrganisationListNavigation.jsp", which can be found in: WS5_INSTALL_DIR/tomcat/webapps/webspirs/admin/OrganisationList/ Now the admin tool displays the converted customers without the need to restart WebSPIRS. (Windows 98 and IE 5.0) Problems displaying accounts and organizations in ------------------------------------------------------------------------- WebSPIRS Administration Tool: (13132) ---------------------------- Using Internet Explorer 5.0 on Windows 98, the WebSPIRS Administration Tool only displays the first page of Accounts and Organizations. A workaround is to use Internet Explorer 4.0. Incorrect results when first running SDIs after conversion: (13131) ---------------------------------------------------------- Running SDIs on WebSPIRS 4.3, converting them, mounting more databases, and running the WebSPIRS 5 update script results in the FIRST set of results for each SDI reporting an incorrect list of new databases and returns records that have been reported already. Subsequent SDI runs will return the correct database list and results. A workaround is as follows: Immediatley after converting a Webspirs 4.3 configuration to WebSPIRS 5.0, using the conversion utility, run the SDIUpdate script (in the root of the WebSPIRS5 install directory) with the parameter "*A". This updates all the SDI files in the WebSPIRS 5.0 system. e.g. /opt/webspirs-5.0/SDIUpdate.sh http://hostname:8595/webspirs "*A" If the mail server has been defined for the newly converted customer, this operation will result in mail messages being sent for the converted SDIs. These messages confirm the databases added between the creation of the SDI and its last run, but no new records will be reported. Adding additional databases and rerunning the SDIUpdate script will function as expected. Alerts users receive too many e-mails if SDIs are configured to split up ------------------------------------------------------------------------ messages: (13128) -------- Alerts users receive more than one copy of each e-mail, with the exception of the first, if SDI messages are larger than the maximum size of the "Maximum Size (in Kb) before splitting" setting. SDI owners correctly receive one copy of each e-mail. We recommend that you do not configure e-mails to split up if you want to use alerts. Wrong limit fields shown for Pascal BioMed and Scitech databases: (13127) ---------------------------------------------------------------- WebSPIRS displays the following limit fields for the Pascal Biomed and Scitech databases: PA,CP,LA,LS,BL,LT,MT,AI rather than correctly displaying PY,CP,LA,LS,BL,LT,MT,AI A workaround is to edit the WEB-INF/webspirs.properties file. Change the following lines: D93.PBMA=PA,LA,LS,LT,MT,AI;CP,BL D93.PCST=PA,LA,LS,LT,MT,AI;CP,BL to D93.PBMA=PY,LA,LS,LT,MT,AI;CP,BL D93.PCST=PY,LA,LS,LT,MT,AI;CP,BL Omit the trailing slash when entering the WebSPIRS URL in erlsrvr.cfg: --------------------------------------------------------------------- (13051) When entering the WebSPIRS URL in erlsrvr.cfg, you must omit the trailing slash (/). For example, "sdiurl =http://example:8550/webspirs" Can't use the characters < and > when manually editing XML configuration ------------------------------------------------------------------------ files: (13010) ----- The characters < and > must be entered as < and > respectively, when manually editing the XML files. WebSPIRS must be manually started every time the machine is rebooted: -------------------------------------------------------------------- (12969) Administrator's must start WebSPIRS manually every time after the machine on which WebSPIRS is rebooted. SDIs do not run correctly after conversion on Solaris: (12928) ----------------------------------------------------- SDIs, created in WebSPIRS 4.3, and converted using the conversion tool do not always run correctly if the character set has not been changed. Change the character set as follows: The LANG environment variable should be set to one of the entries shown in the directory /usr/lib/locale. (e.g. en_US.ISO8859-1 or en_GB.ISO8859-1). This can be done on the system as a whole using the localedef command, or for WebSPIRS 5 in particular by editing the Upgrade43.sh and SDIUpdate.sh scripts in WEBSPIRS5_ROOT/tomcat/bin. The following two lines should be added:- LANG="{locale}" export LANG [ where {locale} is one of the entries in /usr/lib/locale ] e.g. LANG="en_US.ISO8859-1" export LANG TOC can't be used as a default search mode: (12886) ------------------------------------------ Setting the Table of Contents as the search default using the WebSPIRS Administration Tool does not work. Users must first select another tab before they can access the Table of Contents. (UNIX) Error when running the WebSPIRS GUI installer remotely: (12788) ------------------------------------------------------------- You must execute the GUI installer on the machine on which you are installing WebSPIRS. If you are remotely logged on to the machine when executing the installer you must ensure that the permissions on your local machine allow the installer to display. For example, you can execute the command xhost +. This allows any computer to display on your screen. Remember to execute xhost - when finished. Warning: This allows anyone to connect to your X server, which is a potential security risk. See the xhost documentation for finer grain access control. (Mac) Viewing TIFF images: (12738) ------------------------- Some databases contain TIFF images (e.g., CHIP). In Netsape 4.76 for the Mac the default viewer is JPEGView. On recent Mac installations this viewer is not usually present. To change the default viewer: * Go to the Applications panel in the Netscape Preferences. * Find the TIFF Image type. Change the default application to your favourite TIFF viewer. If you are not sure what to choose, most Macs have PictureViewer in the Quicktime folder which should be in the Applications folder. (Mac) Using the TOC feature: (12675) --------------------------- To use the TOC feature on a Mac you need Netscape version 4.76 or later. * You also need at least version 2.2.5 of Mac OS Runtime For Java on your system. To check the version on your system go to your system disk and open the Apple Extras folder. This contains the "Mac OS Runtime For Java" folder, inside of which is an About file the name of which indicates the installed version. * If you are running an earlier version, go to the Apple site to upgrade. You should find a link to the download from http://www.info.apple.com/support/downloads.html * You will then need to download and install the MRJ plugin from http://www.mozilla.org/oji/MRJPlugin.html * Then go to the Advanced tab on the Netscape preferences. Ensure the checkboxes next to "Enable Java" and "Enable Java PlugIn" are checked. Suggest username and password problems: (11147) -------------------------------------- The suggest user name and password feature does not work for server qualified entries in webspirs.cfg if the server name is not specified in the correct case. The workaround is put the server names in lowercase. This does not affect how server names are displayed in the login screen. GUI Installer does not work with Red Hat 7.0 and KDE 2.1.0: (12614) ---------------------------------------------------------- The WebSPIRS GUI installer does not work with a combination of Red Hat 7.0 and KDE 2.1.0. The workaround is to use the console mode installer as follows: ./ws5_0.bin -i console For details of how to install WebSPIRS using the console mode see Chapter 3 of the ERL WebSPIRS 5 Administrator's Guide (w5adgd.pdf). Installer problems with Red Hat 7.0: (12613) ----------------------------------- Running the installer with the -i console option causes a segmentation fault. This does not occur with Redhat 7.1. Problems resizing the main help window in Netscape: (12082) --------------------------------------------------- If the main help window is displaying help content in its right pane, resizing the help window generates an error. A workaround is to close and reopen the help window. Does not return to record display after saving or printing records: ------------------------------------------------------------------- (11302) After saving or printing records the user is not returned to the record display as expected. (Windows 95) Opening help from Important Message window gives JavaScript ------------------------------------------------------------------------ error: (11633) ----- Clicking the Help button on the Important Message window produces a JavaScript error. Graphical installer warning problems under Solaris: (12698) --------------------------------------------------- In Solaris, when using the graphical installer, the following erroneous warning information on the pre-installation screen: Warning: Name: HorScrollBar Class: XmScrollBar The specified scrollbar value is greater than the maximum scrollbar value minus the scrollbar slider size Installation continues as expected despite this warning. No error message at jumpstart for 2nd ERLl server when user limit ----------------------------------------------------------------- reached:(12470) ------- When jumpstarting using two servers the same username and password, if the login quota is reached for one of the two servers there is no error message given. The system does the search (from the webspirs.cfg file) and uses the server whose login quota is not reached. Browsing a Table of Contents quickly causes an error: (12475) ---------------------------------------------------- Browsing Table of Contents entries too fast displays the WebSPIRS error page. Re-running last search automatically after applying a search limit can ---------------------------------------------------------------------- be confusing: (12478) ------------ Doing a search, applying a limit, and then clicking 'Change Limits' immediately re-runs the search using the new limits. The user should be informed that this is the case. Netscape problem when selecting a Full Text record from the TOC: (12483) --------------------------------------------------------------- After opening a database with a Table of Contents and selecting the database from the TOC database drop-down list, selecting successive levels within the Table of Contents displays a number of full text icons. Selecting one of the icons can cause the browser to hang. Clicking on Continue can display a blank screen: (12485) ----------------------------------------------- Clicking on continue can display a blank screen. The workaround is to click on the browser back button and then click Continue; this restores the session. No word wrapping when printing TOC Full text record: (12496) --------------------------------------------------- There is no word wrapping when printing full text records from the Table of Contents window. This results in much of the text missing in the printout. A workaround is to print the records in landscape mode. SDI creation not prompting for an email address: (12524) ----------------------------------------------- SDIs can be created without specifying an email address. Accented characters displayed as question marks on Solaris: (12306) ---------------------------------------------------------- Sometimes foreign and accented characters are displayed in WebSPIRS as '?' on Solaris systems. This occurs when the LANG environment variable of the Solaris system is set to a character set that does not contain these characters. The LANG environment variable can be examined by using the locale command. The LANG environment variable should be set to one of the entries shown in the directory /usr/lib/locale. (e.g. en_US.ISO8859-1 or en_GB.ISO8859-1). This can be done on the system as a whole using the localedef command, or for WebSPIRS 5 in particular by editing the startup.sh script in WEBSPIRS5_ROOT/tomcat/bin. The following two lines should be added before the line calling tomcat.sh :- LANG="{locale}" export LANG [ where {locale} is one of the entries in /usr/lib/locale ] e.g. LANG="en_US.ISO8859-1" export LANG After stopping and restarting Tomcat the foreign characters should be displayed correctly. The Weblh field is not displayed in 'Get Full Text' pop-up window: ----------------------------------------------------------------- (12302) After searching full-text databases (e.g., OSH Part C & DIF), the results displayed records with "Get Full Text" links. Clicking these links opens a pop-up window that displays only the record title and the database. Searching the same databases, against the same server using WebSPIRS 4.3 yields the same records. But each record displays a "weblink to holding" link in the complete record. Note: the complete record display in WebSPIRS 5 does not contain the weblh either. WebSPIRS can hang on searching from a Thesaurus: (12038) ----------------------------------------------- Sometimes WebSPIRS hangs when searching from a Thesaurus. Change database selection failed: (11906) -------------------------------- The change database selection does not work sometimes. This is because the browser cache settings are set to "automatic". The work around is to set the browser cache as described in "Browser Caching" in this section of the release notes and Chapter 7 of the WebSPIRS Administrator's Guide. Cannot access WebSPIRS 5 SDI pages from WinSPIRS/MacSPIRS: (11709) --------------------------------------------------------- The access of WebSPIRS 5 SDI and Alert pages from WinSPIRS and MacSPIRS has not yet been implemented. Does not return to record display after saving records: (11302) ------------------------------------------------------ After saving records the user is not returned to the record display. Marked records not cleared after Print: (12130) -------------------------------------- Marked records are not cleared automatically after printing when the user has selected this option in the print options screen. This only occurs with browsers other than IE 5.0 and above. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 7. Contacting SilverPlatter Technical Support =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= If you need further assistance with the WebSPIRS software, please send an e-mail to support@silverplatter.com or contact one of SilverPlatter's regional offices: UNITED STATES: SilverPlatter Information, Inc. 100 River Ridge Drive Norwood, MA 02062 Tel: 800-343-0064 781-769-2599 Fax: 781-769-8763 ---------------------------------- LONDON: SilverPlatter Information Ltd Merlin House, 20 Belmont Terrace Chiswick, London W4 5UG England Tel: +44 (0) 20-8585 6400 Fax: +44 (0) 20-8585 6640 ---------------------------------- AMSTERDAM: SilverPlatter Information BV Nieuwe Herengracht 49 1011 RN Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +31 (0)20-625 96 50 Fax: +31 (0)20-623 74 08 ---------------------------------- BERLIN: SilverPlatter Information GmbH Guentzelstrasse 63 D-10717 Berlin Germany Tel: +49 (0)30-857799-0 Fax: +49 (0)30-857799-99 ----------------------------------