SwiftView Frequently Asked Technical Support Questions

These are some of the most common technical support questions.
See the SwiftView Tools Manuals and SwiftView Tools Release Notes for general information.

GENERAL
How can I contact technical support? What will Tech Support want to know?
How do I determine my Windows operating system version?
What is my IP address?

INSTALLATION / DEINSTALLATION
I can't download your product
How do I uninstall SwiftView?

LICENSING
I downloaded the eval version, how is the "real" version different?
What is my SwiftView ID?
My SwiftView license needs to be moved to a new machine or server, who do I contact?
Per-User Workstation/Application Server License Installation
Per-user LAN network license details and installation
Per-user WAN network license details and installation
Website license details and installation
SwiftStamp File licensing details and installation
How do I find out my LAN file server's computer name?
How do I find out my computer's host name?
How do I find out my web site's "root URL"?

SWIFTVIEW CONFIGURATION
How do I use ICS commands to configure SwiftView?
Can SwiftView convert my files to TIFF/PDF? How about converting to TEXT?
How can I markup/redline/annotate/watermark my documents?
How should I configure my web server for SwiftView use?
Where is the "root of my web server"?
How can I set up a SwiftView install page on my web server?

VIEWING
What file formats does SwiftView view?
Why do my PCL fonts display incorrectly?
Why does my size A4 or Legal document get cut off in SwiftView?
Why does my landscape orientation page get cut off in SwiftView?
Why don't files generated on a UNIX system view properly?
Can I make the text darker and easier to read?
Why is my HPGL file missing colors or lines?
Why is Microsoft Outlook trying to open my .ics file?

PRINTING
How can I print my mixed letter & legal document on the correct size paper?
How do I make SwiftView print faster on Windows?
Can SwiftView automatically print all the files in a directory?
How can I shrink my E size drawing to print on letter paper?

BROWSER-BASED SwiftView
Which browsers work with SwiftView?
What's the difference between the ActiveX and the Plug-in?
Why do I see a 30 second "delay dialog" when using browser-based SwiftView?
How can I customize browser-based SwiftView?
In the browser window I see the printer codes instead of my document.
Why does IE require an extra click on SwiftView before it will respond?

How can I contact technical support? What will Tech Support want to know?

You can phone or email technical support. Support is available Monday to Friday, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Pacific Time. Giving us all the detail you possibly can will assure that your problem gets resolved as quickly as possible. Our phone number is 800-720-0196 press 3 or 971-223-2600 press 3. Detailed information we may need:

Your Operating System (see below for help)
SwiftView version number (click the ? icon and click OK to find out)
IE ActiveX, Netscape plug-in, or Standalone
Version of IE or Netscape if applicable
If you are using SwiftView with a website, what is the URL address of the website
Are you a customer or evaluator
Description of the problem (what causes the problem, how often, exact error message, etc.)
If applicable, the printer model and number and what printer driver is installed
A sample file to reproduce the problem

How do I determine my Windows operating system version?

To figure out what operating system you have, you must look under the system settings. To do this:
Click the Start menu
Goto Settings
Click on Control Panel
Double Click on the System icon

Under the General tab next to the picture of the computer it should tell the operating system version under System.

What is my IP address?

Your IP address is 38.103.63.55. Honest! We dynamically determined it when you came to this page.

I can't download your product.

If you aren't able to automatically install in Internet Explorer, try the links at the bottom of the automatic install page in the Having Trouble? section which allow you to force an automatic reinstall of the latest version or download the .exe. If you want to test your SwiftView installation, try to view the SwiftView Release Notes. If you are able to view them, your SwiftView is installed and working correctly. Contact tech support if you still have problems.

How do I uninstall SwiftView?

Windows SwiftView registers itself under Add/Remove programs in the Control Panel. Simply select 'SwiftView products' and click the 'Add/Remove' button. For UNIX deinstallation refer to the readme file that came with the product.

What file formats does SwiftView view?

PCL is the language of HP printers and can be generated by all Windows programs by clicking 'print to file' in the print dialog while printing to an appropriate HP printer.

PCL 3 (language used by DeskJet printers) - not supported.
PCL 4, (language of older HP LaserJet printers) - supported.
PCL 5 and 5e - supported.
PCL 5c (color) - supported.
PCL 6 monochrome - supported.
PCL 6 color - supported.

ASCII text is a subset of PCL 4 and is fully supported.
HPGL/RTL is the language of HP plotters and can be output by all CAD/CAM/CAE systems. RTL (raster transfer language) is a subset of HPGL. Monochrome RTL is supported, currently color RTL is not.
TIFF, including multipage TIFF, LZW, G3, G4, etc. TIFF is the best format for monochrome images. We don't support tiled TIFF or JPEG embeded images in TIFF formats.
JPEG is the best format for color photos. JPEG compresses by throwing away data, making text hard to read.
CALS Group 4 Raster Level 1. Level 2 (multipage) is not supported.
PCX/DCX

However, we offer several installers, and most view a only a subset of the above types. Ask technical support which installer is best for you.

Why do my PCL fonts display incorrectly?

If you have a LaserJet compatible (PCL 5) printer, you should be able to choose the print method direct print when printing. If the result of that print method matches the screen, then SwiftView is correctly displaying the file. If you don't like the results, you will need to modify or re-generate the file.

If direct print and the onscreen view do not match, the file may refer to fonts that are installed in your printer. If so, SwiftView needs to get access to those fonts as well.

The best solution for this problem is for the file to contain its own downloaded fonts. SwiftView uses bitmap fonts downloaded into the PCL file if they are available. Currently, SwiftView supports "downloaded TrueType bitmap fonts" and "downloaded TrueType outline fonts".
Downloaded Intellifonts are not supported. Intellifont is owned by Agfa Corporation, we cannot include it within SwiftView without paying a royalty on every SwiftView copy, which is impractical for our users. Because of the cost, the rareness, and because it is being phased out, we do not plan to support it in SwiftView.
If it is not possible for the file to contain its own downloaded fonts, install the TrueType fonts from the Support Files Page.

On Windows, if downloaded fonts are not available, SwiftView selects a Windows TrueType font to generate a reasonable (but not exact)representation of the font requested. Remember SwiftView is optimized for high speed interactive viewing rather than exactly rendering all the "dots" in exactly the correct place. This approach enhances speed while sacrificing little accuracy under most circumstances.

On UNIX, SwiftView provides font files placed in $NDGUTIL/p300x300. If the font selected in the file being viewed is not available, SwiftView uses the PCL rules for picking the next closest font. If you have unusual fonts or use a "symbol set" not supported by the basic files, this may be unacceptable. For example, the basic symbol set provided is PC-8 not the Latin-1 common in Europe. Download fonts.tar.Z from the Technical Information page which contains a complete set of font files including both the PC-8 and Latin-1symbol sets. See Appendix A of the Technical Reference Manual for details.

Why does my size A4 or Legal document get cut off in SwiftView?

This problem usually occurs in PCL files that do not contain a PCL escape sequence that describes the paper size. In the absence of a page size command, SwiftView behaves like a LaserJet printer with default factory settings, meaning that it selects 'letter' size paper. One solution is to change the default for SwiftView, the other is to correct the file:

ICS commands can be used to define the default page size. For example:

A PCL escape sequence can be added to the beginning of the PCL file that tells SwiftView (and the printer) to treat the file as A4. The escape sequence follows and can be added to your text file with a binary capable editor, such as VEDIT, CRISP, Notemaid, and many others :

escape&l26A	( for an A4 file)
escape&l3A	( for a Legal file)

Where escape is the escape character, and a lower case L follows the ampersand.

Why does my landscape orientation page get cut off in SwiftView?

You may be viewing an ASCII file that has no PCL commands indicating that it is a landscape file. As in the previous FAQ, one solution is to change the default for SwiftView, the other is to correct the file.

Set SwiftView's default setting with an ICS command that sets landscape and shrinks the font so that 132 columns of text fit on a page:

Or correct your file with a PCL escape sequence that can also be added to the beginning of the ASCII file that tells SwiftView (and the printer) to treat the file as landscape, 16.7 cpi. The escape sequence follows and can be added to your text file with a binary capable editor:

Why don't files generated on a UNIX system view properly?

Unix text files are different than DOS text files. To begin a new line of text, Unix uses a line feed (LF) where DOS uses a LF plus a carriage return (CR).

Your Unix text stairsteps itself right off the page. A LaserJet printer with standard settings would print the file this way also, so we consider this behavior to be "correct".

The easiest way to fix this when viewing is to right click on the SwiftView toolbar, choose "Printer Emulation Settings",and select "Append Return to Linefeed". This gives the equivalent of changing the front panel on your printer to treat these files properly.

If you view only UNIX and DOS files you may wish to use the ICS command set hpfiletype unixtext, however that command will cause some HPGL and PCL files to view incorrectly. If this is a problem, you can use the set hpfiletype unixtext command in a button that will alllow you to send the command and reload the file that views incorrectly. The other option is to fix the Unix files using a binary editor.

Here are some example files that have the button. If you use standalone windows SwiftView, save this Standalone Windows configuration file as C:\Program Files\SwiftView\sview.ini and that will add the special "reset" button. If you run your own website, place this browser based SwiftView configuration file in the root of your web server with the name npsview.ics.

There are several ways to do this in a binary editor (bypassing the need for SwiftView ICS commands):

Manually change all the LF into CR/LF one at a time.
Write a simple application that does this. We may be able to do this for you upon request.
Cause printers and SwiftView to interpret your LF as CR/LF by adding a PCL Line Termination Command to your file. The command to use is: &k2G

Where the meaning of 2 is described on this chart:
0 CR=CR; LF=LF; FF=FF
1 CR= CRLF;LF=LF;FF=FF
2 CR= CR;LF=CRLF;FF=CRFF
3 CR= CRLF;LF=CRLF;FF=CRFF

Can I make the text darker and easier to read?

In order to enhance the display resolution, we use anti-aliasing which can, under certain circumstances (e.g. monitor settings) give a gray look to the characters. The characters are higher resolution in the sense that it is possible to fit more on the screen at once. If you zoom in closer on the page the characters appear sharper. You can also modify the anti-aliasing by using the ICS command:
set bitonalgamma absval 3
to make it blacker. You can experiment with using different values instead of '3'. To test these settings quickly, execute sview from the command line with an ICS command so that you don't have to repeatedly save and edit the ini file. From a command prompt in the directory where SwiftView resides type the following:
sview -ics"set bitonalgamma absval 3|ldoc c:\mydocument.pcl|draw"
Then you can repeat the command, substituting different values for the "3". This command will darken printing as well.

Why is my HPGL file missing colors or lines?

Missing colors
HPGL files designate different colors by setting pens. If you look inside your HPGL file, you will see the set pen command SP followed by a pen number, for example SP3, which means, 'plot the following commands using pen number 3'. The default color for any pen number is black, but this can easily be set in the SwiftView configuration file using the ICS command hpgl pen. If you use standalone windows SwiftView, save this Standalone Windows configuration file as C:\Program Files\SwiftView\sview.ini and that will set pens 1-4. If you run your own website, place this browser based SwiftView configuration file in the root of your web server with the name npsview.ics. Please try our interactive pencolor demo (you will need to have browser- based SwiftView installed first).

Missing lines
If your file is missing lines, it may be that these lines are being drawn with pen zero, which is white. To confirm this possibility, use the command set allpensblack enable documented in the manual. See the interactive demo above for examples.

Why is Microsoft Outlook trying to open my .ics file?

Outlook 2000 (which is included with Office 2000) contains a new component called iCalendar which exchanges people's schedules to find mutually agreeable times to hold meetings. It uses the file suffix .ics for these schedules in accordance with a proposed standard, Internet RFC 2739. SwiftView registered the mime type .ics for SwiftView prior to this RFC, but unfortunately for us and our customers, MS has chosen to appropriate this suffix without doing much research on who might be already using it. Since Internet Explorer ignores the mime type sent by the web server (an Internet standard) in favor of its file suffix association, if the user runs IE, the webmaster has no control over which program opens .ics files.

If you are an end user experiencing this problem, you may be able to simply save the file locally and rename it. Whether that works for you or not, please notify the system administrator of this FAQ. If you are a system administrator of a SwiftView site, we recommend that you rename any .ics files to .zhp. One exception is the file npsview.ics in the root of the website, which does not need to be renamed.

How can I print my mixed letter & legal document on the correct size paper in Windows?

In the print menu of the current release of SwiftView, click Options, select Scale 1:1, and select "use document paper sizes". If your printer has two trays and allows mixed sizes, these settings will utilize both trays. Inkjet printers, for example, tend to have one tray and do not generally support mixed paper sizes. We cannot support mixed paper sizes on PostScript-only printers. If your printer lets you specify the tray by number but not by size, (for example, on a LaserJet 2100 it is possible to request "tray 2" but not "legal size"), then see pcl letter_out_tray and similar commands in the SwiftView Technical Reference Manual. These commands allow the user to specify what kind of paper is in a specific tray number when using Fast Print.

If you don't know whether your printer is capable of mixed paper sizes, download this Microsoft Word file and print it. If you don't get mixed paper sizes, your printer or your printer driver is incapable of it.

How can I shrink my E size drawing to print on letter size paper?

In the print menu of the current release of SwiftView, click Options, select "Use the one size set in printer Properties", and select "Enlarge/Reduce to fit". This works for all print methods except DIRECT print.

How do I make SwiftView print faster on Windows?

The current version of SwiftView has a new Universal Print Menu that automatically uses the fastest means of printing your printer allows. Please upgrade to the current version if you haven't tried it.

The three print methods possible are direct printing, fast printing and Windows printing. See Chapter 4 of the SwiftView manual to compare and contrast these types of printing and for discussion of the Universal Print Menu. If Windows printing is the only option that appears in the dialog, try setting your printer driver to: "Use raster graphics" and "300 dots per inch". If your printer can use either a PostScript or a PCL driver, you will get better performance using a PCL driver.

If you believe your printer is PCL (LaserJet compatible), but you you only see the Windows print method, that means that SwiftView tested your printer and determined it would probably not handle PCL correctly. If so, you can force SwiftView to allow all print methods by downloading and double clicking this reg file.

Old versions of SwiftView can be manually configured to adopt one of these print methods. This is discussed in the manual, plus this Standalone Windows example shows exactly what you should put in your sview.ini file to configure both direct print and fast print. This browser-based example shows what to put in your npsview.ics configuration file to configure both direct print and fast print. There is a FAQ that describes where to place npsview.ics.

Which browsers work with SwiftView?

Internet Explorer 5.x SP2 higher: fully supported using the SwiftView ActiveX control in Windows operating systems.
Mozilla/FireFox: fully supported using the SwiftView plugin under Windows.
Opera 7.23+: supported under Windows. The SwiftView plugin works fine for most applications. When using our loan document delivery system, SwiftSend, there is a bug relating to exiting from the document view. Specifically, when viewing a document in the plugin, one must click Back before browsing to any other URL, or Opera will crash. Use of Opera at other sites besides SwiftSend does not appear to be a problem.
Mozilla 1.5+, Netscape 6-8: Mozilla-based browsers are now fully supported under Windows beginning with SwiftView plugin 7.0.1. Automated installers for these browsers are currently under development. Until then, use the .exe installer downloaded with Mozilla/NS 6+ from the evaluation download page or the end-user download page for licensed users. Currently, our SwiftSend service does not support Mozilla use.
Firefox 1.0+: fully supported using the SwiftView Plugin under Windows. With FireFox 1.0.1+ we support signed XPI installers in addition to the standard exe.

Can SwiftView automatically print all the files in a directory?

This is possible with standalone SwiftView on both Windows and Unix. See the ICS reference.

What's the difference between the ActiveX and the Plug-in?

ActiveX and the plug-in are the two forms of browser-based SwiftView. The two appear identical and can only be distinguished by the version dialog. To find out your SwiftView version press F9. The plug-in is designed for Netscape. Microsoft has disabled use of all plugins in IE 6, but our ActiveX will still run. The ActiveX runs exclusively under IE and is recommended for IE users.

Why do I see a 30 second "delay dialog" when using browser-based SwiftView ActiveX?

The SwiftView demo installers downloaded from our web site work for 30 days without a license. After that you must install a production copy from from our web site and have a valid license, e.g. view a file from a licensed web site or view "SwiftStamped" files. If you see a license error dialog when viewing from a licensed site, the license is missing, misplaced, corrupted, or moved. If the file you are viewing is supposed to have been SwiftStamped, chances are that the file either has been corrupted, or was never stamped in the first place.

Confirm with the owner or manager of the web site that it is licensed. If you cannot contact anyone, you can confirm that yourself by doing the following. If the web site were called http://www.xyz.com, then the license file would be http://www.xyz.com/npsview.lic. So, just enter the web site's URL with /npsview.lic added on the end. Note that npsview.lic must be all lower case just like you see it here. Then press Enter and you should see a license file in the browser that looks just like our license file. If you don't see that file, then the site is not licensed and you will see the "delay dialog". Contact the owner or manager of that site and request that he purchase a SwiftView Web Site License or properly install the one that has been purchased.

You may need to clear your browser cache and reboot if the licensing from a certain website is a problem on only one machine.

How can I customize browser based SwiftView?

Browser-based SwiftView can be customized in many ways, including adding, subtracting or changing buttons. The configuration file that allows this is called npsview.ics. It is a simple text file containing SwiftView ICS commands. Here is an example npsview.ics from our site. Please note that name of the file is changed from npsview.ics to npsview_ics.txt so that viewing it in your browser does not activate SwiftView. Try the demo to see what's possible. To configure SwiftView for all browsers coming to your website, place npsview.ics in the root directory. To configure a single browser, place npsview.ics in the SwiftView home directory (for example, on Windows C:\Program Files\SwiftView\ is the default home directory). However npsview.ics from a website will take precedence over one on the client.

In the browser window I see the printer codes instead of my document.

When browser-based SwiftView runs you will see the SwiftView tool bar on the right edge of the browser window. If you don't see this toolbar browser-based SwiftView was not invoked. Failure to configure the mime types is the most common cause of this. Internet Explorer has several problems regarding MIME types and can, in fact, ignore them entirely. This is a very complex issue for which we have developed several workarounds. See the Active X release notes for details.

I downloaded the eval version, how is the "real" version different?

A SwiftView "evaluation" copy freely downloaded from our web site is an evaluation copy only, that works without a license for 30 days from the first time that version was installed on the computer. After the 30 day trial it will stop working, and you must then install a production copy. The real product is downloaded from a link we send you when you purchase a license, or from our Customer Download Page.
We recommend that SwiftStamp, Website, and WAN license customers create a download page on their own website to control the SwiftView Viewer version distributed to their users, this will prevent them from downloading an evaluation copy from our website.

What is my SwiftView ID?

Your SwiftView ID is an ID number sent when you order new product or replacements, renew maintenance, or request a maintenance quote. This ID is used to download production software from our Customer Download page. You can also request your SwiftView ID by contacting licensing@swiftview.com .

My SwiftView license needs to be moved to a new machine or server, who do I contact?

For license changes, or replacements, please contact licensing@swiftview.com.

Per-user Workstation/Application Server License Installation

A Per-user Workstation/Application Server license is a system license that is locked to one computer by its host name. To install on Windows, simply place the Windows installer and "sview.lic" file (the license) sent to you by SwiftView in any directory, then run the installer. On a typical Windows system, the installer puts the software and license file in the folder C:\Program Files\SwiftView. On Unix, you must manually put the sview.lic file in the directory where the SwiftView executable program resides.

Per-user LAN network license details and installation

A Network license can be deployed on a network file share or an Intranet website. The network license itself is a small text file called sview.lic containing license text and an encryption block which prevents its modification. For file share deployment, the file contains the legal name of the licensing company and the name of the file server on which the license will be installed. How to find out my file server name. The license file is installed along with the SwiftView installers, or the sview.exe itself, in a directory on the specified network file share that is accessable by all users. Note that only simple file service is used, that SwiftView actually executes on the user's workstation.

For intranet deployment, the file contains the legal name of the licensing company and the "root URL" of the Intranet web site on which it will be installed. How to find out my web server's "root URL". You must configure the registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SwiftView\lanlicense on each user's workstation to point to the directory on your web server where the network license file is installed. Along with the license file, SwiftView will provide you with an installer file which can be used in conjunction with the ActiveX object on this template page to create this registry entry. You can place this web page on any directory on your web site, and when your users browse to it, they will get a prompt to install, which will set their registry to point to the network license.

You will also need to set up a means to install SwiftView for all users. To install Standalone or Browser-Based SwiftView on a Windows network, see the "LAN Installation Procedure" in Chapter 1 of the manual. Use of multiple UNIX system types with a network license requires setting symbolic links from UNIX directories to the single network license file. UNIX and Windows network files are separate and distinct entities and cannot be used on systems of the wrong type.

Per-user WAN network license details and installation

A WAN network license is a small text file called sview.lic containing license information and an encryption block which prevents its modification. The file contains the legal name of the licensing company, and either an indication that it requires "web-registration", or the "root URL" of the intranet web site on which it will be installed. How to find out my web server's "root URL".

WAN network licenses are currently only supported for software execution on Windows workstations. Internet Explorer must be installed on each user's workstation and have access to the license file on your web server. You are allowed only one copy of the WAN network License file, except when you have backup servers for the same web server hostname.

To use a WAN network license, you must configure the registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SwiftView\lanlicense on each user's workstation to point to the directory on your web server where the WAN license file is installed. Along with the license file, SwiftView will provide you with an installer which can be used in conjunction with the ActiveX object on this template page to create this registry entry. You can place this web page on any directory on your web site, and when your users browse to it, they will get a prompt to install, which will set their registry to point to the WAN license.

You will also need to set up a means to install SwiftView for all users.

Website license details and installation

A Website License is a small text file called npsview.lic which contains the "root URL" of the licensed web site. It must be placed in the root of the web server. Before we ship you a website license, you must tell us the root URL that you want to license. Here's how to determine your "root URL". All files beneath that root URL are licensed, whether they are accessed via HTTP or HTTPS. It is not permitted to specify a port number when you purchase a website license for a particular URL. This allows use on multiple ports with a single license file.

A Website License file enables unlimited users of browser-based SwiftView to access documents from the licensed website in the following manner. If browser-based SwiftView is instructed to view http://www.somebody.com/project1/schedule1.pcl, it first loads http://www.somebody.com/npsview.lic, determines that it has not been modified, determines that www.somebody.com is in it and then displays the file being viewed. The result is that unlimited browser-based SwiftView use is enabled by the mere presence of the license file on the website and that file is locked to the licensed site by containing the URL for that site. See our website license file as an example.

When setting up your web server for SwiftView use, follow these important website configuration instructions.

SwiftStamp File licensing details and installation

SwiftStamp is a small program or Windows GUI which inserts a text license in PCL, HPGL and TIFF files - what we call file licensing. The result is that SwiftView can view those files forever without further cost or licensing. SwiftStamp enables owners, distributors and creators of documents and drawings huge flexibility in distribution. Once "SwiftStamped" with a license, the files can be viewed anywhere in the world with no charge. This enables distribution by email, CD-ROM and other techniques not well handled by other licensing techniques. Batch SwiftStamp is itself licensed by a password locked to one computer host name, where it can be used to stamp (license) many files.

SwiftStamp licenses have been crafted so that they do not affect the native format, including printing, of the original file. Please see the appropriate SwiftStamp User Manual in the Technical Library for more technical information.

How do I find out my LAN file server's computer name?

Each SwiftView Inc. LAN license is installed on a single LAN file server. To purchase a LAN license we need the name of your file server. Here are some methods to find out. Log directly into your file server host, and do one of the following:

Windows:

click here. Click open at the download dialog.
or, for XP or 2000+: right-click My Computer...Properties, or Control Panel...System. Then Network Identification tab...Full computer name
or, for NT: Control Panel...Network...Identification tab...Computer Name

Unix: under most versions of Unix you can enter the command uname -n.

How do I find out my computer's host name?

Some SwiftView Inc. products are locked to a single computer. To purchase one of these products we will need the name of that one computer on which you will run the program. Here are some methods to find out:

Windows users with SwiftView installed:

XP, 2000+, or NT: click here.
or, for any Windows OS: click Start, Run and paste the following into the dialog box

"c:\program files\swiftview\sview" -host

Windows users without SwiftView installed:

XP, 2000+, or NT: click here. Click open at the download dialog.
or, for NT, 9x, or ME:Control Panel...Network...Identification tab...Computer Name
or, for XP or 2000+: right-click My Computer...Properties, or Control Panel...System. Then Network Identification tab...Full computer name

Unix: under most versions of Unix you can enter the command uname -n.

How do I find out my web site's "root URL"?

SwiftView Inc. WAN and website licenses are locked to the website's "root URL". To purchase one of these products you must send us your website's "root URL". You can determine your server's "root URL" by browsing to a page on your website and observing the address in the location/address entry field of the browser. The root URL is the section between the colon-slash-slash (://) and the next slash (/), omitting any port number (:portno). That is, if you want to license your server at http://www.somebody.com:1080 the root URL is "www.somebody.com".

How do I use ICS commands to configure SwiftView?

See the introduction to ICS and the Using ICS commands page.

Can SwiftView convert my files to TIFF/PDF? How about converting to TEXT?

Conversion is limited to SwiftView Pro and SwiftConvert, it is not included in standard SwiftView. This can be done in two ways: by using the Export button in SwiftView Pro for one-at-a-time conversions, or by running SwiftConvert in bach mode.
Batch Mode / Command Line (SwiftConvert only): SwiftConvert can convert files from any format it views into TIFF, PDF or TEXT in batch mode using ICS Commands. This can convert thousands of files automatically without user interaction. To see a simple example, refer to Convert a File to TIFF here.

How can I markup/redline/annotate/watermark my documents?

SwiftView Viewer supports markup ICS commands that you can send from your application, e.g. to watermark files as you deliver them. Currently, SwiftView does not offer a manual markup editing product (the former SwiftReprint product has been discontinued). email SwiftView sales for information on obtaining a markup editor.

To apply markup to a large group of files you can add ICS commands to the SVIEW.INI (on Windows) or $NDGUTIL/svstart.ics (on UNIX) or the npsview.ics on a web site. The ICS command"set ldocinit ..." causes SwiftView to process ICS markup commands every time a new file is opened. For example, if you wanted to place the text: "Uncontrolled copy printed: (date & time)" on every print out , you could add the following command to SVIEW.INI (in a single line):

ICS0=set ldocinit "onpage all markup attributes display no | onpage all markup text rxloc 0 ryloc 0 string \"UNCONTROLLED COPY PRINTED $strftime(%X %x )\""

If you want the markup text to come out in the same place and size on the paper no matter what is printed, change the command to use "device coordinates" as follows:

ICS0=set ldocinit "onpage all markup attributes display no | onpage all markup attributes coordinates device xorigin 0.4 yorigin 0.4 | onpage all markup text rxloc 0 ryloc 0 string \"UNCONTROLLED COPY PRINTED $strftime(%X %x )\""

If you want to try markup by directory we have a demo of this on our site.

How should I configure my web server for SwiftView use?

Configure the mime types on your web server. This is crucial. See the section "HTTP Server Setup" documented in the plug-in readme notes . Note that IIS 4 has a different means of setting mime types (don't use regedit to change the registry)-- consult your IIS documentation. Most servers require a total reboot for these mime types to take effect. After you attempt to configure the mime types, view your SwiftView document with Netscape (not IE), click View, Page Info and read the information returned for File Mime Type. If the correct mime type is not returned, check your webserver documentation and try again.
Put npsview.lic in the root of your web server as per the Website Licensing Details.
Check that your npsview.lic works by setting your system clock ahead one year and viewing a file on your website. If you see the 30 second timeout, your license is not properly installed.
Place an npsview.ics at the root of your web server. You can put ICS commands in this file to configure SwiftView, e.g. to change the buttons or use markup. But you must always have at least an empty file to prevent a hang in Firefox and other Netscape/Mozilla browsers.
Provide your users with a means to install SwiftView. See below.
Try to avoid use of the suffix .ics for files on your webserver. Use ".zhp" . (.ics was "stolen" by Microsoft Calendar and can't be used anymore.)
If you use a "full page" control (i.e. not EMBED/OBJECT), your URL must in end one of the file suffixes SwiftView registers for (typically .zhp). For more details on this and other flaws in Internet Explorer that can affect ActiveX controls, see Internet Explorer bugs.

Where is the "root of my web server"?

When we say the root of the web server, we mean the directory where your top level index.htm resides. See website licensing installation for further explanation.

How can I set up a SwiftView install page on my web server?

There is an example of a SwiftView install page at our Website HOWTO page here.

Why does IE require an extra click on SwiftView before it will respond?

Microsoft released security update #912945 to Internet Explorer in March 2006. It prevents immediate input to an ActiveX control embedded in a web page. Click here for more information on this update.