Cloverleaf

[Rob Abbott]

The presentation of our documentation has been greatly improved for 5.6 – it’s now HTML-based and the entire library is searchable.  I hope you like it.

Topic

[Terry Kellum]

Why not both???

Thanks!

 Terry

[Rob Abbott]

Hi Terry, here’s the answer I received from our doc group

Quote:

We redesigned the CIS 5.6 documentation to use an online format to reduce redundancy and provide better accessibility to the information.  The details of the reorganization make it awkward to provide the PDF manuals as before.

Basically the reorganized documentation doesn’t lend itself well to being printed/distributed in “book” format.

Hope this helps explain this.

Rob Abbott
Cloverleaf Emeritus

[Tim Gobbel]

Is there anywhere on this site that the system requirements are listed?  I am moving to 5.6 and my boss wants to know if it will work on a power 6 CPU from IBM which I would guess is AIX 6L.  Anywhere I can find this out?  It does not seem to be a part of the documentation.  Thanx!

[Rob Abbott]

It may be in the install doc – i’m not sure – but if you contact support@quovadx.com we will be able to get you an answer.

Rob Abbott
Cloverleaf Emeritus

[Tim Gobbel]

Thanx!  I could not find that in the install docs.  It only gives info for AIX 5.2 and 5.3 installs.  I sent e-mail to support to see if/when the power6 and AIX6 will be certified.  Thanx!

[Russ Ross]

How can I print out the entire QDX 5.6 documentation so I can put it in a note book like I’ve always done and desire so it is more useable for me personally?

Hint:  I too would like the PDF version in addition to the web pages.

By the way the QDX 5.6 document, whether I use the web URL or the install CD crashes Internet Explorer on my work PC so that is not a very useable option for me at this time.

I did try my home machine and it is able to display the web pages without crashing Internet Explorer.

I think you get the picture, I miss my useable and dependable PDF files and want them please.

Okay, realistically I don’t expect that request to be met.

However, I’m letting it be known how this particular customer feels about replacing PDF documentation with web documentation.

I just don’t like to be limited once I’ve had better. If I can find a PC at work that Internet Explorer does not crash when accessing the web URL how do I print out the entire document?

Tech support suggested I try installing Firefox to keep the web browser from crashing and that is something I might have to also give a try.

Looks like a case of “if it ain’t broke why fix it?”

Making me view the world though tiny web browser significantly reduces my overall vision.

Granted the web version can allow for some search capability.

Oh wait I could do that in the PDF file, sorry no gain there either.

Did anybody ask tech support how they feel about this?

When I talked to tech support about this my impression was they seemed to be scratching their heads about the decision to switch from PDF to web pages, too.

I already regret how negative this post sounds, but this messenger is just delivering bad news so please don’t kill the messenger.

Please forgive me for the negative emotions that might be surfacing in this post as getting the documentation is not something that I typically have to put allot of energy into like I’m having to do now.

Russ Ross
RussRoss318@gmail.com

[Michael Hertel]

My favorite feature of the new documentation is that it is all in one searchable place.

The pdf’s of the past were a pain to figure out which pdf I needed to open. Especially if the information I was looking for was in many pdfs like ftp information.

I really, really like the new documentation.

Firefox sounds like they were fishing.

[Russ Ross]

I installed Mozilla FireFox web browser using this URL:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/” class=”bbcode_url”>http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

I was then able to view the QDX 5.6 documentation with the FireFox web browser.

I did this on the same work PC that Internet Explorer had crashed on while launching the QDX 5.6 documentation web pages.

I checked a few other PC’s around the office and the QDX 5.6 documentation did not crash Internet Explorere on those machines.

I’m having one of the MDACC Integration team members with the same identical machine as mine email me his Internet advanced option settings to compare with mine to see if some crucial setting needs to be remediated.

Here are some additional observations about what happens when Internet Explorer crashes while attempting to launch the QDX 5.6 documentation.

All open Internet Explorer windows dissappear as if you had closed them.

After that happens Internet Explorer could not fully function.

For example I opened an Internet Explorer window and attempted to do a windows update and couldn’t.

Rebooting seemed to fix the wounded Internet Explorer back to normal functionality.

I’ve used this PC at work for a few years and this is the first time Internet Explorer has failed to do its job on this PC.

The good news so far is only one out of the 4 PC’s I tried to launch the QDX 5.6 documentation on so far has failed and Mozilla Firefox seems to be a viable work around so far.

Now I’m going to play around with seeing if I can export the Documentation into a printable formatted file and hope somebody can offer up a reasonable solution.

Granted I could always scan each page into a PDF but that is a last resort I hope to avoid.

Attached below is the error that sometimes gets displayed after Internet Explorer crashes while attempting to launch the QDX 5.6 documention

Russ Ross
RussRoss318@gmail.com

[Michael Hertel]

Searching the web indicated it may be Yahoo tool bar or another addon.

[Rob Abbott]

The crash could also have something to do with the Java version that IE is running.  Can you check to see if the Java versions are the same on the PC that works and the one that doesn’t?  It’s good to hear that Firefox fixed the issue.

BTW Russ – don’t worry about coming off negative, your comments are valuable.  I suggest you contact support about printing the documentation, we can work through it on the phone and get R&D involved if necessary.

Rob Abbott
Cloverleaf Emeritus

[Rob Abbott]

I understand that there are a couple of you that are very displeased with the new documentation format.  I am working with our documentation department to make sure your concerns are understood.  When I have more information on plans for enhancements in this area, I will let everyone know.  

Thanks.

Rob Abbott
Cloverleaf Emeritus

[Todd Lundstedt]

My prefrence is to ALWAYS have local documentation at a bare minimum.  Relying on the internet for documentation is just plain crazy.  In a disaster, do you know you will always have internet access?

Load time for the internet documentation is slow, and can be impeded by bad weather (our internet pipe gets saturated during storms as everyone is checking the radar  🙄 )

Internet documentation is OK for convenience, but one should dang well have a printed, and/or electronic copy locally available.

[Rob Abbott]

The docs get installed lcoally on the client.  It just needs a browser to read them.

I put the docs here on clovertech for convenience of the folks that haven’t installed the latest release and want to review them.

Rob Abbott
Cloverleaf Emeritus

[Russ Ross]

Rob:

As you think about how to improve the documentation for those of us that like to print and bind it, here is something else I encountered.

The documentation is no longer page oriented which is necessary when trying to use a printed document.  

When I say page oriented, I mean that every page has a page number and the table of contents and index reference those page numbers.

Thanks for your efforts and please keep us posted on your progress, especially if a printed QDX 5.6 document that is page oriented ever becomes available.

Russ Ross
RussRoss318@gmail.com

[Charlie Bursell]

Someone please send Russ’ address to the tree hugger web site  😀

Killing all those poor trees!  Shame shame  😳

[Todd Lundstedt]

Thanks for the clarification, Rob.  Not having 5.6 installed yet, I was petrified that the internet was the only source for documentation.  Local install is usable enough, but my vote is still for the PDFs.  Perhaps my preference will change once I get used to the new format.

[Kevin Kinnell]

I’m afraid that it’s “blown” for the current version, but I’m a bit at a loss as to why there is a limit to the format (or ever was.)  Certainly texinfo to translators are out there and have been for some time.  And texinfo is not the only choice now.

It would be good for the future if the documentation source was in a format that can be translated into a lot of different presentation formats.

I’d like PDF for printing, and CHM for viewing, with a side order of .info for quick ref in Emacs, and maybe some man pages for dessert (when I’m ssh’d into the system.)  Or should I get XML so I can css to my own desire…?  Flat text or pod would be good for searching.  Choices, choices.  Choices make the customers happy!

The point here is that all of that is doable, and even easy using available tools–you can deliver anything a customer wants (except the documentation source.)

Kevin Kinnell

HCPA

Hattiesburg, MS

[Barry Ballew]

Attempting to view the new 5.6 documentation in Internet Explorer caused IE to crash for me.  I tried Firefox and it hosed Firefox so badly that I had to reboot before I could get another Firefox session to start.  Not good.

Regarding the ability to search all documentation, the newer versions of Adobe Reader allow you to search all pdf documents in a directory.  So, searching separate pdf docs is no longer a problem.

Fortunately, we’re upgrading to 5.5 soon and will wait a while to upgrade to 5.6.  Hopefully, the viewing problems will be resolved soon.

[Rob Abbott]

Barry – the only thing I can think of is that you have an out-dated JRE on your system.  I think this is the only common component between Firefox and IE wrt the doc viewer.

I have not had any problems and recently ran a java update.  Mine says Version 6 update 5 (build 1.6.0_05-b13) when I click “About” from the Java control panel (under the windows control panel).

Would you mind updating your JRE and trying again?  Please record your exisitng JRE version before doing this so we can confirm the release that causes such severe problems.

You can upate your JRE from http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp (you can also click “update” from the java control panel described above).

Rob Abbott
Cloverleaf Emeritus

[Barry Ballew]

Rob,

Updating JRE fixed the problem for both IE and Firefox.  Good call!  Thanks much for the tip.

[Russ Ross]

Rob:

To refresh your memory I had issues with IE7 crashing when launching the QDX 5.6 documentation.  

I worked around it by downloading Firefox.  

This week we got new PCs so I was brave enough to upgrade JAVA on my old PC since it will be trashed anyway.

Now IE7 is able to launch the QDX 5.6 documentation just fine after I upgraded JAVA from 1.4.0_01 to the now current 1.6.0_05 version.

My limited conclusion is that it is a good idea to be on a current version of JAVA to launch the QDX 5.6 documentation with IE7.

Russ Ross
RussRoss318@gmail.com

[Robin Lamb-Hupp]

I am able to find things quicker and easier through the new documentation, and for me it’s an improvement.  😀

[Tiffany Tran]

I find the online file somewhat useful but still prefer pdf format for printing purpose should there be a need. I took time to compile 5.6 documentation in a pdf file for my own use. It is not perfect but somewhat useful.  Not sure if I am allowed to post it to share with everyone. Please let me know.  ❓

[Author]

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