The web viewer requires a configuration that is not provided at installation, to be able to receive an uploaded publication. If nothing works, start from the beginning, we can remove any current configuration.
When all is failing or files have been corrupted
If you suspect that configuration is corrupt, you may remove and regenerate some vital files for the web viewer. to get back to the post-installation situation:
Select the web application app_data folder: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\AssertWeb\App_Data
Delete the files profile.config and server.config
Start up the web application to make it create the two files, use fake language and site name
In Chrome/Edge, open the Url. http://localhost/AssertWeb/en-GB/test – just discard the error for the time being. Now the files are created and we can add configuration.
Configure upload target settings in the server.config file:
Define the remote area for uploaded publications. Create a folder to host all uploaded publications and ensure that Everyone has full access to the folder. Then enter an element in server.config to declare it to the web application, when upload is made from the editor server.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <ServerConfiguration xmlns:xsi=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance xmlns:xsd=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema> <RemoteArea>C:\your-path\your-pub-folder</RemoteArea>
Ensure that Everyone has full access to the remote area folder
Configure target SqlServer instance name in the server.config file:
Ensure SqlServer instance name is correct by replacing all “server-name\SQLEXPRESS” in server.config with the SqlServer instance you are using for the web application.
Now publish to the web-application again
Generate a publication of media type Signifikant Remote publication. Specify Remote server to address the web application from the editor server. If you are running both on the same server you may set Url to: http://localhost/AssertWeb. Also IIS binding to HTTP or HTTPS protocol and the server name must be valid in the context your editor server is running in.
When ready, test the new publication with the uploaded site name: http://localhost/AssertWeb/en-GB/your-new-site.
Profiling, server-databas, etc
Add subfolders for each publication, where a profile is needed, setup a server-database in server.config for sites where it is used. The server database stores users/orders/notes/prices etc. when a user is logged in.
This is a general but large task of web application profiling (fonts, sizes, colours, images, definition for providers, etc). It creates look and feel of web pages and defines order process, search, filter-engine, presentation settings. If something needs to be tweaked in the application, it probably ends up as profiling.
Find log files for diagnose
Inspect web application log file for errors
Inspect the log file for the AssertWeb application on the remote server, default location is:
C:\ProgramData\Signifikant\Assert\AssertServer.log
Inspect the publisher log file for errors
In the publication repository the menu choice Explore target opens the folder of the publication.
The log file is:
publish.log
Some common errors when first setting up the web viewer
Publishing is prohibited in the web viewer
When running remote publication it stops with an error:
In later versions all APIs are protected by default, this is the meaning of the message. Here is an article on the subject: Technical documentation - Signifikant REST API authentication
To disable protection, please inspect the file web server:
C:\ProgramData\Signifikant\Assert\api-permission.config
At the top you can disable permission check by changing enabled flag:
<Enabled>false</Enabled>
This will turn protection off, and publish may succeed.
Follow the referred article to configure proper security. Do not leave the API protection turned off.
Short guide to setup permission to permit publisher
The login is defined for the editor server in C:\ProgramData\Signifikant\Assert\server.config.
Elements:
<UploadUsername>publisher</UploadUsername> <UploadPassword>****</UploadPassword> <UploadLogin>true</UploadLogin>
WebPublisherApi is the permission you’ll need to grant, in C:\ProgramData\Signifikant\Assert\api-permission.config on the remote web server.
<ApiPermission> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <Username>publisher</Username> <Password>****</Password> <Roles>WebPublisherApi, WebApiAdmin</Roles> <AllowAnonymous>false</AllowAnonymous> <Permissions /> </ApiPermission>
IIS is not run with system privileges
The logfile may display an error:
Access to the path 'C:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\AssertWeb\\App_Data\\server.config' is denied
Is IIS application pool setup to run as SYSTEM, granting the application rights to write the file?
Or is the file server.config open in i.e. Notepad and locked, preventing the application to save the file?
IIS SYSTEM account is not permitted to create and attach new databases
The logfile may display an error:
Failed to attach database System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master'.
Please check the database engine at the remote server. Ensure that SYSTEM is granted to handle database instances by enabling sysadmin role.