Help Menu

Help

This menu opens the help system appropriately for the active docking window or the current program state. The possible entry positions are depending on the active docking window. If the help is not possible for the current context then the menu is disabled. Then please call the Help Topics menu instead and search for a pattern of interest.

The context-sensitive help can also be called with the corresponding shortcut (Windows/Mac) or from the tool bar with a button.

Help Topics

The help system in JavaHelp format is part of the Digester software and can be opened directly from the running application. It is particularly suitable for fast lookup. The convenient search function allows to search the contents for keywords or even parts of keywords. The help system can be displayed by activating the Help Topics menu. Alternatively you can press the F1 key which opens a special dialog with the following tabs: 

The first tab Table of Contents lists the chapters and sections of the help system. Normally, there is already a start page selected, so that the viewing area initially shows some text. If the help system is called from certain positions of the program, the display will navigate directly to the associated section (context help).

To search the full text of the help system, go to the Find tab (magnifying glass icon) and enter a search term where also parts of terms are allowed. When committed with ENTER, the search is started and the find results are listed. By selecting a matching list entry with the mouse, you can view the text in the text area to the right.

The Favorites tab finally allows to store help page references permanently, so that such references are directly available the next time the help system is opened. To store a favorite text page from the help system, please select a page from the table of contents or from the find tab so that the text content is displayed by the text area. Then click on the Add to Favorites button with the same symbol as the Favorites tab. You can find this button in the tool bar of the help system window (the slightly larger symbols). The added text page then appears on the Favorites tab and is also available the next time the help system is opened.

Within the tool bar there are some more buttons to navigate Back and Next as you probably already know from your Internet browser. You can click the printer icon to print the currently displayed text page on paper.

Please note, that a printer is needed here which must be configured on the operating system level. In order to adjust the size of the help system window for your computer system, you can drag the divider between the list area on the left and the text area with the mouse.

In addition to the help system a printable manual in PDF format is shipped with the Digester software.

Manual (PDF)

In addition to the help system, the Digester software also provides a printable manual in PDF format. You can view the PDF manual by activating the menu Manual (PDF). If there is a PDF viewer such as Acrobat Reader installed on the computer, it will be automatically executed. If no window shows up at this point, the system probably lacks a suitable viewer for PDF files. Please install either an appropriate program to display PDF files and repeat the above steps, or use the help system instead which can be directly opened from the Digester software. The Digester software does not contain any viewer for PDF files.

The PDF manual is available for the Web Start versions of the software as well as for the installer versions, provided that this component has been installed. More information about installing the PDF manual can be found in section Installer for Windows. You can view the PDF manual for an installed version also by clicking the special symbols within the program group for the Digester software, provided that the program links have been created during the installation process.

From the Web Start versions, the PDF manual can be exclusively viewed by activating the Manual (PDF) menu which first of all downloads the PDF file from the Leisenfels web server to the configuration directory within the user's home directory. The next time you call the PDF manual, this file is already available and does not need to be downloaded again.

Release Notes

To find out about the features of the available Digester versions, the Leisenfels web server is available around the clock. The software itself also provides so-called release notes. While the information for the currently used version is always available chances are good that you can find the release notes of older versions here as well. Please activate the Release Notes menu, so that a special dialog is displayed.

You can find the list of included program versions at the top left corner with the currently running version being selected by default. If you like to view the release notes for an older version, please select the corresponding entry in the list. The available notes for the selected program version are displayed by the list on the right side. The entry symbols represent the nature of the applied changes to the program version (e.g. new functionality, performance enhancement etc.). In addition to the title of the note the table shows the date when the entry has been deposited by the author. If you select a certain note from the list, the details for the note are being displayed by the text area at the bottom of the dialog.

The top right corner of the text area may show hyperlinks to be clicked directly with the mouse. For example, the links let you browse further information from the Internet or from the application help system. The target addresses of the links are displayed as tooltips if the mouse is crossing for a while. You can filter the available notes by type, category, and edition. Possible change types are New feature, Enhancedfunctionality , Fixed bug, Security issue solved, and Miscellaneous change. The categories are program specific, currently there are entries such as Graphical User Interface and Digest generation available. Notes may also belong to multiple categories. The edition filter allows you to display only the notes specific for one of the available editions.

Check for Updates

In order to keep the Digester software up-to-date, the software provides a special dialog. Here you can explicitely check for newer versions as well as configure automatic update checks performed in regular intervals. The figure shows the Check for Updates menu which opens the dialog shown below. This is the well-known information dialog providing relevant status data for the running application. The update information can be found on the Updates tab.

Please note, that an Internet connection is required to load update information from the Leisenfels download server.

When you call the status dialog via the Check for Updates menu it will immediately attempt to connect to the Leisenfels Internet server. If you have no working internet connection then the update connection will fail and no update information is displayed. If the update server can be reached, a request is sent including the current program version as well as the unique license ID. The server responds based on the request by transmitting a data record which may contain a list of available newer program versions. A special hint message is displayed by the dialog if the currently used version has not yet been replaced by a newer version or if the license is invalid (e.g. expired).

In the example, the request is generated by the installed program version 1.6.2 and the newer version 1.6.3 Build 229 is available on the server. In addition to the exact program version, the update list of the dialog shows the date of publishing for the update versions. The Update column indicates the type of update, if it is a newer major version, a newer Java version, a newer minor version, or a newer build version. The table shows examples for the different types of updates for the Digester software based on the following scheme:


        [Hauptversion].[Java-Version].[Mini-Version] Build [Build-Version]

The major version starts with 1 and is incremented for each further major version. New major versions are published when the software has changed fundamentally. Commercial licenses are usually valid for a specific major version so that updating to another major version may not be possible.

The Java version in the second position of a typical program version denotes the minimum required Java version. The first Digester versions are based on Java 1.6, so the program versions are 1.6.2, 1.6.3, and so on. By adding the Java version to the scheme it is possible to publish multiple versions within a major version for example for Java 1.5 and Java 1.6. Please keep in mind that a suitable Java runtime environment is required for such updates at least for the Web Start versions. Some of the installer-based installation archives already include an appropriate Java environment already.

 

Update Type Short    Example for Version Change
Major version    Major 1.6.3 to 2.6.1
Java version Java 1.5.4 to 1.6.1
Minor version Minor 1.6.2 to 1.6.3
Build version Build 1.6.2 Build 184 to 1.6.2 Build 223   

The most common update type is the minor version change, since updates usually replace older versions of the same major version including minor enhancements and bug fixes. Such update versions can usually be used with an existing license. Both the installer and the Web Start variants may be installed simultaneously so that you can safely testdrive a new version prior to production use. Build version updates are only relevant for the development of the software and will not be available for end-users.

In order to avoid problems during the update process, please always check the latest release notes for the respective version at the Leisenfels website first. You can do this comfortably by clicking the hyperlinks shown by the update list of the software. These links are provided directly by the update server depending on the program and allows you to directly navigate to the appropriate area of the Leisenfels homepage. By clicking the links, your default web browser is opened. The above mentioned dialog requests update information from the server while the update packages themselves are not downloaded here. Thus you always have the full control over the update process for your software.

If you are using an installer-based variant the installed version should be uninstalled prior to the installation of the update version. If you are using the Web Start version of the Digester software, it is possible to let Web Start care for the automatic updating or you can update your software manually by installing a fixed program version. For detailed information about the available Web Start versions of the software and the update techniques see section Web Start.

By clicking the Check Now button you can always check explicitely for available updates. If you like to query the update server automatically on a regular basis, then you should activate the Auto-check option shown by the dialog. Here you can configure the time intervals between the update requests. Currently, queries can be generated On every start, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. The Digester software will automatically contact the update server and keep you informed about available updates by displaying a special icon in the status bar. By clicking this icon, the above mentioned dialog is opened where you can view the list of available updates.

Send Status Report

The Send Status Report menu is only enabled if your license includes a commercially available Premium Support option. This option is transported within the license key and activated by the software when such a license is registered. The menu Send Status Report is then enabled and can be selected.

 

If the menu was called it may take a few seconds without any reaction by the program. Please wait until the dialog is opened or a status message is displayed by the program. If only a minimum of free memory is available please deactivate memory-consuming elements of the status reports like screen shots from within the preferences before you call the status report function.

The status report functionality currently is reserved for customers with Premium Support option.

A status report consists of different pieces of information collected by the running program and is transferred encrypted either directly to the Leisenfels support team or saved as a local file. Saving as file becomes necessary if no Internet connection is available. The export file may then be sent for example as an e-mail attachment from a PC with Internet connection to the Leisenfels support for further analysis. The contained data is handled confidentially and only in the way it is described in the license agreement (e.g. for analyzing errors).

Currently the following information can be sent with a status report: 

The status report parts to be finally transferred may be configured in detail. If you like elements like screen shots not being transferred you may opt out this feature within the preferences. In addition to that any data elements presented by the dialog may be deselected or closed so that these data report parts are not transferred or stored. The transferred or save status reports are encrypted to avoid unwanted access.

The dialog to send status report on the left side shows the button Add Message to create a new message, where the text could be typed like an e-mail. Please write messages either in German or English, other languages are currently not supported. If you like additional files be attached to the status report (like sketches, ZIP archives etc.) then please click the Attach button and choose one or multiple files. Please keep in mind that the overall size of a status report is limited, the program warns if this maximum size will be exceeded.

Below the buttons on the left you can see the collapsible areas representing the report parts each. With the little buttons above the collapsibles you can deselect all, select all, expand all, or collapse all parts. With the context menu of the collapsibles (right mouse button) you may select or deselect the elements within the parts.

In the preview area on the right you can see the previews for the contained information as it is seen later by the support team. The upper tabs each represent the collapsible elements on the left side where at least one element must be selected in order to see the tab on the right. With the red X you may close the tabs on the right so that that the associated data is not transferred. The tabs at the bottom each represent the flags as shown by the expanded collapsibles on the left side. Also these tabs may be closed in order to ignore the associated data for the final transfer.

In order to send the status report please click on the Submit button. The program then tries to establish a connection to the Leisenfels server on the Internet. During transfer the progress is shown by a special dialog, you may do the transfer in the background like other tasks or cancel the transfer. If the transfer was successful then an appropriate message is displayed.

If the report could not be sent another dialog is displayed where you can store the status report as a local file. You can sent the stored report attached to an e-mail to our support team from a PC with Internet connection or at a later time. If you generally like the status report sent via e-mail then click the Save button where you are prompted to specify an export file. If this file does already exist a message is displayed.

In order to save memory, the preview for the scheduled data may be switched off (golden symbol next to Cancel).

Product Homepage

After selecting the Product Homepage menu you will be navigated to the Digester pages on the Leisenfels Internet site. To do this your default Internet browser will be started and the page will be preselected. If nothing happens probably no default Internet browser is configured on your PC.

Please note, that an Internet connection is required to access the Leisenfels homepage.

Buy License

After selecting the Buy License menu you will be navigated to the Leisenfels shop on the Internet. To do this your default Internet browser will be started and the page will be preselected. If nothing happens probably no default Internet browser is configured on your PC.

Please note, that an Internet connection is required to access the Leisenfels homepage.

Register

To deploy the Digester software, a commercial license must be obtained. You can find the available product licenses and terms of use on the Leisenfels website. The software can be licensed as a Single-User License where the Digester software can be used by a single person also on multiple computers. On first start or after selecting the Register menu the Digester software shows a dialog where you are prompted to specify a valid license key. Here you can see the following tabs: 

You can now specify a license key in several ways. If you have already purchased a license or started an evaluation, you have received an e-mail with the associated license key in the form of a text fragment or as a file attachment.

License files usually are named like license-DIGEST16BESU-LF-00001267.txt. Please save this file on your hard disk or copy the text fragment from the e-mail to the clipboard of your operating system. Under Windows this can be done by selecting the text with the mouse and pressing the key combination Ctrl+C. Then switch to the registration dialog and either insert the copied text (under Windows by pressing the key combination Ctrl+V) or select the license file by clicking the File button so that the license key is inserted into the text area of the dialog. Once the Register button becomes active, please click on this button.

The license will then be decrypted and verified. If the license is valid for the current version, the license details are displayed by the other tabs Info, Licensee, Licensor, and Agreement. Please read the license details carefully. In particular you should read the license agreement carefully because this provides the legal framework for the use of the software. If you confirm the dialog with the OK button, another dialog will be opened prompting you to accept the license agreement.

If you do not accept, the dialog is closed and the Digester software is terminated because no valid license key is configured. If you do accept the agreement, the dialog is closed and you can use the software from now on. The license will be deposited within the configuration directory and automatically loaded and checked the next time the application is started. If the deposited license key is invalid e.g. because the license has expired you will have to set a valid license as described above.

 

If you want the Digester software to be improved in the future, we ask you to obtain valid licenses for each deployment of the software and to make sure the license agreement is respected. Thank you very much!

About Data Digester

To view detailed information about the internal state of the Digester software you can activate the About Data Digester menu which opens the dialog described here. Alternatively, this status dialog can be displayed using the corresponding tool bar icon. This dialog provides various tabs with detailed information about the current program, the Java runtime environment as well as the operating system. Some of the tabs can be refreshed by clicking the Refresh button. The Update tab can also be called directly with a dedicated menu item, please refer to the section Check for Updates

The Application tab lists the main internal parameters of the running application. These include the computer name, the installed printers, the IP address of the computer, the presence of an Internet connection, the local configuration directory within the user's home directory, the license file, the log file as well as many other details, which can be useful when contacting the Leisenfels support. If the individual values are not readable, then you can adjust the column widths by moving the boundary line between the header cells accordingly.

The Arguments tab displays the command-line parameters supported by the current application version. Below the text area you can see the parameters actually in use. For more information on using command-line arguments please refer to the section Arguments for digestergui

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