February 2005 Edition
Feature Spotlight: OS X Interface Enhancements
Q&A with Technical Support: Server Security Settings
Smart Tip of the Month: Creating Lightboxes
Third Party Software: Networking Tools
Support Bookshelf: SQL Tutorials
Feature Spotlight
Utilizing the Sample Database
The upcoming release of Virtual Ticket 6.1 introduces new interface enhancements to the Mac OS X version of Virtual Ticket that provide a more consistent OS X look and feel. Some things to look for when using the new OS X version of Virtual Ticket include:
- An enhanced look to the login window and buttons
- A new look and location for the form selection button
- New Properties, History, New, Edit and Delete buttons
- New Search Mode changing buttons in Find Results Windows
- New tabs for Documents/Digital Resources views in Find Results window
- Improved font display
- Much more
For more information including screen shots of the interface enhancements, visit:
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16188
Q&A with Technical Support
What are the required settings for Windows 2003 Internet Connection Firewall to be used on the same server as the MetaCommunications Application Server?
Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) is a built-in firewall component for Windows 2003/XP used to enhance the overall security of the system. Like any other firewall, ports must be opened up for connections to be made on most ports. Virtual Ticket and Job Manager connect to the MetaCommunications Application Server using a specified TCP port (7000 by default). By default, the ICF functionality is disabled. However, if ICF is enabled but not configured to allow the use of the TCP port used by the MetaCommunications Application Server, client connections to the server will be blocked. Step by-step instructions for enabling the TCP port in ICF are available in Knowledge Base article 16190.
For more information, visit:
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16190
Smart Tip of the Month
Creating Lightboxes
Many stock image web sites use the concept of organizing images into lightboxes to later review or share the images with other people. Within Virtual Ticket, the same concept (choosing images and sharing them with another Virtual Ticket user) can be accomplished. Suppose your graphic artists need a place to temporarily hold onto the images they found in a Virtual Ticket search. With a lightbox, the artists can drag and drop the images from the file collector (of the search results) into their lightbox and save them for later use. Knowledge Base article 16191 contains an example form and provides a scenario for how a lightbox might be used in Virtual Ticket.
For an example, visit:
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16191
Third Party Software
Networking Tools
A set of mostly free networking tools can be found at http://www.tools4ever.com/products/free/. The FREEping and Command Line Tools can be useful for recording network connectivity, performing SQL Queries and providing directory and network share content reports. In addition to the free tools, other fee based tools can be found on this site for uses such as: network and server monitoring, event logging and network user management.
For more information, visit:
http://www.tools4ever.com/products/
Support Bookshelf
SQL Tutorials
Earlier in this edition we discussed how to use a custom query to display historical information from the database. The following sites provide various SQL tutorials for retrieving information from SQL databases. Content on both of the following sites is free. No registration is required.
http://www.1keydata.com/sql/sql.html
This tutorial provides descriptions of various SQL commands, syntax and manipulating data.
http://databases.about.com/od/sql/l/aaretrieve1.htm
This lesson provides a step-by-step look at retrieving information from SQL databases. It also contains links to other articles on SQL fundamentals.
New MetaCommunications Knowledge Base Articles this month:
16041 - TCP/IP Ports Used by MetaCommunications Applications
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16041
16188 - Virtual Ticket OSX Interface Enhancements
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16188
16190 - Configuring Internet Connection Firewall for use with the MetaCommunications Application Server
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16190
16191 - Creating a Virtual Ticket Lightbox Form
http://www.meta-comm.com/support/knowledge_base/article.asp?id=16191
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http://www.meta-comm.com/support/support_news.htm.
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support@meta-comm.com
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