Århus 03-02-09

When you first purchase BcView the system will be setup by your dealer. Although he will ask some questions. For you to answer it is recommended that you read this document.

If you want to make an existing BcView installation update trough the internet instead of via modem you will need to make sure to have BcView version 2.00H or later. You can establish the version by looking at the about dialog. You enter the dialog by entering main menu item etc\about. If your version is prior to 2.00H contact your dealer for a newer version. Your dealer will send you an upgrade and you need to install it before you can continue. The upgrade will insert some internet defaults.

To have BcView update trough the internet, you are required to make modifications to the ini-file. You must first set the ini-file variable UseINet to Y in order to have BcView start updating trough the internet. Secondly if you need to run trough a proxy or/and to run passive FTP you must make further modifications. See Ini-file Changes.

If it is part of your companies internet policy to prevent FTP unless required, you will need to have your computer department modify the firewall setup to allow you to read, write, and list files at least one of the 2 sites.

BcView 2.00H, BcUpdat version 1.005, BcLog version 1.002 or later.

Win 95, Win 98, Windows NT 4.0 or later.

Windows must be setup for internet.

The figure shows that BcView updates trough the BcUpdat program, which handles the FTP communication via the internet. It also shows which ini-file variables are read by BcView and which ini-file variables are read by BcUpdat.

Update overview

Communication between BcUpdat and ftp site in detail

BcView uses an ini-file to store its technical setup. By default this file is called bc.ini and is located in the same directory as BcView. If not so, take a look in the properties of the icon starting BcView. The path holds a -i command line slash. It is followed by the full path name of the ini-file. E.g. -ic:\bcview\bclocal.ini tells BcView to use the c:\bcview\bclocal.ini file.

The ini-file holds a number of variables that equals a value e.g. UseINet = N. When you change a variable, you modify the behavior of BcView or its service programs (BcUpdat and BcLog). Because BcView and its service programs only read the ini-file when they start, you will need to restart before the modification will take effect. Because BcView starts BcUpdat each time it updates, it is not necessary to restart BcView, if the variable only is read by BcUpdat. In any case remember to save the ini-file after editing.

Description of variables

UseINet=YThe UseINet variable tells if BcView should communicate via the internet or via a direct modem to modem connection. The variable should be set to Y to make BcView communicate via the internet. If the variable is missing or not set to Y BcView will communicate via a direct modem line.

Default: N. Should be Y. Must be modified. Read by BcView.

The pathname of BcUpdat program. The program handles the internet communication for BcView. If empty the program should be located in the same directory as BcView and be named BcUpdat.exe.

Default: <empty>. Normally left empty. Read by BcView.

The pathname of BcLog program. The program sends a log via the internet. Service program called by BcView. If empty the program should be located in the same directory as BcView and be named BcLog.exe.

Default: <empty>. Normally left empty. Read by BcView.

Directory to store temp update files passed between BcUpdat and BcView. If left empty the programs use directory called Updates.

Default: <empty>. Normally be left empty. Read by BcView and BcUpdat.

The variables INetFtpHome1, InetFtpHome2, and INetFtpHome3 represents 3 different internet sites. BcUpdat will try all 3 in sequence until it successfully gets the updates it requires. The variables is set to a string representing a FTP site. The string consists of a number of semicolon separated parts. The parts in order:

INetFtpHome1=www.bcview.com;101m82093085f93i88070o67094e36;103i88i86h86d86092i68v67c95;/bcview.com;;A

INetFtpHome2=www.aktiesiden.dk;053t10n26k14s00e29y29i68i1s0m8;a98017i24q31023mk9028;;;P

Default: <empty>. Read by BcUpdat.

IP-address of proxy server. Cannot be a domain name. If no proxy is used (or it transparent for BcUpdat) the variable should be left empty. If a proxy should be used the variable must be set to the ip-address of the proxy server.

Defaults to <empty>. Read by BcUpdat. See also ProxyFtpPort and ProxySeparator.

The port of the proxy server given in Proxy. Not used if proxy is left empty.

Defaults to 21. Read by BcUpdat. See also Proxy and ProxySeparator.

Delimiter used when logging on the FTP server trough the proxy. The proxy expects the username send as part of the FTP login sequence. The username send consists of the real username, the separator, and the host name of the site. BcUpdat will, based on the variables in the ini-file, generate this login, but if the separator is not @ ProxySeparator must be setup to the character used by your proxy. E.g. Novell Border Manager is known to use $ as default. Also it must have NDS disabled.

Default is @. Read by BcUpdat. See also Proxy and ProxyFtpPort.

Some companies use a proxy for FTP. If your company require you to go through a proxy, you will need to setup the ip-address of the proxy in the ini-file variable Proxy. Also if the proxy does not use port 21 for the FTP commands, you will need to set ProxyFtpPort to the port used. Further more if the proxy does not accept @ as a separator within login-info send to the proxy, you will need to set ProxySeparator to the character used by your proxy. Currently we are not able to handle the SOCKS protocol.

Some companies setup their firewall to limit access to FTP. You will at least need to read, write, and list files at one of the 2 sites: 130.228.36.163 and 87.104.233.200. There exists no standard for firewalls, so it is out of scope for this document. Contact your computer department to setup the firewall. Only the user/PC running the BcView update need access.

Some companies will not allow sockets to be opened from the ‘outside’. FTP in active mode does exactly that. Therefore use passive mode if your company does not allow sockets to be opened from the ‘outside’. See ini-file variable InetFtpHome <Ftp Active/Passive >.

BcView is probably not able to locate the communication program (BcUpdat). BcView writes "Trouble starting communication program" in the status line (the line following Msg:). Check that BcUpdat.exe exists. The ini-file variable BcUpdat specifies the location of BcUpdat.exe. As default the variable is empty and BcUpdat should be placed in the same directory as BcView. If not correct modify the BcUpdat variable, save the ini-file, and reopen BcView.

The update program says "Connecting to www.bcview.com" and/or and "Connecting to www.aktiesiden.dk" and continue to do so. The log will display an error in the RequestDone following the attempted connect. If the error is 11001 then the ftp site cannot be found. If BcView tries both sites without luck the problem is likely to be at your site. The problem can be one of many. Here are some:

• you might be required to go through a proxy. If that is the case follow the guide lines for setting up BcView to update trough a proxy. To do so you need to know the ip address of the proxy and if not default you must also know which port number the proxy use for FTP, and the separator used, when username and host is passed to the proxy.
• a firewall might not allow you to run FTP to our sites. See Go trough a firewall.
• you might be required to run passive mode. You will need to set ini-file variable InetFtpHome? to passive. See Passive Mode FTP.
• internet has not been setup at your PC. You can easily check this by starting your internet browser.