Open Forum – Ask your eRoom question
Best Practices, Future Releases & Features, Support / Q&A, eRoom User Group June 19th, 2008Many users have wanted to post various questions on this blog, so you can use this thread to ask them. If you see a previous posting with a topic that already relates to your question, post it there. If not, go ahead and use this topic. –Bill G.
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June 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Has there been any change in the problems with editing a PDF within eRoom?
My experience is that editing a PDF is problematic. To successfully edit a PDF, I have to quit Acrobat, edit the PDF, then save and quit Acrobat again to get eRoom to invoke the version dialog box.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Ed, to clarify, you are using Acrobat to edit a PDF? Are you using the eRoom plug-in?
June 24th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Yes, I’m using the eRoom plug-in, and I’m using Acrobat Professional 7.0.
Apparently, the issue is that the “close” code for MS products invokes eRoom to create a new version of the document, but the “close” code for a PDF does not. The workaround is to exit Acrobat, since the “exit” code will invoke eRoom to create a version.
I was told that this problem is a known-issue, and I’m wondering if it has been addressed yet.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Is there a way to use the eRoom API to automate the export of an ‘eRoom’ not facility. I have automated the export of a ‘Facility’ using a basic script, yet once the Facility reached a larger size, the export fails. I want to perform the automated export at a more granular level, the eRoom level?
August 21st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Does any one have any document that describes step by step procedure to upgrade eRoom v.7.2.x to the current version v.7.4.1. We are planning to do an upgrade but could not find any presice documentation.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Does anyone know how to easily type in ranking information into summary view without having to open each row in a database ?
My management are really annoyed about this drawback because it is too time consuming when you have several hundred rows going in a database.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Does anyone know how to create a traffic light dashboard that shows health across multiple erooms (program mgmt)
September 8th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Mecchamness, regarding the database, we have a tool that will allow for this–it basically converts the eRoom database to a form that allows editing multiple records at a time in a spreadsheet style. For more information, please contact me at bill@openvine.com.
Regarding the Dashboard, you can use an enterprise database to create a dashboard type view of multiple eRooms, and the Dashboard object itself may also help.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:37 am
Does any one know .. the API method to get the GROUPS and that Group members in an eRoom.
ie: I need get number of Groups contains in an eRoom and number of members in that GROUP.
November 11th, 2008 at 7:44 am
I hope you folks are smarter than EMC support to date we have no solutions to this issue: Drag and Drop functionality with big multipart PDF files does not work when the plugin is being used. Also click to view generates an error in brief the errors are :
1. Dragging and Dropping files in excess of 10 MB or so
generates an XML – SOAP error
2. If the users try to click and view the files
they get a “ error communicating with the server error”
This all occurs when they use the eRoom Plug in tool.
Active Directory folks say “ it’s not them” no policies restricting file size limits.
IIS / IAG folks say “ it’s not them” IAG is wide open etc…
Network Support says “ it’s not them”
eROOM Vendor Support Says,…. you guessed it,“ it’s not them”
URL path length, cache size on server and client setting are correct. Anybody see this one before? Thanks in advance Scott
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Hello, I am new to eRoom; I have version 7.2.3 and want to upgrade to version 7.4. How do I do that? Is there a pdf upgrade guide? any help would be greatly appreciated:) thanks, jduc
December 4th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Hi JDUC. Please follow this link: http://www.openvine.com/downloads/eRoom7.41InstallGuide.pdf. Let me know if you already have this guide or if you need further assistance. Regards, Bill Germino
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:06 am
Hi, I have a question regarding the future of eroom product. As we know 7.4 is already in place. Is there any news if the product is going to be discontinued by EMC? Any chance Sharepoint might be taking over the collaboration solution from ODcumentum eroom? What is the growth plan for eRoom?
Regards
Bharadwaj
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:10 am
Bharadwaj, EMC plans to release a new product called CenterStage later this year. It will, in effect, replace eRoom in the long run. But eRoom will be around in all likelihood for at least another 3-5 years, but without any significant upgrades.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hello All,
I am new to the forum but I serve as a backup site admin. We are using eRoom 7 and my problem is we have to grant eRoom users local admin rights in order to intall the eRoom plugin. One user is getting an error when he tries to install and use the plugin. The error is:
“an unexpected error occurred while initializing the eroom plugin. the plugin will now be disabled.”
The plugin works fine for me but I already had it installed and also have admin rights.
Does anyone know what may be causing this?
February 19th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Hello all,
I am looking to build a VB application to connect to eRoom but I cannot locate where to obtain the API toolkit. Any advice?
February 26th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Is there a way to hide the “Members” tab from members of the “Participant” and “Observer” roles while still making it available for the Coordinators?
February 27th, 2009 at 7:20 am
No, there’s not a way to hide the Members tab. What’s your objective? My guess is that you want to restrict users from seeing one another? If so, they can do that in Access Control and other places. You also do have limited control over what information appears in the Member list.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Thanks for the reply. Regarding our objective for hiding the Members tab… we don’t always want all of the members to know who the other members are especially when we have eRooms for sharing information with several different organizations.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:33 am
That’s a primary reason to have different eRooms—different sets of users who need to remain private. If you’re allowing them in the same eRoom, they can see each other’s name. Other organizations have solved this by creating Read-Only eRoom with a generic login, which can be used my multiple users simulataneoulsly. Then no one knows anybody in the eRoom, but has access to the content. You have to guard against security (and licensing) issues with that solution, but it’s been done. One other solution would be a customization—it would emulate an eRoom but remove any access to member information. Again, your needs would need to be simple for this.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:59 am
eRoom seems to automatically deactivte user accounts after x number of invalid login attempts. Does anyone know how to list the accounts that have had invalid login attempts?
March 13th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
There’s nothing out of the box that allows for viewing login attempts. A script can probably be written to get this information.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:29 am
Hi,
does anyone know, if it is possible to
move an eroom from eroom-server A to another eroom-server B (the eroom-servers are physically on different machines) through the eroom api
(saapi). I am currently working on a service
which should achieve this, but I went through the api and I didn’t find something helpful.
Thanks
March 25th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Can an Access database be uploaded to eRoom and can other users use it
March 25th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
BBunny, adding an Access database to an eRoom would be very similar to having it on a shared drive. Users can see it, but they can only open it if they have Access installed.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
when Synching eRoom’s calendar events with outlook using the eRoom Plugin does eRoom override the outlook event or just adds it as another event
March 25th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
eRoom will not override any existing event in Outlook. And only events that originate in eRoom are synched.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Programmer01, I consulted one of our technical consultants, and he said yes, it’s possible to move eRoom via the API, but he is not sure he would use SAAPI. It could be done via SAAPI but it seems like a lot of work.
The recommendation is to web services XML. You could use web services to pull data out of eRoom and import it into another room. A few questions/suggestions he had:
1. Are they different eRoom Sites?
2. Why not use community/facility/eroom export import process to move data?
3. You could easily copy/paste a database in eRoom to another eRoom and export just that one object in the room over to the other environment.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:56 am
Hi Bill Germino,
first of all thanks for your answer. We have two eroom servers on 2 different Machines with different eRoom Sites but the communities and facilites are exactly the same on both. I want to archivate erooms from the first server to the archive-server. So I thought I use the export Method to export an eroom and save it as .erm and than I have to use the import Method to import it, but how do I change the serverName?
My Problem is that the service runs on the first server and I want to import the eroom to the other archive-server, but I don’t know estabish a connection to the other one and execute the import Method on the archive-server.
March 27th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Is there a way to set a Folder access control by default to Hidden?
That is everytime a user click on Create Folder, the access control should default t Hidden. Thanks.
April 1st, 2009 at 8:32 am
we’re having a problem with viewing files in eRoom. An error message saying “the file is being viewed by you” even though the file is not even opened. How can we fix that?
April 1st, 2009 at 9:00 am
BBunny, there is no way to set folders Hidden by default–at least not out of the box. A customization might be able to do this.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:04 am
Lekinson2001, did you check the Access Control of that item? The message you describe occurs when a file is “Reserved for Editing”, which you can see under Access Control. You can manually uncheck it to release the reservation. This behavior occurs when you open a document for editing, and while it is open it gets closed improperly (like if you reboot the computer). The reservation is not released and you get the message next time you try to edit it.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:10 am
Programmer01, regarding your issue, you’ve crossed into programming issues which would be much better addressed in the Developer’s Forum on EMC Powerlink. Do you have access to it?
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 am
Bill, the reserved for editing box was unchecked. This seems to be happening with any file they try to open.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:30 am
Another thing you can try is to see if the file is stored locally and, if so, delete it. Anytime a file is opened for editing, it stores a local version of it in C:\Documents and Settings\l\Application Data\eRoom\eRoom Client\V7\EditingFiles. If there are files there that are not needed, delete them. If you need them, save them elsewhere then remove them from this folder. After removing, try again to edit.
Other troubleshooting questions: is it happening to all users? On all files? Every time they try to Edit? Can you open for Viewing okay?
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Hi Bill Germino,
a colleague of mine has access to EMC Powerlink, so I will use his account. Thanks for your help.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Hi there. I am new to the eRoom database world and I have a question. We have created an eRoom database that shows a list of documents that have been received. Is there a way to link that database to the main one that shows which ones we are supposed to have received to show what we’re missing? If we’ve received ten docs and we’re supposed to have 20, is there a way to link two databases to show what’s left out there?
Thanks!
April 16th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Hi Amanda. The way to “connect” databases in eRoom is by configuring them as Enterprise databases. Without knowing more about how yours are configured, I cannot say for certain if this will address your issue, but I will say the enterprise DB has been used in many cases to solve problems like yours.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I tried to work with the enterprise database, but I’m having real trouble even following the help instructions. It seems as though the only way I can even start to create one is through the template that is there, but I don’t see how that is useful in my case. I’m wondering if we don’t have the capability at my level to create them?
April 16th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Amanda, you need to have at least Community Administrator rights to first create the Enterprise DB (EDB), and to create any instance of the companion EDB Overview (roll-up). After the EDB is created at the facility level, it becomes available to any eRoom in the same facility, and any user in the eRoom can create and use it.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Amanda, on a side note–I believe it was you that also submitted a pricing inquiry on our website today. If so, after we replied, it bounced back, and there was no other contact information to reach you. If you’d like the response, please send me your contact information directly at bill@openvine.com. Thanks. -BG
April 30th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Hi Bill,
I’m distributing some report files from one eroom to others via XML/Soap
I can copy within a Facility but not across Facilities (even in the soaptest client).
I have tried a number of options but the most likely to me seems to be using the URL http:///eRoomXML
and the command xml (just the interesting bits)
er:select=”/Facilities/Facility[URLName='dev']/Rooms/Room….Items/Item[Name='afile.txt']“>
/Facilities/test2/Rooms/tergetRoom/HomePage/Items/Financials/
but i get
The TargetURL for a copy or move operation is missing or invalid.
so i know the source file works – and can copy this to a room in the local facility with only changing
/Rooms/Sampleeroom/HomePage/Items/Financials/Items/Payroll
so do I have to copy the file out and then create it in the other facility?
or have i jsut gotthe syntax for the target url across faciltiies wrong – tried a few variants.
thanks
for any help
April 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
obviously missing some XML in that post.
URL is http://blah.blah.int/eRoomXML
command works
er:select=”/Facilities/Facility[URLName='dev']/Rooms/Room[DisplayName='Payroll']/HomePage/Items/Item[Name='afile.txt']
copy
TargetURL : /Facilities/test2/Rooms/targetRoom/HomePage/Items/Financials/
returns
The TargetURL for a copy or move operation is missing or invalid.
but
TargetURL : /Rooms/Sampleeroom/HomePage/
works only when Payroll (command eroom) is in the same facility as sampleeroom (the target)
May 8th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Hello
Is there away to create a list of users which will have user names and when last used eroom in the last 6 months
May 9th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Elisa, the Usage Reports in the Admin area show all users and last login date. Let me know if you were thinking of something else.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:38 am
How is the user session timeout are set in eRoom. I need eRoom to timeout after 15 minutes.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:12 am
BBunny, In the Site Settings, General tab, there is an option, “User sessions expire after [X] hours of no activity (idle time).” The acceptable range is 1-24 hours, so 15 minutes is not an option. It may be possible to write a script to do this more often.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:48 am
Hi
A new eRoom database object’s autonumber always starts from number one. I need to have the autonumbering to start from 1001, so that the first row is 1001, second 1002 etc. Is there a way to make this possible?
I can change the existing autonumber values directly from the database object’s SQL database, but how does eRoom determine which is the next autonumber?
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:38 am
Hi,
I am new at this group, but have been working with eRoom since Feb 2000. And there is a way to export automatically eRooms… I am using the method in a couple of servers just in case a server crashes and we need to have some priority rooms opened asap.
Kari (new site at: http://www.ertuki.fi)
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:32 am
Erguy, to my knowledge there is not a way to start autonumbering at 1001, certainly not out of the box. Because this crossed into programming questions, our recommendation is to seek out the EMC Developer’s forum, where there is an abundance of resources. Although not a developer, I can envision as one potential solution, a customization that adds a field to your database that is a calculation based on the autonumber (# + 1000). That would word. Your idea is a more elegant solution where you just affect the autonumbering–again, check with the developer’s forum. But based on that, I can give you one less elegant but completely doable workaround:
Set up your database with the autonumber field (set to “in the order they’re created”) and add a thousand dummy records to it (copy and paste to speed the effort). Then delete them all and paste back all the official records. The new records will be autonumbered starting at 1001.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:37 am
Hi Kari and fellow long-time eRoom user…there is no automatic exporting of eRooms–unfortunately. You’re right, this would be a nice way to quickly restore eRooms. However, it *can* be scripted (customization). If it’s something you want to pursue and don’t have the resources, we provide these types of services (contact bill@openvine.com for details). Thanks for the question.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Thank you for your answer Bill! I was seeking a solution without having to do any programming because I’m not a programmer.
I finally solved the case by creating a database trigger that adds 1000 to any values in the database table’s autonumber column when doing INSERT or UPDATE on the table. This works as long as there are under 1000 rows in the table.
October 7th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Is there a way in eRoom to set the all uploaded documents Private Draft check box, checked automatically or set the Can Open Access Control to the Creator automatically?
October 8th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Hello, I was wondering what the best practice is for assigning memebership to erooms. Currently we have member access granted via synching with out gal’s distribution list. however, if a member is part of two different distribution lists we get errors synching them to two different erooms. what is also annoying is that under community info while looking at the member list, it lists the original community information which is confidential to another community. is there anyway to hide that?
October 8th, 2009 at 9:56 am
BBunny, there is not a way to set documents private by default. Not out of the box. It would require a customization.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Hi Bchi99. Not sure if I fully understand your scenario, but let me offer some common suggestions in this area. When synching with a directory, it’s common to have one community set up for handling the members, and another for handling content. If you have external users, they would be separated into their own “private” community. Also, setting a community to “Restricted” means “The community name cannot be seen by someone who is not a member of the community. Members of this community can be added by name as guests of other communities.” Let me know if you this did not answer the question.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:55 am
right but under the community it still lists where there original memembership is coming from. I want to hide the users original community information.
November 4th, 2009 at 6:17 am
I a having Few Questions in Eroom and CenterStage?
1) How can i Migrate Eroom to Centerstage ?
2) where the Erooms Datas are Saved and where can i see the Files
November 4th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Regarding the migration, what types of content are you migrating? Is it just documents, or do you have databases, notes, calendars, etc. that need to be migrated? The second question is not clear– you want to know where eRoom data is stored on the server?
The link to migration tool is http://www.crownpartners.com/products/bdceroom.jsp.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
i want to migrate one whole eroom (including documents,rooms,calendares,databse,etc..).yes i want to know where the eRoom Data is stored on the Server.
November 12th, 2009 at 5:31 am
To migrate the differen forms of content from eRoom to CenterStage, your best bet is to use a migration tool like RedCarpet (by Crown Partners). On the server, there are files for the Site database plus each facility database, and then folders with all the other documents (Word, Excel, etc.). There is usually a top-level folder like c:\eroom server that has the other sub-folders, but it’s possible to have the data set up on a drive separate from the application.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
If the limit in the number of concurrent users is reached what functions will not work after the Max+1 user tries to access different functions in eRoom?
November 29th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
BBunny, it’s not concurrent users that has a limitation, it’s “named” users or licenses. Therefore, there is no system response for a given number of users on eRoom at the same time. What can happen is that you run out of licenses. For example, if you have 100 licenses and have used all of them, if you want to add anyone else you must purchase additional licenses.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:03 am
Hi All,
How to get files(uploaded files) permissions in eRoom. I tried to get but i didn’t get that. Its high priority.
It could be helpful if any one gives reply.
Thanks & Regards,
Krishna Mohan
March 2nd, 2010 at 12:57 am
Hi. is possible to move all data from one eRoom to another one?
thanks
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 am
Hi Krishna, sorry I missed your initial question. If an answer is still needed, you set permissions on files in eRoom via Access Control, which is set by right-clicking a document ICON and selecting Access. You can set accecss for multiple documents by checking the box to the left of the document and then clicking “access” in the command bar below.
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:27 am
Hi Gnorro, yes, you can do this via copy and paste or drag and drop, as long as they are on the same server.
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:40 am
Hi Bill and thanks
but is possibile inside eRoom? i opened 2 IE windows with the 2 Eroom opened. i trie to drag and drop from 1 to other but when i leave mouse button the destination eroom change in the source one and doesn’t paste anything. can u explain me better please?
thanks
March 4th, 2010 at 7:21 am
Gnorro, you can try copy and paste. Select the item’s checkbox and click Copy at the bottom (command bar). Go to the other eRoom (or other folder in the same eRoom) and click Paste on the folder where you want it to go. The drag and drop requires the plug-in to be working, and you also must drag the item’s ICON, not the LABEL. So if drag and drop is problematic, try Copy and Paste.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:59 am
ok thanks
April 27th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
ok, so i’m new to using eroom. Is there a way to replace permissions on all child objects in an eroom. I’m trying to give edit access to 4 people for all objects in an eroom without making them coordinators. So far I haven’t found a way to make this work yet. Any thoughts?
April 27th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Mtupker, there is not a way to grant access control “across the board”. The best you can do is “one level at a time”. Here’s how: at the top level and on each folder and subfolder, choose Select All, then click Access and set Edit permissions. Depending on the amount of folders you have, it could take a few minutes or longer to complete.
You then need to consider permissions going forward. Folders have the ability to “pre-select” permissions, so when a new item is created in a folder, for example, it can be set to automatically allow all 4 users Edit access. You do this on folder access control by setting the “initial ownership…” to “everyone…”. Hope that helps.
July 29th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
We want to export eroom data in to Oracle database, is there a way to do this?
July 29th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
There is no direct path to moving to an Oracle database, but a customization should work, depending on how eRoom objects would map to the Oracle data fields.
July 29th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Hi Bill,
We don’t want to move the entire eRoom. In eRoom there is a database which is a list of Orders. Each order has about 10-15 properties. We need to extract the order list from ERoom and insert in to a table that we will create in Oracle database.
July 29th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
You’re right, that’s very different. Does a straight CSV export not work?
July 29th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Yes it definitely would. Is there a way in ERoom to export a list to CSV?
July 29th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
I thought we would need to develop a VB/ or .Net application that uses SAAPI to import the data.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:21 am
At the bottom of each eRoom database (on the command bar) is an Export button. This exports the database to a CSV file. It’s not too sophisticated—just exports all fields in all records. Some fields it cannot export, such as discussions and attachments, but otherwise it should fine.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Thanks Bill for the info. If we need to get attachments I am guessing we we have to develop VB or .Net application that uses SAAPI?
August 24th, 2010 at 6:16 am
I have a single server running eRoom 7.22 on ancient Compaq hardware. I’d like to migrate eRoom to a virtual machine and put the database on our SQL server and host the files on the SAN and then upgrade the new server to eRoom 7.4. Is there a document somewhere that would give me some idea how to get started with this?