CADViewer User Guide | Java Applet Parameters

CADViewer 10.2 Collaborator Installation

Collaborator Installation Help

How it works

A collaborator session is established when more than one CADViewer instances communicate with the Collaborator servlet installed on a server. CADViewer instances will send changes and will request changes made by users to the CollaboratorServlet. Once a user changes something with the CADViewer instance, CADViewer will send the changes to the servlet. The servlet will store the changes in files at a given folder/directory. CADViewer repeatedly will send a request to the servlet to see whether there is any changes that other users have made. If there are changes, the servlet will get the data and send them back to CADViewer.

How to set up Collaborator Module to work with CADViewer

You need to have "CollaboratorServlet.class"servlet . If you have File Conversion Module, this "cadviewer_ent.txt" would be the same one.

Collaborator Module

Copy the servlet "CollaboratorServlet.class" to your servlet container. Typically, the servlets will be in WEB-INF/classes directory.

Modify "web.xml" in WEB-INF if applicable and reset your servlet container, typically you'll have to add the following:

<servlet>
<servlet-name>CollaboratorServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>CollaboratorServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>CollaboratorServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/servlets/servlet/CollaboratorServlet</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

Use a browser to run the "CollaboratorServlet" servlet i.e. http://xyz.com/servlets/CollaboratorServlet

The servlet will give you the location where to put the cadviewer_ent.txt file

Copy the cadviewer_ent.txt to the location given above

Use an editor to modify the following parameters in cadviewer_ent.txt file:

tempcollaborator_path=path1 where path1 is the path (folder/directory) to hold temporary files for the collaborator
logcollaborator_path=path2 where path2 is the path (folder/directory) to hold event log file, error log file and session information file for the collaborator
application_servers=servernames where servernames is a list of defined servers (servers are separated by "," or ";") and is used to configure the Servlet to only serve connection requests from CADViewer clients that come from this list of defined servers

CADViewer

Install CADViewer

To enable collaborator module from CADViewer, either add the parameter "CollaboratorURL" in the viewer.cfg /viewer.txt or in the html file that launches CADViewer

CollaboratorURL=URL where URL is the URL to the servlet (i.e http://www.xyz.com:8080/servlets/CollaboratorServlet)

"collaborator_username" parameter is optional and if this is used, CADViewer will list the active sessions from the server and CADViewer sets the user name using the value of this parameter rather than have the username typed in by the user

How to use Collaborator

Click on the redline buttons in the toolbar
Click on the collaborator buttons in the redline sub-toolbar
Fill out user name and session name (if parameter "collaborator_username" is not defined)
If parameter "collaborator_username" is used, select an active session from the dropdown or create a new session

New session can be created by click the "New Session" box and enter the name of the session
If 'New session' is selected, then the user automatically becomes a Convenor, and if an existing session is selected from the dropdown, then the user automatically becomes a Collaborator

After the "submit" button is pressed, the collaboration window should be docked in the drawing viewer window.
The convenor has the control of the collaborating initially
Other user needs to click "Request Control" button to get the control and this user can get the control when both convenor and the person who has the control grant it to him/her
The convenor can get the control back anytime when he/she clicks the "Request Control" button
Only convenor can save redline file to the server
When user has the control, he/she can draw redlines and use other functions; other participants are restrained from using functions on the viewer
When user that is not the Convenor clicks on "Quit Collaborator", CADViewer closes only the individual session, not the entire collaboration session
When the convenor click on "Quit Collaborator", CADViewer closes the entire collaboration session (all other Individual sessions are closed)
If for some reason that any participant browser crashes, he/she can resume the session by sign in again
If for some reason that the convenor browser crashes, the session will be closed
When a Convenor starts a Collaborator Session, the URL of the drawing that is opened by the Convenor will be copied to the Collaborator Server . When Collaborator Clients connect to the same session, then their instance of Cad Viewer opens the same drawing file on the Convenor's Cad Viewer server.
CollaboratorServlet will maintain a log of all session requests and Session close events under the name "event_log.txt" in the directory defined by logcollaborator_path in the cadviewer_ent.txt file. The log will be accumulative, e.g. each Session request and Closure event will append to the file. CollaboratorServlet will create a new log file only if one does not exist. The log will record:
If CollaboratorServlet encounters a problem with any Session Request (including POLL Event) that means it cannot process the specific request, then it will write an event to the log file and go on to process the next request
The session name is currently remembered, but it isn't possible to join or start a new session with the same name
CollaboratorServlet currently stores conversations in a series of temporary files on the server. These files are cleaned up when the collaboration session finishes. The files are not cleaned up if the Collaborator Session finishes abnormally (crashes). The clean up will be done when any new session starts
Upon session expiry or convenor termination, CollaboratorServlet will clean up it's temporary files, memory allocation (for expired sessions only) and delete the expired session name that was used so it can be re-used
A Collaborator servlet is normally used with one licensed CADViewer installed on one server and the URL of the collaborator server must be in this licensed CADViewer locked URLs. To use one collaborator servlet with multiple licenses of CADViewer, the parameter "application_servers" needs to be defined in the cadviewer_ent.txt file. Then the collaborator servlet can serve connection requests from CADViewer clients that come from multiple allowed servers.