| June 2007 |
The iNoticeboard application runs as a server. The user interface is accessed via a web browser on any suitable machine that can connect to the server.
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System RequirementsThe iNoticeboard server has the following minimum system requirements:
The client part of iNoticeboard runs in a web browser and requires the JavaRuntime Environment (JRE) version 1.4 or above to be installed as a browser plug-in. If this is not already present it will be downloaded and installed automatically from the manufacturers web site (Sun Microsystems) the first time iNoticeboard is run.
The Java JRE can be downloaded from here and installed manually if required.
The Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer is required to view the iNoticeboard Help document and to view and print the PDF files that can be exported from iNoticeboard. It can be downloaded from here.[back to contents]
InstallationiNoticeboard is installed on a single server computer. There are 3 configurable settings:
The default installation folder is something like:
C:\Program Files\iNoticeboard
The iNoticeboard server requires 2 free port numbers in the range 1024 to 65535.
The Main Port is used by the client part of iNoticeboard to communicate with the server to load data, such as notices, and to make changes to that data.
The Notification Port is used by the server to communicate with the client to inform it when changes are made by another client, e.g. when a new notice is added, or when an instant message has been sent.
The default port numbers are 8124 and 8125.If either or both of these are already in use by another program, please choose different numbers during the installation. The following 2 sections show how to change the port numbers at a later date if required.
During installation, a shortcut will be placed on the server computers desktop to start iNoticeboard in a browser window. That shortcut uses the server computers IP Address to identify it. If the server has more than one IP Address, e.g. if it has multiple network cards, you will be asked during the installation to choose an address to use in the startup URL. That IP address needs to be visible to other computers on the network from where you wish to run iNoticeboard. If the server has only one IP address, the installer will skip this part and automatically use that address.
Changed the Main Port Number
The main port number can be changed after installing iNoticeboard, but if this is done, the URL used by each client computer will have to be updated with the new number.
Change the main port as follows:
1. Stop the iNoticeboard server. This can be done by running the iNoticeboard Tools program from the start menu on the server computer, and choosing the Stop Server option.
2. Edit the following file:
C:\Program Files\iNoticeboard\Tomcat\conf\server.xml
3. Find the following section and change the 'port' entry to some other value in the range 1024 - 65535:
<Connector className="org.apache.coyote.tomcat4.CoyoteConnector" port="8124"
5. Start the iNoticeboard server using the iNoticeboard Tools program.
Changing the Notification Port Number
The notification port number can be changed as follows:
1. Stop the iNoticeboard server. This can be done by running the iNoticeboard Tools program from the start menu on the server computer, and choosing the Stop Server option.
2. Edit the iNoticeboard.ini file which is located at:
C:\Program Files\iNoticeboard\Tomcat\webapps\iNoticeboard\iNoticeboard.ini
3. The Notification port number is found under the Messaging section of the ini file:
[Messaging]
Port=8125
4. Choose another unused port number in the range 1024 - 65535
5. Start the iNoticeboard server using the iNoticeboard Tools program.
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Running the ApplicationOnce iNoticeboard has been installed, there should be a new shortcut on the server computers desktop called
iNoticeboard Client Startup
This will launch the iNoticeboard user interface on the server machine ina browser window. To access iNoticeboard from other machines the URL from this shortcut will need to be used. The URL is something like this:
http://ServerIP:8124/iNoticeboard/NoticeServlet?request=start
Where ServerIP will be the IP address of the iNoticeboard server machine and 8124 is the port number. This URL can be copied and sent to anyone who needs to access iNoticeboard. As long as their computer can contact the iNoticeboard server, they can use iNoticeboard from their web browser.
NOTE: If you install iNoticeboard on a standalone computer to try it, especially one that gets connected to different networks (e.g. at work/school and at home) then the follow address should be used if you have problems starting iNoticeboard:
http://localhost:8124/iNoticeboard/NoticeServlet?request=start
This address can be copied as it is, into your web browser, on any computer where iNoticeboard has been installed. If you are accessing iNoticeboard from other computers (to where it was first installed) on the network, then the first address (above) must be used.
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User LoginiNoticeboard ships with 4 default user accounts. Please change the passwords on these accounts once iNoticeboard has been installed.
| Username | Default Password | Description |
|---|---|---|
| admin | admin | The admin user has full control. They can add, edit and delete notices and can change the various administration settings (see next section). |
| create | create | The Create Access user can add, edit and delete both noticeboards and notices. |
| write | write | The Write Access user can add, edit and delete notices. |
| read | read | The Read Only user is only able to view existing notices. |
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AdministrationThe administration functions are accessed from the iNoticeboard Options Dialog. This is opened by pressing the right most button on the toolbar (blue pencil icon).
The noticeboard defaults are set from the Options tab of the Options dialog:
| New Notice duration | How long in days and hours the new notice symbol will be shown on a new notice. The default is 1 day. |
| Updated Notice duration | How long in days and hours the updated notice symbol will be shown after a notice has been edited. The default is 1 day. |
| Inactivity Timeout | How long in minutes before the user interface automatically logs out the current user when there has been no activity. The default is 10 minutes. |
| Number of notice body lines | The noticeboard view has a toolbar option to shrink all notices down to a maximum number of lines of body text to fit more notices on the screen. This setting determines the maximum number of body text lines to show. The default value is 4 lines. |
| Message Box warn limit | The total number of instant messages a user can have in their received and sent message boxes combined, before a warning is shown to suggest they delete some older messages to free up space in the database. The default value is 30. |
| Automatically delete expired calendar notices | Calendar notices can be automatically deleted when their end date has expired. Here you can choose the default value to set each time a new notice is created. This can be changed by the person creating the notice. If you do not wish to keep old notices in the calendar, tick this box. |
| Allow replies from users who cannot send you messages | If an Instant Message is sent to a user who cannot send you messages, you can choose whether or not to allow that user to reply to your message. This can be set each time a message is sent. Here you can set the default value for this option. Tick the box to allow replies to all messages from anyone. |
| Passwords | Press this button to change the Sensitive Content password. The default password is 1234. The Sensitive Content password must be entered by a read only user when viewing a notice that has sensitive content. |
| Purge Notices | Press this button to purge calendar notices from the database within a certain date range. You will be prompted to choose a start and end date. All notices that appear only in the calendar and that fall within the given date range will be deleted from the database. Any notice that also appears on a noticeboard will not be deleted. |
| Advanced | Press the advanced button to open the Advanced Options dialog. This is explained below. |
| System Info | Press this button to open the iNoticeboard System Info window. This shows things such as the version of Java being used. |
| Debug Level | This should normally be set to 0 unless instructed otherwise. |
| Notice Refresh | This is the time in minutes (default is 5) that the auto refresh will occur to pickup changes made by other users. Under normal circumstances this setting has no effect as changes are broadcast automatically to all users currently logged into iNoticeboard. If for some reason this broadcast cannot work, the clients will refresh the data they have every 5 minutes to pick up any changes. Note: when editing data such as a notice, the latest copy of the data is loaded from the server each time so it will always be up to date. |
| Install Update | Press this button to update iNoticeboard to a newer version. You will need an update (.zip) file to do this. |
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LicencingThe demo version of iNoticeboard will run with full functionality for 30 days. After this the application will revert to read only mode for all users. It will not be possible to add, edit or delete notices or access the administration functions until the product is fully licenced.
Licencing involves sending the demo licence key that is generated when the application is installed and receiving back a full licence key to replace it. The licence key can be accessed from the About tab in the Options dialog. Select the current key with the mouse and press CTRL-C to copy it to the Windows clipboard. This can then be pasted into an email.
Once a full licence key is received, this can be copied and pasted over the exiting key. Press the "Update" button to activate the new licence key. The text above the key will change to show the number of days remaining on the new licence.
To request a new licence key <click here>.
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