Checking ExtraView is Functional

Main ExtraView Application

If you are upgrading your ExtraView installation, it is important that all users refresh their browser caches before using the new release.  Please communicate to all users that they should:

  1. Use the browser option to clear all the temporary cach files from all the browsers they use
  2. Immediately restart the browsers, before accessing ExtraView or any other website.

Sign on to ExtraView and check it is operating correctly. The base installation of ExtraView is sufficiently configured so that it can be used immediately, although you may be planning a significant implementation with a significant amount of customization. Your address to access ExtraView was defined as you installed the software.

Note that you must sign on with the fully qualified domain name, using either the IP address of the server within the name or using the fully qualified URL, such as extraview.mycompany.com. This assumes you have DNS configured for your server or it is within the hosts for your computer. If you do not enter a fully qualified domain name, you are likely to see a screen showing that you have a cookie error. The initial sign on information is:    User Name = admin    Password = Welcome The password is case sensitive. You should alter the password to the admin account as soon as possible to ensure security of the system.

Note: Beyond the initial check that ExtraView is operational, you should not use the admin user account for any purpose, unless directed to do so by ExtraView’s support personnel. The admin account has special properties that bypass many features within ExtraView, such as the checking of field-level security permissions, which make it a very poor choice to use for any operational work. At the same time, you should never deactivate the admin account within your system. This account does not occupy a user license.

Click on each menu button in the navigation bar to ensure that the program is operating correctly. If you see the appropriate contents within each section, you can be sure you have installed ExtraView correctly.

Multi-Language Installations

If you changed the behavior setting DEFAULT_LANGUAGE to perform an upgrade of messages in a language other than English, remember to restore the value of this setting to the appropriate one for your installation.

Charting

The charting functionality requires an additional check to ensure that it is operating correctly. To check that charting is configured correctly, simply ensure you have at least one issue entered within ExtraView, and produce a chart from within the Query --> Create New Chart function. If a chart is displayed, the configuration is correct. If you see a program exception, the most likely reason is that ExtraView cannot find the path to a temporary directory, or the directory has incorrect permissions set.

The temporary directory is where ExtraView stores the chart images that will be displayed. The path to this directory is set up as part of the installation procedure within the Configuration.properties file. You will find that the default entry within this file is – CHART_DIR = tmp This path is relative to the WEB-INF directory. As shown there should be a directory named tmp within the WEB-INF directory. If this is not present, or it does not have read and write permissions, charts cannot be created and displayed. You may choose a different path name if it is required for any reason within your environment. If you require a path to be set up, that is not relative to WEB-INF, you can use an alternative entry within Configuration.properties:

CHART_DIR_ABSOLUTE = pathname