In this issue of the UserNews, we celebrate the innovative ways clients are using their Laserfiche® systems. In her introductory article, Manager of User Education Regina Carns discusses the Laserfiche Code Library—and explains how it helps IT staff and other developers share their innovative work and build on what others have already accomplished. We also include two articles by IT staff who describe integrations they’ve built between Laserfiche and third-party applications. They then discuss the Code Library and explain how, in their view, the Library strengthens the Laserfiche community.
As you read this issue, we invite you to keep your own organization’s IT personnel in mind. Have they designed Laserfiche integrations or customizations that are indispensable to your organization? If so, please invite them to contribute their work to the Library. We know that your IT staff plays a pivotal role in your organization, and, by featuring their work in the Code Library, we want to recognize their efforts.
| Top Story« Back | |
| » | Celebrating IT Innovation |
| Laserfiche News | |
| » | IT Innovation Helps Wichita Speed Service Delivery |
| » | IT Innovation Helps Claremont Fight Crime |
| » | Reminder: 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference |
| » | New White Paper Helps Municipalities Plan an Enterprise-Wide Installation |
| » | Laserfiche 8™ Beta Program |
| Product Focus | |
| » | WebLink™ |
| New Publications | |
| » | New Support Site Materials |
| Tech Tip | |
| » | Troubleshooting WebLink |
by Regina Carns, Manager of User Education
We’re constantly hearing about the different ways clients are using their Laserfiche systems and integrating Laserfiche with third-party applications. We also hear that IT staff at most organizations are happy to share their work with other Laserfiche users. We designed the Code Library as a central location where IT staff and other developers can post their code and answer questions about it.
The Laserfiche Code Library provides resources for anyone interested in working with Laserfiche integration tools, from simple scripts to complex customizations. As a Laserfiche developer, you can submit code to the Library for posting--allowing you to help out other developers and users and receive recognition for your innovative use of Laserfiche.
Alongside resources such as the Toolkit Forum, the Code Library acts as a repository for the collected knowledge of the Laserfiche developer community. Reading Code Library articles can give you a look at the thought processes and coding styles of Laserfiche developers who have contributed samples and utilities.
Some articles on the Code Library, such as "Sending Search Results as E-mail Messages", are essentially stand-alone utilities, which could be scheduled to run independently. Other Code Library items are intended for educational purposes, demonstrations of specific concepts such as viewing an image, applying annotations or exporting a document. The code in these projects provides an excellent example for beginning Toolkit programmers. How-to articles in the Library cover particular elements of setting up a customization, such as logging in to the Laserfiche server or setting up Windows® and Laserfiche to take advantage of your Toolkit apps.
To celebrate the continued growth of the Code Library, and to salute the innovative work IT staff have done, we’re pleased to announce a special program to award a prize for the best code submission. Give us your favorite Toolkit code, an explanation of what it does and instructions on how to use it. The community member who sends in the best submission will win his or her choice of either an Apple® iPhone™ or a Nintendo® Wii™ bundle, with additional prizes awarded to runners-up. The deadline for entries will be later this year. We’ll post more details about this program on the Support Site.
IT Innovation Helps Wichita Speed Service Delivery
Cliff Thomas, Imaging Systems Analyst, City of Wichita, KS
After the City of Wichita had been using Laserfiche for about four years, staff from the IT department met with police records staff to discuss new ways of using our system to provide more innovative public service. We decided to start by putting traffic accident reports online.
When Wichita citizens are involved in traffic accidents, they are required to send copies of the accident reports to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles and supply their insurance companies with the case numbers. Insurance companies then request copies of the reports so they can use them to settle claims.
We were already using Laserfiche WebLink™ internally to retrieve documents, so we thought we could integrate it with a third-party payment solution that would enable citizens to purchase copies of the reports online. The big question was whether we’d be able to set up a payment system that could tell our document imaging system to release an imaged file.
The programming solution turned out to be relatively easy using the Laserfiche Integrator’s Toolkit™, particularly because Laserfiche was already integrated with our public safety software program. Basically, we use the case number of the report to set everything in motion, and it works beautifully.
We’ve had the system up and running for about three years, and most citizens prefer to pay $16 online rather than come to city hall. Our happiest customers are the insurance companies. They love how the system saves them both staff time and messenger costs.
Using the accident report model, we’re looking at automating other city business as well. Once we sort out some issues with the payment system vendor, we plan to use WebLink to enable citizens to pay traffic tickets online. We also want to use the system for pet licenses and garage sale licenses. Our attitude is, Why should people have to come to city hall when they can pay their two dollars online for a printable garage sale license in PDF format?
We’re happy to post our ideas and some of our code in the Laserfiche Code Library. The Code Library is a great place to learn from other users. For example, we’re in the process of putting our metropolitan area planning documents online, and we are also looking to put engineering project plans online. We’ve been looking at the solution from a pure WebLink standpoint. We really needed to focus the search capability to a particular set of features within the repository because of the way we’re storing those documents. We’d love to hear from other users who have experience with this process, particularly in returning PDF files.
Since installing Laserfiche, our document imaging system has grown by over 9000 percent. That points to Wichita sharing a long future of continued success with Laserfiche.
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IT Innovation Helps Claremont Fight Crime
Steve Senkle, Information Systems Manager, City of Claremont, CA
As a former Claremont Police Officer, I remember what a hassle it used to be to get ahold of police records. There was always a long line of people at the counter in the records department, and it would take considerable time to pull and photocopy the original reports. More often than not, we’d then have to fax the report to someone, and because some of the reports were 100 or more pages long, that process took a lot of time.
In 1998, we started scanning our crime reports, traffic accident reports and field interview cards into Laserfiche. We chose Laserfiche primarily because of its powerful search capabilities and because of how easy it is to get documents into the repository and organize them once they’re there. We also knew we’d be able to use Laserfiche in tandem with our other software applications, including our police department’s CAD-RMS.
WebLink plays a key role in our integration between Laserfiche and our CAD-RMS. Once staff locates the relevant case file in the RMS, WebLink lets them easily view scanned documents, photographs and other items associated with that file. We like the fact that WebLink is highly flexible and platform independent, which made the integration process easier. And our staff definitely appreciates the fact that they can access documents instantly, without having to trek to the records room.
Along with apprehending people who’ve committed crimes, police officers have a duty to prevent crime from happening. We saw an excellent opportunity to use Laserfiche as part of this effort too. We installed a third-party crime analytics tool called CrimeView Web®, which uses GIS technology and the information in our RMS to generate maps of the city showing where burglaries, assaults, auto thefts and other crimes occur. To access more detailed information about these crimes, staff can pull up documents stored in Laserfiche by simply selecting a visual marker on the map or clicking a case number. This instant access to information helps officers identify patterns, which in turn helps them to better use available resources—such as regular police patrols at certain times of the day—to cut the crime rate. It also means that they’re better prepared, and therefore safer, when they hit the streets.
We’re very happy with what we’ve been able to accomplish using Laserfiche. I attend the yearly Laserfiche Institute Conference, where I talk with IT staff from other municipalities who are considering the types of integrations we’ve done in Claremont. I’ve also worked with other municipalities to help them set up their Laserfiche systems. I’d be happy to contribute some of our code to the Code Library, which I see as another way of helping IT staff at different organizations learn from each other and share the work they’ve done.
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Reminder: 2008 Laserfiche Institute Conference
Please join us in Los Angeles from January 14-16, 2008, for the Laserfiche Institute Conference. This year’s conference will be our biggest ever and will include numerous classes, presentations and hands-on labs designed to make you an even savvier user of Laserfiche software. It will also be an excellent opportunity to learn everything you need to know about the next level in digital document management, Laserfiche 8™.
Don’t miss this opportunity to network with Laserfiche staff, resellers and other users—and to enjoy the warm Southern California sunshine. Watch your mail for more conference information.
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New White Paper Helps Municipalities Plan an Enterprise-Wide Installation
We’ve created a white paper to help municipalities better understand and more easily meet the challenges of an enterprise-wide Laserfiche installation. Real-world examples and best practice recommendations will show you how to plan all stages of the implementation process, from determining your needs to integrating your new system with the other software applications you use every day.
Whether you’re just starting your Laserfiche implementation or are looking to expand your current system to new departments, you’ll benefit from the practical information and step-by-step instructions included in this white paper. Visit the Laserfiche Website to download the paper today.
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The beta version of Laserfiche 8™ will soon be available for download on the Support Site. The beta provides you with the opportunity to try the new functionality for yourself—and to test your organization’s integrations and customizations against Laserfiche 8.
The beta version includes the redesigned Workflow™ module, and you’ll definitely want to see the enhancements we’ve made. Not licensed for Workflow? You won’t be left out—you can download and test the beta version, so this is an excellent opportunity to try Workflow for yourself and see how it can improve efficiency at your organization.
When the beta is available, we’ll open two forums on the Support Site: one for Workflow 8 and the other for Client/Server 8. You can use these forums to pose questions or to send us feedback. Our Development team is working hard to make Laserfiche 8 our best release yet, and your comments and feedback will play a critical part in this effort.
We’re tentatively planning to make the beta available at the end of July. If you’d like to be notified when the beta is ready for download, please send an e-mail to lf8betagroup@laserfiche.com.
As a reminder, you should only use the beta in a testing environment, not in your production environment.
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WebLink™
Many organizations use Laserfiche to store files relevant to members of their community--clients, citizens or staff. Before the advent of electronic document management, people who wanted to view their files would have to visit a central office or send a request, and wait hours or days for their document to arrive.
WebLink gives authorized users read-only access to documents 24 hours a day from anywhere that has an Internet connection. WebLink takes advantage of the advanced security features Laserfiche offers, allowing you to give access as restricted or free as you like and ensuring that each user sees only the documents you allow them to see.
Use WebLink to allow outside users access to certain documents, such as public records. Users need only an Internet browser to read available documents; no local installation is required. Consider this module to provide widespread access to documents, without the inconvenience of multiple installations.
New Support Site Materials
The following publications are newly available on the Support Site. You must have a Support Site account to view these materials. Register your new account at https://support.laserfiche.com/reg/register_form.aspx or https://support.laserfiche.com/RegisterNewUser.aspx
Submit your own contributions to the code library! We want to see your favorite utilities, scripts, and applications. Rate code library articles yourself--just open the article and click on the star rating you prefer.
New Knowledge Base articles
| Article | Product | Version |
| Long Template Field Data May Not Display Correctly in Netscape and Mozilla-based Browsers. | WebLink |
7 |
| A "Feature Transfer Error" Error Occurs When Installing Laserfiche Scanning. | Laserfiche | 7.2.1 |
| Configuring the OmniPage OCR Engine's Sensitivity Settings. | Laserfiche, Quick Fields | 7 |
A "dAddPrinterDriver2, Error code: 126" Error Occurs When Installing Snapshot. |
Snapshot |
7 |
Workflow Suite |
7 |
|
Laserfiche |
7 |
|
An "I/O Error in Display Engine [6603]" Error Occurs When Exporting Folder Contents. |
Laserfiche |
7.2.x |
Troubleshooting WebLink
From the point of view of a visitor to the WebLink Website, selecting a document in WebLink is much like opening any other link: you select the link to a file and the file opens. If the file is a Laserfiche document with TIFF files, it will open in a document viewer window; if the file is an electronic document, the user can elect to download it and open it in its native application.
The actual process is somewhat more complicated. When a document is selected at the WebLink Website, the Web browser sends a request for that document to the Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server that hosts the WebLink virtual directory. The Web server sends a request in turn to WebLink, which communicates with the Laserfiche server to get the requested document itself. The document is then sent to WebLink, which translates it into an HTML Web page and sends the HTML to the browser. The document then appears on the user's screen. From the user's point of view, this transaction occurs as if the link had led directly to the document. However, because documents are retrieved from the Laserfiche repository at the time the link is clicked, the document that is presented to the user will be the most up-to-date version possible; any recent changes to a document will be reflected in the page the user sees.
Because WebLink uses IIS as its HTTP server, IIS must be installed on the same machine as WebLink to run correctly. When WebLink is installed, a WebLink 7 virtual directory will be created in IIS. The WebLink installation will attempt to correctly configure IIS for use with WebLink, but in some situations, it may be necessary to check the configuration yourself, or to configure it manually to cope with unusual situations or changes. For more information on configuring IIS with WebLink, see our step-by-step guide, Configuring Laserfiche Web Products with IIS.
Error Logging
WebLink creates two error logs: weblink.log and weblinkimages.log. By default, these logs will be generated at C:\Temp\Weblink Log on the computer on which WebLink is installed. This location can be changed by customizing the Login.aspx file (located in the Web Files folder of the WebLink installation directory; by default, C:\Program Files\Laserfiche\WebLink 7\Web Files). Open the file and locate the < weblink:logininterface … > tag. Add the following attribute to the tag:
LogPath="Path"
where Path is the path to the location where you would like the error logs to be generated. For more information, see "Customizing WebLink with ASP.NET" and "Properties Reference" in the WebLink documentation.
WebLink and IIS also log some errors to the Application Event Viewer. For more information on error logging in WebLink, see the WebLink Technical Support Checklist.
General Troubleshooting Tips
When you encounter errors in WebLink, it is a good idea to try to reproduce them in the Laserfiche Client as well. Try to reproduce the circumstances under which you experienced the problem as closely as possible–for instance, if possible, log in to the Client as the same user. If you encounter the same problem in the Client, the issue is likely with the Laserfiche Server or repository itself rather than being specific to WebLink.
More Information
This Tech Tip is excerpted from Troubleshooting WebLink, which contains additional tips on common WebLink issues.