Important Information

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1 14 Dec 2015 Initial ReadMe for v2.x Note: This ReadMe also retains data related to v1.9.x and later. For information related to releases prior to v1.9.0, please refer to prior publications of the inews Data Receiver ReadMe, located on the Avid Knowledge Base ( Important Information Avid recommends that you read all the information in this ReadMe file thoroughly before installing or using any new software release. Note: Search the Avid Knowledge Base ( for the most up-to-date ReadMe file, and other documentation available for this product, containing the latest information that might have become available after the doc-set for this product was published. This document describes compatibility issues with previous releases, hardware and software requirements, software installation instructions, and summary information on system and memory requirements, when applicable. This document also lists any hardware and/or software limitations.

2 Compatibility Notes and Issues... 3 Microsoft Windows... 3 Microsoft.Net Framework... 3 Avid inews... 3 Installation Notes and Issues... 3 Upgrading... 3.Net Framework Data Receiver v Configuration Files Upgrading to v New Features... 5 For v New Input Type for RSS Feeds... 5 Hardware and Software Changes... 6 Changes for v SFC File... 6 Host Names vs. IP Addresses... 6 Changes for v SFC File If... 6 SFC File ElseIfEqual... 6 Versioning... 8 Changes for v New Commands... 8 Process Test... 8 Story Parsing Variables... 8 Miscellaneous... 9 Known Limitations... 9 Administration Application May Not Reconnect to Avid Data Receiver Service... 9 Removing a Wire Instance Completely SFC Files Used With Multiple Instances Timeout When Stopping or Restarting Avid Data Receiver Service Configuration Changes Require Instance Restarting Miscellaneous Serial Data May be Detected as a Serial Mouse in Windows Log File Extension May be Hidden Administration Application Summary Tab Headings Unreadable After Initial Install... 11

3 Technical Support Information Accessing Online Support Copyright and Disclaimer Compatibility Notes and Issues This version of Avid inews Data Receiver is compatible with the following: Microsoft Windows Data Receiver is supported for use on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server This version of Data Receiver is not supported on any other Windows operating system. Microsoft.Net Framework Data Receiver requires Microsoft.Net Framework v3.5 Data Receiver setup installs.net Framework 3.5 for you if it is not present already. Avid inews Data Receiver requires inews 2.0 or later. All previous versions of inews are not compatible with Data Receiver. Avid inews 2.6 requires Data Receiver 1.5 or later with the output code page setting type for Data Receiver must be configured for Unicode only. Other output code pages for Data Receiver are not supported. Installation Notes and Issues Upgrading.Net Framework Data Receiver v1.9.2 Enabling.Net Framework v3.5 is required prior to Data Receiver installation on Server 2012 R2. You will need internet access of the Windows Install Medium to complete this procedure. To turn on.net Framework v3.5: 1. Navigate to Control Panels > Programs > Programs and Features.

4 2. Select the.net Framework 3.5 as shown in the following illustration. 3. Click OK. Now.NET Framework v3.5 is enabled. Configuration Files Upgrading to v1.9 In Server 2008 R2 or 2012, configuration files are stored in: C:\ProgramData\Avid\Data Receiver. Data Receiver 1.9 is not seamlessly compatible with and earlier. The older.cfg files can be used, but they must be imported into the new application. To import older.cfg files into Data Receiver v1.9: 1. Write down the active wire instance tabs. The installation directory for DR 1.8 may have old cfg files that are no longer in use. 2. Uninstall the existing Data Receiver installation. 3. Install Data Receiver Select Wire Services > Add previously configured Wire Service 5. Select Find next to the Filename field 6. Navigate to the installation folder for the previous DR installation. 7. Select the *.cfg file that matches one of the instances from the old installation, and then select Open. 8. Confirm that the Name field matches the name of the instance selected, and then select OK. 9. Modify any log directories that you would like to change, and then select OK. Note: The default values allow the process to write files without needing administrator elevation. Setting these folders to protected locations could result in problems running Data Receiver. 10. Select Yes to confirm addition of the wire instance. At this point the application displays the imported settings. If no changes are needed, you can now navigate to the Summary tab and start the wire instance. Additional instances can be added in the same fashion.

5 New Features For v2.0 New Input Type for RSS Feeds Avid inews now supports one RSS source in Data Receiver, and Data Receiver v2.0 supports RSS functionality with (optional) authentication. This purpose of this new functionality is to enable subscription to syndicated RSS feeds, in addition to public RSS feeds, and use them as a wire service source. Data Receiver now offers a new input type. It uses a poll interval to go to a specified URL and retrieve new RSS feeds since its last update. Like with other input types, Data Receiver then reformats the data using sfc files and put stories into inews. To set up a new wire service instance for RSS feeds: 1. From the Data Receiver Administration window, select Create a New Instance option from the Wire Services menu. 2. The Configure an Instance of the Data Receiver dialog box appears. Fill in the Instance Name and select the appropriate files (config and sfc) files for use by the instance. Then click OK. The Configure Directories dialog box appears. 3. Accept the default directories; these paths may vary. Click the OK button. 4. Select Yes to confirm addition of new instance. The new instance appears in the Data Receiver Administration window as a new Wire Configuration tab. It will bear the name you gave it. 5. Click the new tab. 6. Click the Change button in the Input section. The Select New Input Type dialog box appears. 7. Select RSS in the Input Type dropdown list. 8. In the RSS tab, fill in the RSS feed URL. (Optional) Select the Use authentication check box and enter the log in criteria, if necessary. Then set the polling interval and click OK.

6 Hardware and Software Changes Changes for v1.9.2 SFC File In previous versions of Data Receiver, when processing the commands in the Story Format Configuration (SFC) file, it was possible to remove all data from the input buffer making it empty. Subsequent commands would then yield array out of bounds exceptions when attempting to reference input. All references to the input buffer are now validated to prevent these out of bounds exceptions. Host Names vs. IP Addresses In previous versions of Data Receiver, when it attempted a connection to an inews Server and received a redirect response from the inews Server, it would construct a new address from the one provided in the response and the domain name extracted from the name supplied in the connect request that resulted in a redirection. If that host address was an IP address, Data Receiver incorrectly interpreted the IP address as a host name that included a domain suffix. So it appended a portion of the host address to the name supplied in the redirection message. This has been fixed; now, Data Receiver checks the host address and if it is an IP address, it does not append anything to the host name provided in the redirection message. Changes for v1.9.1 SFC File If In version 1.6 of Data Receiver, when there was no marked text, the match for an If command was only against the input buffer for the length of the pattern. Beginning in version 1.8, however, when there was no marked text and there were no wildcard characters in the pattern being matched, the If command would match all text in the input buffer starting at the current location. This behavior was a regression from DR 1.6 and has been fixed in v Using <If>string</If> now requires that the string be marked. In earlier versions you didn't have to mark because you could If from the current position. <Move>></Move> <BeginMark /> <FindForward>;</FindForward> <Move>-</Move> <EndMark /> <If>text/plain</If> SFC File ElseIfEqual Once an ElseIfEqual evaluates to true, all following ElseIfEquals will also evaluate to true. The following SFC always prints "ubf." <WireProcess> <Comment>IfEqual ElseIfEqual Else bugtest</comment> <SetVariable>%priority%=3</SetVariable> <IfEqual>"%priority%"="5"</IfEqual> <Copy>d</Copy> <ElseIfEqual>"%priority%"="4"</ElseIfEqual>

7 <Copy>r</Copy> <ElseIfEqual>"%priority%"="3"</ElseIfEqual> <Copy>u</Copy> <ElseIfEqual>"%priority%"="2"</ElseIfEqual> <Copy>b</Copy> <ElseIfEqual>"%priority%"="1"</ElseIfEqual> <Copy>f</Copy> <Else /> <Copy>r</Copy> <EndIf /> </WireProcess> The SFC should be coded as follows using Else followed by IfEqual: <WireProcess> <Comment>IfEqual ElseIfEqual Else bugtest</comment> <SetVariable>%priority%=3</SetVariable> <IfEqual>"%priority%""5"</IfEqual> <Copy>5</Copy> <Else /> <IfEqual>"%priority%""4"</IfEqual> <Copy>4</Copy> <Else /> <IfEqual>"%priority%""3"</IfEqual> <Copy>3</Copy> <Else /> <IfEqual>"%priority%""2"</IfEqual> <Copy>2</Copy> <Else /> <IfEqual>"%priority%""1"</IfEqual> <Copy>1</Copy> <Else /> <Copy>None of the above</copy> <EndIf /> <EndIf /> <EndIf /> <EndIf /> <EndIf /> </WireProcess>

8 Versioning The installation program now displays the correct release version of Data Receiver on the Welcome screen. Changes for v1.9 New Commands The UseCase and IgnoreCase commands have been added. The system defaults to UseCase, meaning all search and compare operations, are case sensitive. The IgnoreCase command is used to make search and compare operations case insensitive. The command remains active until changed. Usage is: <UseCase/> and <IgnoreCase/>. The LogMessage command has been added. LogMessage writes a message to the error log. Usage is: <LogMessage>This is the message in the error log.</logmessage> The IncrementVariable command has been added. IncrementVariable increments by one the integer variable. No action is taken if the variable is not an integer. Here is an example of this command used in conjunction with the Log Message command: <SetVariable>%myVar%=0</SetVariable> <IncrementVariable>%myVar%</IncrementVariable> <LogMessage>The current value of myvar is %myvar%.<logmessage> In this example, the message, "The current value of myvar is 1." will appear in the error log. The ClearAllMarks command has been added. The ClearAllMarks command clears the current BeginMark and EndMark. Usage is: <ClearAllMarks/>. The MarkFound command has been added. The MarkFound command sets the BeginMark and EndMark around the found value. No action is taken if nothing is found. Usage is: <MarkFound/>. The FindForward command has been added, which is used for wildcard searches. The character string %*% is used to represent a string of zero or more characters in length. For example, <FindForward>t%*%ing</FindForward> finds any word that starts with "t" and ends with "ing." This could locate words of various lengths, such as taping, talking, and training. The character string %?% is used to find a string of specific length, where each question mark represents one character. For example, <FindForward>t%???%ing</FindForward> finds "talking" and "texting" but not "taping" or "traveling." Process Test Process Test now displays red marks when BeginMark and EndMark are out of order. Blue marks indicate proper order. The Process Test window now has a Save Output button. Save Output saves the Process Test output to a file. In previous versions of Data Receiver, the Save As button in Process Test made a copy of the current SFC. The active SFC was still the original. This is changed. Save As now behaves like standard Save As, where a new copy is created and is also set as the active document. Story Parsing Variables Story parsing variables have been added. o %BeginMark% is a pseudo variable that identifies the current BeginMark. o o %EndMark% is a pseudo variable that identifies the current EndMark. %Current% is a pseudo variable that identifies the current position in the input buffer.

9 Miscellaneous In previous versions of Data Receiver, the Avid Data Receiver service would fail to start if any configured CFGs could not be found. This is fixed. The service now starts properly, displays an 'Unknown' status in the Summary tab for the missing CFG, and posts an error in the Windows Event Log. In Data Receiver 1.8.0, the Server Name field in Logging Level > Notification was cleared when the admin application was closed. This is fixed. In previous versions of Data Receiver, distribution codes would not work unless padded out to 10 characters. This is fixed. A distribution code can now be fewer than 10 characters and still distribute properly. In previous versions of Data Receiver, selecting Start before selecting Save in Process Test would result in loss of SFC changes made since the last save. This is fixed. Selecting Start will retain changes, but the changes will not save until Save is selected. In Data Receiver 1.7 and 1.8, the option to select the installation path was not available. This is fixed. The installation path can now be defined by the user. The location of configuration files is not user definable. In previous versions of Data Receiver, wire instances could not be created on machines that had no serial ports. This is fixed. If no COM ports are available, the serial options are disabled, and the other options are selectable. The Data Receiver summary pane now limits display to 1000 lines. An ellipsis at the top of the pane indicates that there are additional lines not being displayed. Data Receiver now allows setting a non-standard port for SMTP servers. The default is still port 25. "Remove selected Wire Services" is now only active when focus is in the Summary tab, preventing accidental deletion of instances. When an SFC is associated to a wire service, the selected SFC is copied to the configuration folder and renamed to match the wire instance name. Renaming a wire instance is no longer supported. Known Limitations This section provides information on known limitations that were not addressed in this release. Any available workaround procedures are also documented, when possible. Note: For limitations related to compatibility of this release with previous versions/other products, see the section of this document entitled, Compatibility Issues. Administration Application May Not Reconnect to Avid Data Receiver Service If the Avid Data Receiver service is stopped and restarted with the Administration Application open it may not reconnect properly on start up. The Administration Application will not always reconnect properly to the Avid Data Receiver service if it is left open during a restart of the Avid Data Receiver service. The individual instances may appear as being Unavailable or the Story Input and Story to NRCS data will stop updating. Workaround: Close Administration Application before starting or restarting the Avid Data Receiver service.

10 Removing a Wire Instance Completely When an instance is removed from within the Administration Application it is not removed from the WS.exe.config file. The wire instance will continue running in the background using resources such as an input COM port. To fully remove a wire instance from the Data Receiver follow these steps: 1. Stop the Avid Data Receiver Service under Windows Control Panel Services. 2. Open the WS.exe.config file using a text editor such as Windows Notepad 3. Locate the <WireInstance>Wirename.cfg</WireInstance> entry for the removed instance. 4. Delete the <WireInstance>Wirename.cfg</WireInstance> entry for the wire instance to be removed. 5. Save the File 6. Restart the Avid Data Receiver Service. SFC Files Used With Multiple Instances If the same SFC file is used with multiple wire instances, any changes made within one instance affects the behavior of all other instances using that same SFC file. Making minor changes for one instance may break all other instances using that same SFC file. Workaround: Make sure that all process files being used are only being used by a single wire instance. Timeout When Stopping or Restarting Avid Data Receiver Service Users may get a timeout message when attempting to restart the Data Receiver service (not to be confused with restarting an instance of the Data Receiver service) you can sometimes get a timeout message from Windows stating that the Data Receiver service did not respond in a timely manner. This is due to the Data Receiver service attempting to finish processing of stories in its queue. The Data Receiver service will stop when it has finished processing its queue and no action is required. Configuration Changes Require Instance Restarting The following changes to a wire instance configuration require restarting of the wire instance: Input type. Input character translation changes. Changes to the story Start and End sequence characters. Custom code page translation table changes. Output character translations. Output inews server name. Miscellaneous Serial Data May be Detected as a Serial Mouse in Windows It is possible for Windows to mistakenly recognize incoming serial data as a serial mouse when the machine is power cycled. Microsoft has documented workarounds for this problem in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Workaround: Let the device be incorrectly detected by Windows, use the Device Manager to disable the incorrect device (don t remove it or it will be re-detected), and power cycle the computer. The device will remain in the Device Manager, but it will be disabled and the port will work correctly.

11 Log File Extension May be Hidden By default Windows hides extension for known file types. If you associate the Data Receiver log files with a program (i.e. WordPad or Notepad) the.monday,.tuesday, etc extension will become hidden making it harder to tell what day the log file is from. Workaround: Avid recommends Windows folder settings be altered to always show file extensions. To set Windows folder settings to show file extensions: 1. Select Tools->Folder Options. 2. Click the View tab. 3. Uncheck the Hide file extensions for known file types check box. 4. Press the OK button. Administration Application Summary Tab Headings Unreadable After Initial Install After the initial install of the Data Receiver and the first time run of the Administration Application the column headers for the summary tab of the Administration Application may appear with nonsensical headings and be improperly formatted. This problem will only occur after the initial install of the Data Receiver and the first time that the Administration Application is run. Once resolved by performing the workaround this problem it will not reoccur on the same Data Receiver machine. Workaround: If this occurs simply close and reopen the Administration Application after at least one wire instance has been configured.

12 Technical Support Information Most products feature a number of coverage options. Avid Assurance service offerings are designed to facilitate your use of Avid solutions. Service options include extended telephone coverage, automatic software maintenance, extended hardware warranty, and preferred pricing on replacement parts. Offerings and options may vary by product and are not available for all products. For more information regarding Avid s service offerings, visit or call Avid Sales at AVID ( ). Program availability and details might vary depending on geographic location and are subject to change without notice. Contact your local Avid office or your local Avid Reseller for complete program information and pricing. However, if you need help locating an Avid office or Avid Reseller near you, please visit or call in North America AVID ( ). International users call Accessing Online Support Avid Online Support is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Search the Knowledge Base to find answers, to view error messages, to access troubleshooting tips, to download updates, and to read/join online message-board discussions. To access Avid Online Support: Go to Note: Supplemental documentation for this release, if available, is provided on the Knowledge Base. For the latest up-to-date information, browse the Knowledge Base at Avid Online Support.

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