80 – Application parameters
The Application parameters define information about the release of RefTracker that you are currently using, its HTML presentation, and a variety of attributes that need the assistance of Altarama if they are to be changed. Contact your Altarama support representative if you would like to change any of the parameters in this group.
80.0-3 Release level: define the release number that you are currently using. Check this information before applying upgrades to your system. You can also find the version of your RefTracker system by right clicking on the reftracker.dll file in the reftracker/bin directory. You cannot change any of this information.
80.4 Release level: shows the release status of the release you are using. It should say “Released”.
80.5 Debug mode: shows whether your system is currently running in debug mode. Debug mode provides more information about how your system is operating, and support tools for Altarama use in diagnosing issues. Debug mode can only be turned on by Altarama. Some things you may notice when running in Debug mode include:
- the SQL statement for the search performed will display at the bottom of any search page that you use.
- Additional information will appear in the History screen for some actions performed e.g. the needs attention functions, providing more information about the state of the question that was used in performing that step.
- Links to the RefTracker Question creation API functions will appear at the top of the Request form design screen.
80.6 Application title: shows that the name of this application is RefTracker (however parameters 1.1 and 3.9 allow you to present it to your users as another name).
80.7 Disable email send: stops emails from being sent by RefTracker, so that email import testing can be done without resulting in emails to staff or clients. All processes are completed, including generation of the email – it is just not sent – so it allows full testing to take place.
80.8 Disable restore function: takes the text restore JavaScript based function out of operation, should this ever be required.
80.10-13 HTML handling: allow aspects of RefTracker that impact on the HTML traffic involved in RefTracker screen displays, and hence their time to display, to be controlled should this be required in any special circumstances. The values showing are currently considered optimal and so cannot be changed without specific instructions from Altarama.
80.14 Minify RefTracker JavaScript: is used by Altarama to turn off the JavaScript minify function when this is needed in order to be able to obtain further diagnostic information, when this is necessary. JavaScript minification removes unnecessary characters from the JavaScript so that it takes less time to transmit across the Internet.
80.15 Use AJAX menu bar: is used by Altarama in the unlikely event that the menu list functionality needs to be turned off. It may be used by Altarama to resolve issue with display of the menus.
80.16 Include RefTracker responsive design: is used by Altarama to turn off the automatic identification of screen width that RefTracker responsive design uses to automatically reformat its client interface screen for smaller screen devices, such as Mobile phones and tablets, using responsive design. See Presenting in an appropriate format for the device for more details about RefTracker’s native responsive design.
The reason you would want to turn this off is that it conflicts with your own custom css for use with RefTracker because you have chosen to provide your own responsive design css (usually in the head.inc file – see Header, Footer and colour customisation for the client interface for full details of how to do this). RefTracker’s default responsive design detects devices by the smaller of the height or width value that they return.
< 768 pixels = Mobile phone and results in the mobile layout being used
< 1024 pixels = Tablet computer
> 1024 pixels = Desktop type display
If you need this feature turned off please contact your Altarama support representative who can turn it off using this parameter.
80.18 Staff help location: is used by Altarama in the unlikely event that you need the RefTracker help files to run locally instead of using them from the hosted site provided by Altarama. This parameter shows the address of the web where the RefTracker staff help is located. If you have locally loaded help you will need to ask Altarama to change this parameter.
80.19 Client help location: is used by Altarama in the unlikely event that you need the RefTracker help files to run locally instead of using them from the hosted site provided by Altarama. This parameter shows the address of the web where the RefTracker client interface help is located. If you have locally loaded help you will need to ask Altarama to change this parameter.
80.20-21 Page event validation: are used to determine whether Event validation is used by RefTracker on your site. Event validation is a built in ASP.NET/IIS function that checks to make sure that controls on the page have not been tampered with – a method of injecting data into a web site that can be used by spammers/hackers. The default setting of No for the Staff interface and Yes for the client interface will be appropriate for most customers. However some security software run by secure customers prevents appropriate operation of Event validation and so this may need to be turned off. These parameters can only be adjusted by Altarama because they will only ever need to be adjusted in response to support issues.
80.25 Email importer maximum update alert: Despite a number of protections in RefTracker, Service email address email import infinite loops are possible in instances where there is a problem with the allocated staff member’s email address – their email inbox is full, their email box has been deleted before the allocated staff member is Disabled or Deleted in RefTracker, or the email address is incorrectly entered for a new RefTracker staff member. It is also possible that an infinite loop could be generated by an email spammer.
Loops are limited to no more than 15 emails per question in any 15 minute period, but this parameter provides an alert that advises suspicious activity, so, if an infinite loop occurs, it can be detected quickly.
The email importer keeps a count of the number of “Update by email” notifications sent for any specific question. If the count exceeds a threshold (default 20 “Update by email” emails sent in relation to any one question within a 2 hour period) then an alert email, is sent to the system administrator. The notice is also copied to Altarama (cc’d to the To address recorded in the critical.xml file) as it is important that the issue be investigated as soon as possible by clicking the hyperlinked question number in that email – it takes you to the question’s History tab where the frequent updates will be able to be reviewed.
The parameters for this functionality (default “20|120”) can only be changed by Altarama.
80.26 Email importer SSL: This has been added to allow the protocol used in TLS transactions, and the mode of protocol negotiation, to be altered. It provides support for handling POP3 and IMAP mail transactions over TLS-secured connections.
This ‘emailssl’ parameter is of format ‘x|y’, where ‘x’ is an integer value representing the protocol to use, and ‘y’ is an integer value representing the protocol negotiation to use.
‘x’ values include:
0 Auto The most secure protocol common to both the client and the server is selected.
12 SSL2.0 Force the use of the SSL 2.0 protocol. This is not recommended as SSL 2.0 is no longer a secure protocol.
48 SSL3.0 Force the use of the SSL 3.0 protocol. This is not recommended as SSL 3.0 is no longer a secure protocol.
192 TLS 1.0 Force the use of the TLS 1.0 protocol. This is not recommended as TLS 1.0 is superseded by TLS 1.1
768 TLS 1.1 Force the use of the TLS 1.1 protocol. This is recommended only when TLS 1.2 is not available.
3072 TLS 1.2 Force the use of the TLS 1.2 protocol. This is the most secure protocol currently available.
4032 TLSAuto TLS 1.2 is attempted for the connection; if TLS 1.2 is not available, it will try TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.0 in sequence until a common protocol is found.
‘y’ values include:
0 Manual Do not attempt to use a secure connection
1 On Connect Force the entire transaction through a secure connection. Not recommended as it may not be supported by all servers.
2 UseStarttTls Always attempt to use a secure connection. Not recommended as it may not be supported by all servers.
3 UseStartTlsIfSupported Detect if the server supports a secure connection; if a secure connection is available, connect to the server securely. Else, use an unencrypted connection.
The parameters for this functionality (default “3072|3”) can only be changed by Altarama. The first parameter sets the SSL protocol and the second parameter After the | pipe) sets the SSL mode.
80.30 P3P Statement: is a machine readable privacy statement used by browser’s such as Internet Explorer to match user’s privacy requirements to those of particular web sites. This statement defines RefTracker’s privacy requirements (such as what it needs from cookies) according to the standard published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). More information can be found about this standard at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ie/ms537343(v=vs.85).aspx
80.35 Last notes client: used in the QuestionActive text template to include the most recent client or third party note for inclusion in the Question summary. You can add to, or change, the types of notes considered for insertion here by using the appropriate codes from the Actions (system) code table at System>Code tables menu>System, separated by a pipe, but any such changes need to be done by Altarama staff.
80.36 Last notes internal: used in the QuestionActive text template to include the most recent partial response (Partial answer or Redirect note) for inclusion in the Question summary. Default is to only include the latest Partial answer note, or last Redirect note, if there are any of these. You can add to, or change, the types of notes considered for insertion here by using the appropriate codes from the Actions (system) code table at System>Code tables menu>System, separated by a pipe, but any such changes need to be done by Altarama staff.
80.40 Document indexing: is used by Altarama to indicate that this customer is licenced for the “Attachment Content Searching” optional module, that adds searching of the contents of a wide range of documents to the standard Attachment searching (that just searches the Attachment’s names). “Yes” at this parameter means that this customer is licenced for this functionality. See the Support Manual for setup instructions and the attachment searching section of Searching for information in RefTracker section of the staff manual for further usage information. For information about the disk space implications of this feature see System>Utilities>Information>Attachments snapshot.
This new functionality uses the FileStream capability of SQL server. This means there is no additional software to load to achieve this new functionality, but that there is manual setup to be done to enable its use, filters to load (Office, PDF, etc.), and an SQL service restart is required. There are also significant disk space considerations and some SQL server load considerations due to the large content index generated. SQL server load is minimised by retaining a copy of all attachments in the RefTracker directory and serving the file from there whenever the entire file needs to be viewed. For all these reasons, existing customers wanting to use this “Attachment Content Searching” functionality for the first time will need to contact Altarama to purchase the module and have it enabled. For In-house customers who purchase this module, Altarama will provide instructions and assistance, but you will need your DBM involved to set up this functionality, and there is also an Altarama charge.
80.50-55 Cache high use items, and various monitoring logs: These parameters can only be turned on/off by Altarama support. They are used to obtain additional information about how the system is operating, in scenarios where additional information is required to diagnose the issue.
80.56 SMTP log: Change this to Yes to keep a log of SMTP transactions for diagnostic purposes.
80.58 Process log instance: Change this to Yes to keep a log of background processes in chronological order fro diagnostic purposes.
80.99 Default font sizes: is used by Altarama in the event that the default font sizes used on the devices identified using the functionality controlled by parameter 80.16 need to be changed. The numbers shown here indicate the default font sizes used on: mobile phone|tablet|desktop.
80.100 Ignore errors: is used by Altarama, where error strings can be defined for which email reports to the Active System Administrator are NOT required. This will allow Altarama to quickly stop emails from being sent in relation to new types of hacker activity. Even though RefTracker is successfully defending these attacks, emails about the attack must be sent as we need to know promptly that such activity is using up bandwidth. Errors will still be logged if an email is not sent as a result of an entry in this parameter.
A phrase or phrases from the “Exception message” need to be entered one per line. Separate phrases from the one message can be separated by a pipe symbol, in which case BOTH phrases need to be true.
So in the example below the exception message would need to contain both Invalid JSON primitive and System.Web.Extensions – the checking is case insensitive.
Here is an example error message which would meet these criteria:
