EPiServer World FAQs

Configure IIS to force Internet Explorer 8 to run in Internet Explorer 7 mode

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:36:00 GMT

Question I have recently upgraded my computer to Internet Explorer 8 and am now experiencing problems with the functionality of the EPiServer Web site. Are there any ways for me to get around this problem? Answer Microsoft has improved security by releasing a new version of Internet Explorer, version 8. This upgrade has, unfortunately, proven to have implications on EPiServer sites. Furthe...

Unselected properties for the Editor

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:13:00 GMT

Question I have unselected properties for the Editor but I still see all options in the toolbar in Edit mode Answer Go into Admin mode Config tab -> Permissions for Functions and check that the user you are logged in as is not in a group that is added to show All functions available in the Editor .

ClassFactory not initialized

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Question When upgrading a Web site to EPiServer CMS 5 R2 we are getting the server error stating - ClassFactory not initialized . Answer This behaviour could be due to that in your application you are using EPiServer CMS CacheManager or other internal objects that are related to EPiServer.DataFactory before the real begin_Request arrives into the sys...

Multicast UDP not working - configuring to a specific server

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:17:00 GMT

Question I am having problems with Mulitcasting UDP can I change the configuration to be able to use the TCP protocol and point to specific servers instead of multicasting UDP? Answer Yes, see the example below - though please note that the standard behaviour in EPiServer CMS 5 is to use multbroadcast to get the servers to update their cache. Configuration Example ...

How do I Prevent a Web site restart?

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:34:00 GMT

Question How do I prevent my Web site from restarting after making changes in the Web config file? Answer When making changes in Web config it can be important on a production Web server that the Web site does not restart immediately. There are two built in attributes in ASP.NET that can be used to make this possible: configSource and restartOnExternalChanges . External configuration file Every...

Is it possible to turn off question about page file folder in file manager?

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:19:00 GMT

Question Is it possible to turn of the question about creating a page file folder in the EPiServer CMS file manager, when you are inserting an image or a document into a page? Answer This change was introduced in EPiServer CMS 5 to encourage use of the page file folder functionality, which is useful in many cases. The change means that when you have the file manager open in Edit mode, the file ...

WebParts not rendering after upgrading to EPiServer CMS 5 R2

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:38:00 GMT

Question After upgrading my Web site to EPiServer CMS 5 R2 the Web Parts from the R1 site are lost - what should be done? Answer Install the hotfix for Web Parts - when upgrading to EPiServer CMS 5 R2. This problem will be addressed in the upcoming release of EPiServer CMS 5 R2 SP1.

Authentication error when publishing from Microsoft Office

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:30:00 GMT

Question Why do I get an authentication error when I publish pages from Microsoft Office? Answer Users that rebuild their database after activating the Microsoft Office add-in may experience authetication errors when trying to publish from Microsoft Office after database rebuild. Work around this problem by first deactivating the Microsoft Office add-in, and then activating it again.

Problem with Byte Order Mark

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:15:00 GMT

Question Why do I get a warning when validating a page with the W3C validator? Answer A byte order mark (BOM) is added to the response when the url-rewriter is active. This will generate a warning when validating the page with the W3C validator. The reason for the warning is that very old browsers may have a problem with the BOM, however any reasonably modern browser is able to handle it correc...

Editor will throw a NullReferenceException in certain situations

Tue, 27 May 2008 10:40:00 GMT

In EPiServer CMS 5 SP2, the Editor will throw a NullReferenceException in the following situations: if you're comparing a page in different languages using the combo box if you're trying to edit a page that isn't the master language and that has a property of the type "Time/Date" if the page uses delayed publishing If the site is affected by any of these symptoms, there is a workaround availabl...

EPiServer CMS Migration Tool

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:43:00 GMT

Are you thinking of migrating your EPiServer CMS 4 site to EPiServer CMS 5? If so, we highly recommend that you first read the information below. Which version of EPiServer CMS 4 must I have to migrate to CMS 5? The migration tool supports migration of EPiServer CMS sites from version CMS 4.62 to CMS 5 SP2. What if my EPiServer CMS site is based on 4.51? Then you must first upgrade the EPiServe...

Links to bookmarks containing colons (:) and asterisks (*)

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:17:00 GMT

Question Why am I having problems linking to bookmarks that contain colons (:) and asterisks (*)? Answer When you try to visit a Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0-based Web page, you may receive an error message that resembles the following: HttpException (0x80004005): '/HandlerTest/WebForm1.aspx/a:b' is not a valid virtual path. This problem occurs if the virtual path in the URL contains a colon (:) or as...

Unable to get installer types in the EPiServer.BaseLibrary.dll

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:06:00 GMT

Question Why do I get "Unable to get installer types in the EPiServer.BaseLibrary.dll" when installing a site with EPiServer CMS Manager? Answer The BaseLibrary refers to standard .NET assemblies, so make sure that you have .NET Framework 3.0 installed. "Cannot install files: The installation failed, and the rollback has been performed.. [Unable to get installer types in the C:\WINDOWS\assembly...

Running the scheduler on machines with both EPiServer CMS 4 and 5 installations

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Limitations The scheduler service is able to serve both EPiServer CMS 4 and 5 sites provided that the EPiServer CMS 4 sites are compiled for and run in ASP.NET 2.0 . When you install an EPiServer CMS 5 site on a machine, any ASP.NET 1.1 EPiServer CMS 4 sites on that machine will stop running scheduled jobs - following the instructions below will only work for ASP.NET 2.0 EPi...

Invoking WebService operations in IIS5 causes an HttpException

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:51:00 GMT

The combination of IIS5 and the wildcard Application Mapping to aspnet_isapi.dll required by the FriendlyUrl function in EPiServer CMS 5 causes problems when calling WebService methods. The exception thrown states that: "The HTTP verb POST used to access path '/webservices/datafactoryservice.asmx/MethodName' is not allowed" The reason for this is that the wildcard mapping somehow interferes wit...

Display the same language in a translate Web control and a page

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:44:00 GMT

Question How do I display the same language in a translate Web control and a page using Replacement languages? Answer Using Replacement language and a translate Web control will result in the Web control displaying the language from which the site is being visited from. If you want to show the translate Web control in the same language as the replaced page, there are two ways of achieving this....

Spell checking and Export to Excel under Windows Vista?

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:10:00 GMT

When running IE7 in protected mode on Windows Vista (as is set by default in IE7), the Internet Explorer process can not access the default temp folders. This leads to the spell checking and exporting to Excel not functioning properly. To work around this issue the EPiServer site needs to be added to the list of trusted sites.

Installing ActiveX Controls in EPiServer Client Components on Windows Vista

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:15:00 GMT

Windows Vista Platform NOTE: You must have administrator privileges on your computer. NOTE: Remember to restart your computer after turning the UAC privileges back on. If UAC has not been turned back on then the installation will fail. Installing ActiveX Controls on Windows Vista Q: I have problems when installing the EPiServer ActiveX components when running Windows Vista. A: The UAC shou...

Getting "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" in site root

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:40:00 GMT

This could be related to a Microsoft .Net bug when using ASP.NET wildcard application mapping that's used in EPiServer CMS 5. You can get more information on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911300 where you can also contact Microsoft for a hotfix. It's also included in the latest security update for the .NET Framework 2.0: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928365/en-us

Server Error in / Application. Generic failure

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:38:00 GMT

Symptom The applications fails with the following error: Server Error in '/' Application. Generic failure Solution This means that there is a problem with the Windows WMI. This could be caused by the files in C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository being corrupt. Try to rebuild the files by following the instructions below: Stop Windows Instrumentation Service. Remove all files under C:\WINDOW...

Mirroring error: Message Expired

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:15:00 GMT

Symptom You set up mirroring between two sites and get the following error message: Message: At least one timestamp has expired. Exception: Microsoft.Web.Services2.Security.SecurityFault Message: Message Expired Source: Microsoft.Web.Services2 at Microsoft.Web.Services2.Security.Utility.Timestamp.CheckValid() at Microsoft.Web.Services2.Security.Utility.Timestamp.LoadXm...

How do I switch my developer site from using Casini Web server to IIS?

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:06:00 GMT

By default a developer site (SDK installation) uses the built-in Casini Web server. To change it to use IIS (5.1 is used in this example) you need to do the following. Create a Virtual Directory Configure Wildcard mapping in IIS Set ASPNET permissions Create a Virtual Directory Open IIS and create a new virtual directory under the default Web site (the name "CMS5" will be used in th...

How do I enable SQL Membership Provider for my site?

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:15:00 GMT

There are two ways of doing this depending on if you want to change the provider on a development site or on a public manager installed site. 1 - Enabling the provider in a development environment If you are developing and deploying a site through Visual Studio you can use the ASP.NET Configuration tool. Click the button at the top of your solution view and the ASP.NET Configuratio...

Cannot install files: The installation failed, and the rollback has been performed

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Question Why do I receive the error message "Cannot install files: The installation failed, and the rollback has been performed" when I install a module on EPiServer CMS 5 SP1 using the EPiServer CMS Manager? Answer This error occurs on a machine that only has the SP1 assemblies (5.1.422.122) installed in the global assembly cache (GAC) after installing a module that references EPiServer CMS 5 ...

Can I do a property search using webservices?

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:41:00 GMT

Q: Can I do a property search using webservices? A: Yes, see example below. // Include the web references namespace. Here we have named it EPiServer4 // and it references the /WebServices/DataFactoryService.asmx file. using TestApplication.EPiServer4; // Initialize a DataFactoryService object for webservice calls private EPiServer4.DataFactoryService _wsFactory = &nb...

Adding EPiFields Support to Non EPiFields Page Types

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 17:06:00 GMT

EPiFields is an add-on function to EPiServer, which gives editors/authors the possibility to insert variable data into the Editor. This is especially useful when you want to show data from other systems on a normal EPiServer page. After installing EPiFields, you can only use EPiFields in the Editor in EPiFields - Ordinary Page page types. To add EPiFields support to other page types, e.g. ordin...

License violation - license in use at another site

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 00:00:00 GMT

License violation! License is already in use at another online site The EPiServer license agreement states that a license is limited to a single site in Internet Information Server. As of EPiServer 4.20 this restriction is enforced - if another online site is detected that is using the same license an error message will be displayed. If you have test sites that reuse a licen...

Sort order is not updated

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:48:00 GMT

Question: Why is the sort order not updated? I want to sort a number of pages according to a sort order of my own definition. I have set the sort order with different numbers for each page, and still the sorting is not updated accordingly. Why is this? Answer: Check the following to find out what is wrong: Does the parent page have the correct sort order setting? The sort order has to be set as...

Error handling in EPiServer CMS

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:38:00 GMT

Question: How come that some of my web visitors and editors receive strange error messages, while others get a white page with explanatory text? Answer: Most likely the strange looking error message is generated by the .NET environment in which EPiServer is built. However, in EPiServer there is a setting where you can get rid of .NET error messages, and adapt the appearance. The first set...

How to sort pages in the tree structure

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:52:00 GMT

Question: How can I arrange pages in my own logical order in the tree structure? Answer: It is possible to select the sort order for underlying pages in the structure. By selecting sort order, you can control the order for all pages underlying the page which you are currently editing. The setting of the sort order can be alphabetical, by creation or change date, or by sort index. T...

Hiding a page in the navigation

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:50:00 GMT

Question: Is it possible to hide a page in the menu navigation? Answer: Not all pages on the website need to be displayed as an alternative in the menu. Therefore it is sometimes valuable to be able to hide certain pages in the structure. This is how it is done: Edit the page and go to the tab "Advanced information". By removing the mark in the checkbox "Display page in menus", the page ...

Function for managing captions in EPiServer

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Question: Is there a built in function for creating and adding image captions in EPiServer CMS? Answer: No. Currently the easiest way is to use tables placing the image in a cell and the caption in another cell, to control the appearance and the text flow around the image. Another alternative is to create a page template where you make it possible to manage images with captions. Below you will ...

What is RSS and how does it work in EPiServer?

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:58:00 GMT

Question: What is RSS and how does it work in EPiServer CMS? Answer: RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way to make selected information on your website, available to those who want to receive it. RSS is a communication channel using a specific format to make the information available for reading with specific RSS programs. As a visitor to websites, RSS provide you with an easy way to stay up...

How do PageList-PageTree templates work?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:22:00 GMT

Question: How do PageList/PageTree templates work? Answer: The different templates for displaying results in for example PageList may seem to behave a bit strange sometimes. Below you will find a guide to the templates, also explaining what the different templates fall back to if not set. The default template for heading. The default template for...

License error in load-balanced environment

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:32:00 GMT

Question: Why do I get a license error suddenly in my load-balanced environment? Answer: In order for the load balanced license to work, the master site needs to be running. When visiting the master site, it will write data in the database table TblMasterSlave, and the slave(s) will read from this table to confirm that it is “their” master. The license error can occur if the master site has bee...

How is VAT handled in EPiStore?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:38:00 GMT

Question: How do I handle VAT in EPiStore? Answer: EPiStore does not have any built-in support for displaying VAT, but you could store the price including VAT in a value-key variable in the Attributes property for CartItem. The price including VAT could then be set programmatically when an item is saved. Tax values could be stored either in application variables or dynamic properties, making&nb...

Reading the settings of a site programatically

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:41:00 GMT

Question: How do I read the settings of my site programatically? Answeer: In previous versions of EPiServer (EPiServer 4 and earlier), the EPiServer specific settings were located under the AppSettings block in the Web.Config file. These have now been removed. Instead of using the AppSettings collection, EPiServer settings are today accessed through the use of a configuration class. All setting...

Missing language drop-down list

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:42:00 GMT

Question: Why can't I see the language drop-down list when I try to change the master language with ChangeMasterLanguage.aspx? Answer: The problem is the following line in ChangeMasterLanguage.aspx which is added by Visual Studio: Remove it ...

Configuration registry key is invalid

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:33:00 GMT

Question: Why do I get the error message "The Configuration Registry key is invalid"? Answer: This is caused by the EPiServer performance counter in the registry, which has been corrupted and needs to be restored. Rebuild the performance counter library by using the following command: C:\WINDOWS\system32> lodctr /R Warning! Note that if you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you ma...

Null reference exception in HeaderTemplate list

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:02:00 GMT

Question: Why do I sometimes get a null reference exception when using a property control in the HeaderTemplate of a list? Answer: If an EPiServer listing control does not use PageLink or PageLinkProperty, there is no valid page context in the Header- and FooterTemplates, which causes NullReferenceExceptions for property controls. The property control will retrieve property values fro...

Javascript errors after upgrading site

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:07:00 GMT

Question: After upgrading our site I keep getting javascript errors. Why is this? Answer: If the update contained updated javascripts, it is most likely that these files are cached, resulting in errors when trying to call new javascript code not available on the client side. Most of the time this can be solved by clearing the browser cache (CTRL+F5) and/or clearing the cache in proxy servers (i...

Why are anonymous users sent to login form?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:41:00 GMT

Question: Why are anonymous users suddenly sent to a login form when accessing a page that has read rights set for Everyone (for example the start page)? Answer: The most common cause is that the (start) page that the user is trying to access has a listing accessing another page that does not have read rights for group "Everyone". This could for example happen when a page is deleted and mo...

What are permanent links?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:47:00 GMT

Question: What are permanent links? Answer: Permanent links are a new way of handling links to pages and files. Instead of including links in regular static HTML, we store links as references to GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers). The GUID is resolved to a link when the page is viewed in a browser. This means that content can be moved or renamed freely without links being broken, since th...

I have a long user name and cannot log in?

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:42:00 GMT

In EPiServer 4.x the lenght of user names is limited to 64 characters. Upgrading to a later version (CMS and later) or changing the username to a name shorter than 65 characters will solve this problem.

Browser crashes when accessing URL:s with %

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:12:00 GMT

My browser crashes when accessing URLs with % sign Certain signs cannot be handled by ASP.NET and will result in a HTTP status 400 Bad Request. See the following Microsoft KB Articles for further information: ›› http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932552 ›› http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826437

List of recent documents page opens when opening a file with '#'

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:34:00 GMT

When I tried opening a file with '#' in the filename, the "List of recent documents" page was opened instead, why? This is an issue with ASP.NET parsing url strings. If a URL contains a hash sign that is properly encoded (to "%23") ASP.NET will decode it back to '#' with the consequense that everything before the hash will be treated as the request and everything after as a URL-fragment. This c...

How can you set the number of versions in the version list?

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:08:00 GMT

Question: How can you set the size of a version list, is there a way to set the maximum number of versions saved and displayed for each page? Answer: There is a setting managing the number of versions displayed for each page on the website. This is set in the Admin mode under the tab Config/System Configuration/System Settings. Under the tab “Editing” you can provide a value for “Maximum ...

Publishing from MS Office does not work

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:09:00 GMT

Question: Publishing from MS Office isn’t working on my computer, what can be the possible cause? Answer: In order for these Microsoft Office connected functions to work, apart from having permission you also need to have certain client software installed on the computer you are using. You also need to activate each website for the publishing from Microsoft Office to work with that websit...

Check in-out is not updated in the EPiServer file manager

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:02:00 GMT

Question: I checked out a document in the EPiServer file manager, opened and edited the document i n Word, then saved and did check-in from Word. When I look in the file manager in EPiServer, the document still appears to be checked-out, and when I try to do check-in from the file manager, EPiServer tells me that the document has not been checked-out. Why is this? Answer: This is most lik...

The spelling tool does not suggest any word and I am not able to add word

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:26:00 GMT

Question: The spelling tool marks an incorrectly spelled word without providing a suggestion for correction. It is not possible either to enter a correct word from the spellcheck dialogue box, instead you have to go back and correct the text after closing the spellcheck. Why is this and is there an easier way? Answer: The spellcheck in EPiServer is integrated with MS Office, and in practi...

Spellcheck, data export or advanced file upload does not work

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 16:09:00 GMT

Question: Spellcheck, export to Excel and/or advanced upload with drag/drop isn’t working on my computer, what can be the possible cause? Answer: In order for these Microsoft Office connected functions to work, apart from having permission you also need to have certain components installed on the computer you are using. If the requested functions are not working, check the following first...

Statistical functions in EPiServer

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:38:00 GMT

Question: What statistical functions are available in EPiServer, and how can you retrieve more advanced statistical information from an EPiServer based web site? Answer: EPiServer comes with a simple statistical function adaptable to each web site, and which produces real time information such as most visited pages, current number of visitors per page and total number of pages in database. Howe...

Setting of publishing time and server clock

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:29:00 GMT

Question: Which clock controls the publiching time, and what applies when you are working towards the same web server from different locations with time differences? Answer: The publishing time is controlled by the web server clock. However, please note that the time suggested when setting publishing time, comes from the client computer. This means that you have to make corrections ...

Save-view does not display the latest version

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:55:00 GMT

Question: When selecting ”Save and view”, an older version is displayed in the edit and/or view mode, why is this? Answer: In some versions of EPiServer a problem may occur when saving and viewing changes in the edit or view mode. The problem is caused by the EPiServer cache memory management, which is set up to enhance performance and make the system work faster. This may cause older versions ...

At least one timestamp has expired

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 14:15:00 GMT

Message Expired

How can I modify the way my site deals with 404-errors?

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:35:00 GMT

There are three methods of approach for dealing with 404-errors in EPiServer solutions. The following FAQ tries to explain the different approaches you might take when customizing the way your site deals with them. Topics: Through the IIS Through the built-in EPiServer error handling module Through settings in the web.config file Through the IIS Important: The page you enter in the following di...

License violation after removing a second site

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:06:00 GMT

If you install two sites using one license, you will get a License Violation Error. The simple reason for this is that an EPiServer Standard license is valid for one site only. If you still get a license violation error after uninstalling the second site (by removing it from the IIS), this might be due to scheduler settings still remaining in your structure. Stop the scheduler service from...

Problems when installing templates

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:44:00 GMT

Why does my EPiServer installation crash when I am installing templates? If you are installing EPiServer and receive the error message "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" during the template installing phase, this might very well be due to a missing setting in Web.config. This issue occurs when you are installing EPiServer with an Enterprise license without taking the appropr...

Error when saving a property

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:30:00 GMT

Why do I get an error when saving a property? Due to a bug in EPiServer 4.61 properties being added to a pagetype were given a fieldorder of 0. Since this is not an allowed behaviour in EPiServer a hotfix was released to correct this. As a result of the hotfix, you can no longer save properties with a fieldorder set to 0 meaning you have to change these values in the database. In order to updat...

What MIME types are supported by EPiServer?

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 16:23:00 GMT

When dealing with files within UnifiedFileSystem, the following 192 types are recognized internally by EPiServer: File extension File type .323 text/h323 .asx video/x-ms-asf .acx application/internet-property-stream .ai application/postscript .aif audio/x-aiff .aiff audio/aiff .axs application/olescript .aifc audio/aiff .asr video/x-ms-asf .avi video/x-msvideo .asf video/x-ms-asf .au audio/basi...

Operands to use with PageSeach control

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:22:00 GMT

This article describes the operands which can be used in PageSearch queries

Accessing file properties in UnifiedFileTree

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:54:00 GMT

Why can´t I access some of the UnifiedFileTrees properties from my aspx script? In the web.config file for your site, there is a section named “UnifiedFileSystem”. In this section you can decide if you want EpiServer to handle files in a certain directory for you or if you want to use the existing directory structure under your site. By setting “virtualShare” to “true” you are telling EpiServer...

Application pool crashes when scheduled jobs are run

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:42:00 GMT

The application pool crashes when I run scheduled jobs This situation arises when using EPiServer in a .NET 2.0 environment. The default policy for unhandled exceptions was changed in version 2.0. Earlier, unhandled exceptions on managed threads were passed up the chain of events to be handled at a higher tier. As of version 2.0 this is no longer true and as a result the process within wich the...

Event validation is enabled causing invalid postback or callback argument

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 16:44:00 GMT

This error is caused by running ASP.NET 2.0 with an incompatible web.config setting. In order to resolve this you need to set "enableEventValidation" to "false". Open your web.config file and replace the element to match the following:

Friendly URL and upgrading to EPiServer 4.6

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:59:00 GMT

When upgrading from EPiServer versions prior to 4.60 to 4.60 or later the postback function may not work correctly with friendly URL:s. To adress this you need to manually add the following code to the header section of all page templates: If you are using a standard installation of EPiServer it is sufficient to add this line at the end...

Internet Explorer crashes in Edit/Admin mode

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:34:00 GMT

This error appears when you use EPiServers custom popup menu after installing Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (918899) . The issue will be adressed in the next security update but you may also contact Microsoft to receive a hotfix that resolves the problem. Information about the issue and links to Microsoft support can be found at http://support.microsoft.co...

The trust relationship between the primary domain and the trusted domain failed

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 15:50:00 GMT

This error message appears on machines running EPiServer 4.60 (or later) in a .NET Framework 2.0 environment when trying to log on to an EPiServer site using a windows account when not connected to your main domain. The reason behind the error lies within code changes made to the ASP.NET framework in version 2.0. This problem will primarily occur on laptop machines since they are frequentl...

Database timeouts and high CPU load on the database server after upgrading to 4.61

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 16:25:00 GMT

The 4.61 release contains new functionality that limits the number of history entries that are saved for scheduled jobs to 100 per job. In previous versions of EPiServer the history log could grow unhindered so it is quite likely that pre-4.61 databases contain a large number of history entries. History entries are stored in the tblScheduledItemLog table. This new function can cause problems af...

Strange behaviour of property sort order

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 17:03:00 GMT

FieldOrder set to zero when adding a new property

Page ID as URL segment when using friendly URL

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:28:00 GMT

When upgrading a site to 4.6 and turning on friendly URL, you might notice that there are page ID in the adress to the pages. That is because during the upgrade, the pages url segments(the name in the adress bar) are not set. What EPiServer does when it finds an empty url segment is to fall back to the pages ID. We have developed a small tool to fix this issue after an upgrade. Contact support ...

Changes to radio buttons and check boxes in XForms

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 09:55:00 GMT

The output for radio buttons and check boxes in XForms have been changed in 4.61. These controls now create a fieldset-tag around the input controls and a legend tag is added to the fieldset if a heading has been specified. As the fieldset tag has a default style in most browsers you might want to specify a specific default style for this element to make the form look as as it did before if you...

Missing text when adding new language files

Wed, 24 May 2006 11:09:00 GMT

We introduced a new function i 4.60 that caches the merged language files in one file to improve performance. However, there is a bug in that function that might affect sites when adding new language files. When you add new language files, they might be ignored and not added to the merged language file if the save dates for the new language files are older than the last merge date. If you add n...

Problems with remote connections in SQL 2005 (Express)

Fri, 12 May 2006 13:42:00 GMT

If you come across the following error; "An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)" One reason could be that you haven't ...

Unable to download files larger than 60 KB

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 09:24:00 GMT

Problem: Unable to download files larger than 60 KB from a UFS folder Windows 2003 SP1 and UnifiedFileSystem We have discovered problems running EPiServer4 under Windows 2003 Server with SP1 installed. Symptoms: Files larger than approximately 60k can not be opened through EPiServer's UnifiedFileSystem. The source of the error seems to be within the OS/.NET env...

EPiServer sample templates and WAI standards

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:10:00 GMT

Why do EPiServer sample templates use JavaScript that do not comply with WAI standards? According to WAI guidelines, JavaScript should either be avoided or corresponding functionality should be available in an alternative way that does not use JavaScript. EPiServer's sample template set currently contains some JavaScript, which means that full template functionality cannot be attained with Java...

Debugger in Visual Studio freezes when debugging an EPiServer project

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:35:00 GMT

When debugging an EPiServer project in Visual Studio, it sometimes freezes. The reason for that is that other processes runs against that asp.net process. Most often it's the EPiServer Scheduler. So stop the scheduler while debugging.

How do I create a log in EPiServer?

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 10:41:00 GMT

The logging function in EPiServer is very useful when troubleshooting different issues. To log everything, create an EPiServerLog.config file in the root of your website and add this: ...

How to set up automatic logon with windows authentication

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:11:00 GMT

The following steps describes how to set up automatic logon to EPiServer using windows authentication and windows integrated security. Set up Anonymous + Windows Integrated Authentication in IIS. Set that the pages are not considered public by the asp.net environment This can be done with the following syntax in the web.config file: ...

Performance issues and OutOfMemoryException

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 13:09:00 GMT

Framework version If you encounter Memory Exception problems, the first thing you should do is to make sure that you have Service Pack 1 for .NET Framework 1.1 installed. Memory Exceptions will occur more frequently if you have .NET FW 1.1 without the SP and they will also occur during much lower memory loads. To make sure that you have SP1 installed use the registry editor to check the v...

What are dynamic CSS files

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 13:15:00 GMT

Overview EPiServer 4.50 and later allows the edit and admin directories to be relocated, for security purposes. Since the edit and admin directories contain web forms and controls that refer to stylesheet files in other directories, the stylesheet files (that are static by nature) must allow dynamic content. To solve this problem, a new concept called dynamic CSS files was introduced ...

Invalid "security vulnerability" link during installation

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 10:41:00 GMT

During the installation of a new site in EPiServer Manager 1.0 and 1.1, you may get a dialog that warns you about a security vulnerability in the NET Framework. When you click Yes in the dialog, the browser will try to load an invalid link at microsoft.com. The security page has been moved and you can find it at the following location: HTTP module to check for canonicalization issues ...

How do I disable the "Mark page as changed" box in edit mode?

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:25:00 GMT

To hide the checkbox you need to attach to the event that is run when the page is loaded and set the that propertys, PageChangedOnPublish, property OwnerTab to -1, or EditTab.None which is the same. protected void Application_Start(Object sender, EventArgs e) { EPDataFactory.LoadedPage += new PageEventHandler(EPDataFactory_LoadedPage); EPDataFactory.LoadedDefau...

Synchronizing development and production environment

Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:12:00 GMT

Q: I want to compile and develop an application on one server, and transfer the finished application to a production server. What files, folders, dlls etc do I need to move? What about synchronizing data - what should I export/import? A: Deploying files When deploying .NET sites on the production server, all you need is the non-compiled files, i...

EPiServer Scheduler Service not active

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:17:00 GMT

The EPiServer Scheduler Service does not appear to be active, it may have been stopped. Scheduled jobs are not executed automatically by the scheduler. Instead, the following message appears in the scheduler log: "The EPiServer Scheduler Service does not appear to be active, it may have been stopped" To solve this issue, see Scheduler does not run scheduled jobs automatically

Scheduler does not run scheduled jobs automatically

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:55:00 GMT

Q: The scheduler service is up and running but it does not execute any scheduled jobs, the jobs can only be executed manually in admin mode. What is wrong? A: The scheduler's site info file is most likely invalid, for some reason. To fix this, do the following: 1. Stop the scheduler service. 2. In the "c:\progam files\episerver.scheduler" directory, rename the file...

How do I link to an internal page in the "URL to page" property in EPiServer 4.50?

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 13:42:00 GMT

Q: How do I link to an internal page in the "URL to page" property in EPiServer 4.50? A: Unfortunately, the "URL to page" property cannot link to internal pages using the new linktool in v4.50. This is a known issue with the linktool that will be fixed in EPiServer 4.51. Workaround : You can use the old linktool instead, it allows the "URL to page" property to link to intern...

How to update page types with a new property in code

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 11:22:00 GMT

The following code shows how to create a new property on a page type, in this case a XhtmlString on the "Ordinary web page" pagetype. It also shows how to initialize the value of the property on a newly created page of the same pagetype. Important! You should not run this code in production, only for administrative purposes. Changing page types will flush the page cache an...

How do I search for unpublished pages?

Mon, 04 Jul 2005 10:20:00 GMT

Q: How do I search for unpublished pages? A: Do a property search, using two criterias: PropertyCriteriaCollection criterias = new PropertyCriteriaCollection(); PropertyCriteria startPublishCriteria = new PropertyCriteria(); startPublishCriteria.Condition = CompareCondition.GreaterThan; startPublishCriteria.Name = "PageStartPublish"; startPublishCriteria.Value = DateTime.Now.T...

MultilanguageSubscriptionMail

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 14:07:00 GMT

Note: This faq does not apply to the globalization support in version 4.60 and later! What happens in the MultilanguageSubscriptionMail? The MultilanguageSubscriptionMail is a multi language filter for the ordinary SubscriptionMail functionality, and it works as follows: Language for the explanation Pren. page – page that should be delivered in the subscription mail Pren. root – T...

SDK CHM help file does not display correctly

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 13:10:00 GMT

After installation of Microsoft security update MS05-026 (KB896358), CHM help file topics may not display correctly if the help file was downloaded from Internet. Instead, an error message such as "Action canceled" or "DNS error" is displayed. Recent Microsoft security updates include changes to the InfoTech protocol, which prevent CHM help files from being displayed correctly if the CHM help f...

Using AD groups without LDAP

Fri, 03 Jun 2005 14:24:00 GMT

LDAP is not necessary if you want to integrate EPiServer with AD and only want to set access rights based on group access rights, and do not need to set access rights based on OUs (structural information in AD). This requires the Web server to be a member in the domain in which the groups and users exist. Follow the instructions below to implement an LDAP-free AD integration. Configure EPiServe...

How does the system_template.css work?

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 10:00:00 GMT

EPiServer 4.50 and later includes some changes in the Util/styles directory: system.css has been replaced by system_template.css linkeditor.css has been replaced by linkeditor_template.css What is the reason for these changes? EPiServer 4.50 introduced a feature called relocation that allows administrators to relocate virtual directories. For example, the previously h...

Offline installation problems

Mon, 30 May 2005 11:13:00 GMT

Scenario Offline installation fails in EPiServer Manager 1.0 with the following message: Could not find file "...\Besökskort.pdf". Reason The ElektroPost.Win32.dll assembly that is distributed with EPiServer 4.50 (and also EPiServerManager 1.0) has the same version as in EPiServer 4.41. Because of this, the old assembly is never replaced by the new in the Global Assembly Cache during insta...

Converting old forms to xforms

Thu, 26 May 2005 11:02:00 GMT

This article describes how to convert your existing forms on a site to use with the new form functionallity introduced in EPiServer 4.50. Follow the steps below and you should be able to use the content of the existing forms with the new functionallity: Convert the forms you want to use in admin->Config->Tool Settings->Convert Form. Add a new property of the type xform to your form pag...

Specifying what language to load

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 18:44:00 GMT

Note: This faq does not apply to the globalization support in version 4.60 and later! Setting what language to load There are several ways to determining what language a page should be loaded with. For regular site visitors this can be done with cookies, the session object query string or personal settings for authenticated users. If you want to update a page manually or set th...

Updating multi language pages manually

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:52:00 GMT

Note: This faq does not apply to the globalization support in version 4.60 and later! Updating a multi language page from code Updating a multi language page from code differs quite alot depending on what version of EPiServer you are running under. In EPiServer 4.50 the multi language runtime handles versions and languages so you don't have to worry about anything except filling the prop...

How do I enable hashed passwords ?

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 16:23:00 GMT

Introduction As of EPiServer 4.41 passwords for extranet users are stored cryptographically hashed in the database. This means that the password cannot be retrieved in its original form; passwords can only be changed or compared with credentials entered by the user. Together with the hash value, a per user generated salt value is used to season passwords, in affect enhancing the protection by, ...

Debugging the scheduler

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:54:00 GMT

The scheduler's debug mode can be an invaluable tool when you are trying to solve a problem with the scheduler. In debug mode the scheduler will print information about it's activities to the console and to a logfile (optional). To start the scheduler in debug mode: Open a command prompt Stop the scheduler service, either using the management console or by using the 'net' co...

How do I configure multi-language subscriptions?

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:46:00 GMT

EPiServer supports multi-language subscriptions. This enables visitors to Web sites to receive e-mails according to the language of the Web site they are visiting. Web pages on a multi-language site that do not support multi-language will distribute e-mails in several languages. episerver.com uses multilanguage subscriptions, but there is a catch compared to the default version. Follow the inst...

Opening table or cell properties generates script error

Tue, 23 Nov 2004 11:06:00 GMT

Q: Opening table or cell properties will generate script error when font tool is not available. Why does this happen? A: The initial release of EPiServer 4.40 required the font tool to be activated in order for table and cell properties to work correctly. This is corrected with EPiServer 4.40 Hotfix1, which can be downloaded here . Download the .zip file and follow the inst...

How do I change the target property from MainBody

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:40:00 GMT

Changing the target property from MainBody when publishing frpm Microsoft Office applications You have to create your own wizard configuration because this file specifies the property that will be the target for the published page. You need to add the configuration block to web.config in order to change the behavior of the Office Add-In. The following is the default configuration but with ...

How do I enable Ordinary page from Word and disable the others

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:36:00 GMT

You need to add the the configuration block to web.config in order to change the behavior of the Office Add-In. The following is the default configuration but scripts removed for the other Office applications and support only for a specific page type (ID 3 in this case), you have to change this ID to the ID number of your page type.

How do I uninstall the Office add-in client component

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:35:00 GMT

The EPiServer Office add-in uses a standard MSI installer and can therefore be uninstalled as a regular program on the client computer. Go to the Control Panel and click on Add/Remove Programs, then find the EPiServer Office Add-In and click on Remove.

Even if I do not select "Remember my password" I do not need to login when publishing from Office

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:30:00 GMT

EPiServer will store a per session cookie for a connection to a site, this cookie is not deleted until you reboot your computer. This means that you do not need to re-enter your password even if you restart the Microsoft Office applications. We will probably change this behavior so that you will need to enter password every time you close a Microsoft Office application instead which is the expe...

Files installed on the client with Office plug-in

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:27:00 GMT

What kind of files are installed on the client along with the Office Plug-in? We install only DLL's that registers as COM Add-In's in Microsoft Office, these will on first start add a new button in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. In Microsoft Word we use a template called EPiServer.dot that is added to the user's Startup folder for Microsoft Word. We do not modify the Normal.dot...

How do I disable the possibility to create pages from Microsoft Office

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:25:00 GMT

Go to Admin mode under Security/Access to functions, and change the function access for "View and publish pages from Microsoft Office".

Switching to strict HTML filter for the Office Add-In

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:22:00 GMT

Q: How do I switch to the strict HTML filter for the Office Add-In? A: You need to add the the configuration block to web.config in order to change the behavior of the Office Add-In. The following is the default configuration but with a small change that uses the Strict filter instead: ...

Troubleshooting Office Add-In client side errors

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:18:00 GMT

The EPiServer Office Add-In logs information to a file on the client even if no error occurs, this makes it easy to track what happens or happened on the client on a specific date. It's also a great resource for troubleshooting problems. The log file is stored in C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\EPiServer.

Versions of Office for publishing to EPiServer

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:16:00 GMT

Which versions of Office are required for publishing to EPiServer? The client is required to use Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft Office 2003 on a Microsoft Windows 2000 or Microsoft Windows 2003 box. Microsoft.NET is not required on the client. Microsoft Word 2007 is reported to work. The server does not use or require a Microsoft Office installation.

Drag-and-drop stops working after applying MS04-038 IE security updates

Thu, 21 Oct 2004 08:52:00 GMT

The MS04-038 security updates for Internet Explorer block some of the drag-and-drop functionality used by the tree in Edit mode. Affected functions: Drag-and-drop in Edit mode to copy or move a page Drag-and-drop a page to the editor used by EPiFields ElektroPost has a hotfix for this issue, where our drag-and-drop functionality has been adapted to new security rules invoked by Microsoft. ...

How do I set up my own submit button for a form?

Fri, 08 Oct 2004 11:21:00 GMT

You can set up a submit button with the following code: Add a global property for the class: private bool _formIsPosted = false; Add some submit functionality in the aspx/ascx file: Add an event handler to set status about the form being posted: protected void Send_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e...

CSP for this implementation could not be acquired

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 16:29:00 GMT

License error: CryptoAPI cryptographic service provider (CSP) for this implementation could not be acquired. This error indicates a file access rights problem. Check that the aspnet account is allowed to read in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys Or, download the FileMon freeware utility from www.sysinternals.com and use it to find o...

****** is not a valid MAC adress

Fri, 20 Aug 2004 16:45:00 GMT

If you are sure that you have a correct mac-address for a network card on the server you can try to empty the following directory: C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\Repository. Do a IIS-reset after this. This might solve the problem.

Troubleshooting script errors

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:21:00 GMT

The following Microsoft article can be useful when troubleshooting client script errors: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308260

Setting up LDAP authentication against AD or eDirectory

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 10:07:00 GMT

Setting up LDAP authentication against Active Directory (AD) or Novell eDirectory LDAP Configuration parameters There are a few values that has to be entered in web.config to get your ldap-connection up and running: EPsLdapServer = Host name of LDAP server. For example "ldap.microsoft.com" or "192.168.12.23" EPsLdapUser = A user that has read/browse access to the entire tree where you want to a...

License services (order, upgrade, search)

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:13:00 GMT

To order a new license, upgrade an existing license or need to access other license related functions, please visit this page: http://license.ep.se/public .

Upgrading from EPiServer 3

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 16:29:00 GMT

Before you start Download the following EPiServer-installers: Current version, 3.50, target version (for example 4.30) Order a new license (3.50-4.x) for the new server Create a windows administrator account on the new server Create a copy of your site We recommend that you do not try to upgrade your live site. Instead, make a copy of your site and upgrade the copy. Once the upgrade has be...

Why did all my relative links become absolute?

Mon, 24 May 2004 17:37:00 GMT

Q: Why did all my relative links become absolute? A: A bug in EPiServer 4.30 causes all urls in links and images in xhtml strings to become absolute when opening the page for editing. When the page is saved the absolute urls are saved with the page. The problem affects only PropertyXhtmlString datatypes.

Custom tab in edit mode has changed name after upgrade

Thu, 06 May 2004 16:35:00 GMT

After upgrading to version 4.20 or later, a user created tab may have changed name. This will occur if the tab was created in EPiServer 3.5 or earlier. This change will only affect the name of the tab, not it's content. To fix this, use the "Edit headings" dialog in admin mode to rename the tab.

Hotfix requested by Installer

Mon, 26 Apr 2004 10:31:00 GMT

The installation program for EPiServer 4.30 RC2 and later versions will prompt you for a hotfix (see Microsoft KnowledgeBase article Q823409 for more information). This hotfix solves a few serious problems in .NET Framework 1.1 and we urge you to install this hotfix until .NET Framework 1.1 ServicePack 1 is released. SP1 will contain these fixes and more. We have been granted permission ...

Editor toolbar does not appear

Thu, 08 Apr 2004 09:56:00 GMT

Q: Why doesn't the editor toolbar appear? A: You have probably set impersonate="true" in web.config. To solve the problem, set the value to "false". When impersonation is used the ASPNET process runs with the current user's access rights. If the user does not have permission to read assembly information using reflection in the application's bin-folder, ASPNET will not be able to ...

How does EPiServer help prevent cross-site-scripting ?

Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:08:00 GMT

Introduction EPiServer has limited support for HTML-tags in raw text fields, for example a string property that does not have the editor activated. The reason is to prevent rendering of unsafe scriptcode in a safe environment (commonly refered to as cross site scripting). EPiServer does not limit input but will HTML-encode output that are rendered using the Property webcontrol. T...

Registry access not allowed error message

Fri, 12 Mar 2004 12:23:00 GMT

Installation went fine, but when you try to access the site with the browser, you get a "Registry access not allowed" error message. What is wrong? The EPiServer Scheduler service is probably not running. If the service is not running, you will receive the error message on first request to the web site. To fix the problem, run the installutil command on the EPiServer.SchedulerSvc...

Strange tags with DHTML Editor

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 10:37:00 GMT

Q: Why does the DHTML Editor insert strange HTML tags into my text? A: The editor does not insert any strange HTML by design. The reason for this problem is most likely a third-party plugin or hotbar in the browser that injects HTML into the text, for some unknown reason. If this is the case, deactivate or uninstall the plugin to fix the problem.

Forms based authentication

Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:20:00 GMT

Why doesn't forms based authentication work on my site? If your host name contains underscore, for example you have installed EPiServer at http://my_test.domain.com, then Internet Explorer will not be able to accept cookies from that domain and the forms authentication will not work. The solution is to use host names without underscore. This is by design in Internet Explorer.

Securing plug-in files

Wed, 18 Feb 2004 12:59:00 GMT

Plug-in's are often made to extend functionality in edit and admin mode and may expose data that come from a secure source such as web.config or the database. All functionality in edit and admin mode in EPiServer is secured by the authorization blocks in web.config, for example: < location path ="admin"> < system.web > < authorization &...

Problems displaying pages and images with non-ASCII characters

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 10:45:00 GMT

If you have a problem displaying pages and images with non-ascii characters it might be that you have the urlscan filter installed on your IIS. This could then be seen in the log file for the iis. The configuration-file for urlscan can normally be found in: [Rootdir]\windows\system32\inetsrv\urlscan\urlscan.ini The value AllowHighBitCharacter controls whether UrlScan can detect non-ASCII charac...

How do I save a page as an anonymous user?

Thu, 05 Feb 2004 17:50:00 GMT

Q: How do I save a page as anonymous user? A: First, create a new EPiServer user account that acts as an anonymous user and give account appropriate rights. Second, write your code so that it acts as the anonymous user, no matter who the real current user is. The sample below shows how to create and save a new page as the anonymous user. // The code use...

How do I change access rights on a page?

Wed, 04 Feb 2004 17:53:00 GMT

Currently (EPiServer 4.22) you have to use the raw database class PageAclDB to set access rights on a page. The method List(PageReference PageLink) will return a DataSet with the current access rights and Save(PageReference pageLink, DataSet data) can be used to save the new access rights after you have modified it. Warning! This method and other classes in DataAccess namespace is uns...

When do scheduled jobs run?

Fri, 30 Jan 2004 10:42:00 GMT

Q: When do scheduled jobs run? A: Scheduled jobs in 4.11 and earlier In version 4.11 and earlier you can examine scheduled jobs by executing the following SQL statement in the database: select * from tblScheduledItem The NextExec column shows the next execution time for the jobs. The LastExec column shows when the jobs were last run. All datetime fields are in local server time. Sche...

How do I reindex all pages in the database?

Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:04:00 GMT

EPiServer rebuilds the page index when a new version of a page is published. The indexing process extracts keywords from properties that contain text and html content. When do I need to reindex all pages? If you have upgraded to EPiServer 4.22 or later; as of version 4.22 all links and images are also extracted from content, to be able to handle references between ...

DHTML editor may load slowly and cause IE to stop responding

Mon, 26 Jan 2004 12:02:00 GMT

Edit mode in EPiServer and especially the DHTML-editor renders a lot of images and javascript, in addition to this a page itself may contain multiple images and javascript. If you have configured Internet Explorer to use a low level of caching the edit tab may load very slow. It may also cause a Publish operation in edit mode to stop responding without any changes saved, if you t...

Configure searching with Indexing Server

Wed, 14 Jan 2004 14:07:00 GMT

How to setup catalogs and directories in Indexing Server To learn about catalogs and directories in Indexing Server and how to setup them, see the Indexing Server technote on the technotes page . How to configure the MainScope field in the PageSearch webcontrol The MainScope field specifies the paths or virtual roots to be searched and how they will be traversed. The MainScope field m...

How do I save a page as XHTML?

Mon, 15 Dec 2003 11:13:00 GMT

Q: How do I save a page as XHTML? A: By default EPiServer saves pages exactly the way they are posted by the browser. This is by design. However, if you want the page to be saved as XHTML for instance, you can do so. Capture the PageSaving event and convert the HTML to XHTML using EPiServer's built-in HTML parser. See sample below. Add the following ...

How do I list pages from multiple sources?

Fri, 12 Dec 2003 20:08:00 GMT

Q: How do I list pages from multiple sources? A: Simply chain web controls using the DataSource property and fetch new lists of pages with the PageLink property on each chained control. The pages received using the DataSource and PageLink properties on a control are automatically combined into a new list that can be passed to the next control in the chain, and so on. Here is an example wit...

How do I create a custom authentication module?

Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:52:00 GMT

Q: How do I create a custom authentication module? A: Create an authentication module and add the module to EPiServer's chain of authentication providers, see sample code below. Note that you can only capture a login when using forms authentication. If Windows authentication is used, the user authentication is handled automatically by EPiServer behind the scenes. As a consequenc...

EPiServer scheduler hangs on startup when event log is full

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 16:06:00 GMT

Services based on Microsoft .NET framework with AutoLog* enabled hang on startup if the Application event log is full (it has currently been reproduced on .NET 1.0). EPiServer Scheduler is a .NET framework service and is affected by this issue. Resolution: Clean the Application eventlog and then restart the server. If you are in a production environment and cannot restart the ser...

System.Management.ManagementException: Generic failure

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 11:35:00 GMT

System.Management.ManagementException: Generic failure If EPiServer throws a management exception with error message "Generic failure" the cause could be a corrupt WMI Repository folder.

Scheduled jobs stopped due to daylight savings

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:23:00 GMT

EPiServer Scheduler 4.21 stopped executing jobs that where scheduled between 02.00-03.00 on October 26th when daylight savings time occured. The problem is that the conversion between local time and universal time does not return the same value when operation is reversed in .NET on the hour of daylight savings time. This issue only affects EPiServer 4.21, the recommended solution is t...

How do I create and manage Users?

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 16:44:00 GMT

In EPiServer 4.21 we introduced new user and group management classes. See the SDK for documentation on the new classes in the DataAbstraction namespace (Sid, SidCollection, GroupSid, UserSid). Example of loading an existing user: UserSid user = UserSid.Load("MyTestUser"); if(user==null) Response.Write("User does not exist!"); else Response.Write("User was foun...

IE crashes in edit mode

Fri, 24 Oct 2003 15:03:00 GMT

General In most installations of EPiServer the environment for editors and administrators is working without any problems. However, in some cases problems may appear that in worst case scenarios results in Internet Explorer (IE) freezing. This FAQ has been created to gather information about known problems and their status. It also suggests actions that might correct the problems. Recommendatio...

SQL Server does not exist or access denied

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 11:09:00 GMT

Testing connection to database gives "SQL Server does not exist or access denied" If the following dialog appears after you have pressed the Next button i the database selection dialog it is usually caused by one of the following problems: You have entered incorrect values. Please recheck the information. The SQL Server you try to connect to is not configured to use TCP/IP as a communications p...

Anonymous users appears to be authenticated as guest account

Tue, 30 Sep 2003 11:25:00 GMT

Answer: This problem only appears on Windows XP when the guest account is activated. The solution is to deactivate the guest account.

System.Management.ManagementException: Access denied

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 15:11:00 GMT

System.Management.ManagementException: Access denied If EPiServer throws a management exception with error message "Access Denied" the cause is that ASPNET account does not have enough privileges to access certain WMI namespaces. This is a bug that has been fixed in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and Windows XP Service Pack 1. To resolve this issue Install Windows XP SP1 o...

Role-based authentication fails for users belonging to many groups

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 16:15:00 GMT

If a user belongs to many groups, the user cannot access a resource even if the user is a member of a group that is granted access to the resource. This is a bug in Microsoft ASP.NET but has been solved in SP2, see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321562 for more information.

Configuring spellcheck

Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:15:00 GMT

Below are some issues related to the spellcheck tool in the new editor found in EPiServer 4.20 and later. Note that the spellcheck tool integrates with Microsoft Office version 2000 or XP, and as such cannot be used without a working Office installation. Q: How do I configure the spellchecker to use a specific language? A: Being integrated with Microsoft Office, the spellcheck tool wi...

Access is denied: 'mydll' with Index Server running

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 20:32:00 GMT

When you access a template after recompiling your EPiServer project or updating DLL or config files on computers running Microsoft Index Services, you may receive the following error message: Server Error in '/MyWebApp' Application Configuration Error Description : An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review...

System.Security.Policy.PolicyException error with EPiServerInstaller.exe

Thu, 20 Jun 2002 15:01:00 GMT

Q: Why do I get System.Security.Policy.PolicyException error when I try to run EPiServerInstaller.exe? A: You are not allowed to run the installation program from another computer. The program must be executed on the same machine where EPiServer 4 will be installed.

Operation cannot be performed with user-mapped section open

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 20:40:00 GMT

The requested operation cannot be performed on a file with a user-mapped section open This error can occur during installation if one or more of the DLL's in the bin directory are locked by a process for some reason, if you get this error: 1. Stop the individual site in IIS(Internet Information Services) that you wish to upgrade to avoid any new file locking. 2. Reset IIS, for example usin...

Customized error handling

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 20:27:00 GMT

EPiServer has a built-in error handler that captures exceptions inside the ASP.NET application were EPiServer resides. A friendly error message is displayed instead of the yellow and red .NET error that most users do not understand. An optional e-mail report form is displayed if an e-mail address is set as specified below. Since the error handler is initialize...

Server Application Unavailable - Error after IE Security Update

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:15:00 GMT

The symptom of this issue is that after installing the MS03-32 Security Update on a Windows XP machine, all requests to ASP.NET applications running on the local IIS 5.1 web server result in an error message saying "Server Application Unavailable". Requests to remote web servers are unaffected. It does not impact machines running Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003. It also does not impact mach...

Page has expired navigating back to a search result

Wed, 23 Jul 2003 13:47:00 GMT

Page has expired when navigating back to a search result If a user performs a search (or other function that does a postback) on a template and then later on navigates back to the search results by clicking the Internet Explorer 'Back' button they may receive an error message that states 'Page has expired'. This problem is due to a bug in Internet Explorer 6, please obt...

How do I create my own scheduled job?

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 14:06:00 GMT

Q: How do I create my own scheduled job ? A: Below are the steps to create your own scheduled job: In this example we create a new scheduled job class using the plug-in features. You will automatically get a graphical user interface in admin mode under "Scheduled jobs". We recommend using at least EPiServer 4.21 to be able to access all features described below. Create a new scheduled job ...

Compile error: (Obsolete) TabInfoList has been replace by Tabs

Sun, 24 Aug 2003 00:00:00 GMT

4.70

How do I display the item indexes and total number of items in a list?

Tue, 10 Jun 2003 15:18:00 GMT

Q: How do I display the item indexes and total number of items in a list? A: See below. How to display item indexes The easiest way to display item indexes is to to create a public int variable and increase it by 1 for each item, for example: error

Fri, 30 May 2003 10:45:00 GMT

This error is one of the most difficult problems to troubleshoot in ASP.NET and the cause is usually not what you suspect. This article will try to explain what it is and why it appears. The most common cause is file locks in the ASP.NET temporary directory, errors which ASP.NET does not handle very gracefully. Some instances when this may happen are outlined below. EPiServe...

Subscriptions are not saved

Fri, 23 May 2003 11:28:00 GMT

Due to a now corrected design error in SubscriptionList (that renders available subscriptions) old templates may not save subscriptions when upgrading to EPiServer 4.10 and later. Prior to EPiServer 4.10 it was possible to call DataBind in the Page_Load event on postbacks and still be able to save the subscriptions. Because a DataBind will rebind internal data any selections will be l...

Configuring and understanding the scheduler

Wed, 14 May 2003 18:48:00 GMT

The "old" scheduler (episerverscheduler.exe), only used before EPiServer 4.10 The old scheduler will remain in 4.10+ but it will not install or upgrade itself unless there is a older version of this service installed. The old scheduler has been renamed to "EPiServer Scheduler Pre 4.10 Support" to avoid naming collitions. The old scheduler is working against table tblScheduledTask which is the s...

How do I exclude pages and branches that should be hidden in search

Mon, 12 May 2003 11:48:00 GMT

Q: How do I exclude pages and branches that should be hidden in a search result? A: Create a filter that removes unwanted pages from the search results. See example below. // This code needs the following namespaces: using System; using EPiServer; using EPiServer.Core; using EPiServer.Filters; using EPiServer.WebControls; protected PageSearch Search...

How do I sort pages by multiple properties?

Tue, 06 May 2003 14:15:00 GMT

Q: How do I sort pages by multiple properties? A: Create a filter that sorts the pages using a class that inherits the IComparer interface. Below is a sample that sorts all pages in a PageList by PageChangedBy and PageChanged properties. The technique used is an implementation of the System.Collections.IComparer interface, check out the SortPagesComparer class to see how this is ...

A Form Inside a User Control Generates Script Error in .Net Framework

Wed, 30 Apr 2003 08:39:00 GMT

Q: A Form Inside of a User Control Generates a Script Error in .Net Framework 1.1. A: The script error occurs due to a bug in .Net Framework 1.1. To solve the problem, see the following Microsoft KB 818803 article .

License not valid error

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 17:59:00 GMT

Q: Why do I get a "license not valid" error message when I try to create a new EPiServer installation, even though I am sure that the license is valid? A: The error message is misleading. What it really should say is that there is a connection problem, probably due to a proxy server. If you are connecting thru a proxy, turn off the proxy during the installation. This error will be han...

"SendUsing" and "CDO.Message" SMTP service errors

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:37:00 GMT

Q: "SendUsing", "CDO.Message" and "Unable to relay" SMTP service errors A: For information and how to solve these problems, see the following article .

How to configure mail

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 11:22:00 GMT

Q: How do I configure mail? A: EPiServer uses the default virtual SMTP server to send mail and subscriptions, so all changes that has to do with the SMTP server is done using the IIS management console. Using a specific SMTP server You can tell EPiServer to send mail using another SMTP server by adding the following line to web.config:

Unable to get the project file

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 12:15:00 GMT

Q: "Unable to get the project file" A: This error can show up in Visual Studio.NET when you try to load an EPiServer project. There are many reasons and solutions to this problem, but the most likely scenario is that you have a web cache problem which basically means that the cached state of the Web application does not contain the project file. To work around the problem, delete the Web cache ...

Unhandled exception creating new EPiServer installation

Fri, 25 Apr 2003 10:35:00 GMT

Q: Why do I get an "unhandled exception" error message when I try to create a new EPiServer installation? A: The error indicates a connection problem. If you are connecting through a proxy, turn off the proxy during the installation. This error will be handled in a better way in a future version of the installer.

Troubleshooting LDAP/AD

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 15:12:00 GMT

Q: When I log on EPiServer with an AD account I can not get the access rights from the AD groups that the account is a member of, why? A: Check the following: 1. Are you using forms authentication? (note that EPiServer does only support integrated Windows authentication in version 4.22 and later) 2. Have you typed the name and password correctly? Note that case is important....

How do I add existing pages to a PageDataCollection?

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 10:55:00 GMT

Q: How do I add existing pages to a PageDataCollection? A: A common mistake when trying to add an existing page to a PageDataCollection is to create a new PageData object and initialize it with a PageReference, for example: PageDataCollection pages = new PageDataCollection(); PageReference pageLink = new PageReference(4711); pages.Add(new PageData(pageLink)); The result is an empty pa...

Is it possible to implement automatic logon with ActiveDirectory/LDAP?

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 10:34:00 GMT

Q: Is it possible to implement automatic logon with ActiveDirectory/LDAP? A: Yes, starting with EPiServer 4.21 we support authorizing against ActiveDirectory groups when using Windows Integrated security (i e automatic logon). Note that the user will be viewed as a Windows user, not as a LDAP user, by EPiServer. This should not have any practical implications but might be confusing for the admi...

Nothing saved in database with SubscribeTo()

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:56:00 GMT

Q: Why does SubscriptionInfo.SubscribeTo() not result in anything being saved in the database? A: SubscribeTo() in the SubscriptionInfo class does not save any data by design. The function is designed to be called in a larger batch of operations where the save takes place after the last operation. If you call Subscription.SubscribeTo() for the current user, the automatic Page Unload event ...

How do I change the user inactivity time?

Wed, 02 Apr 2003 14:08:00 GMT

Q: How do I change the user inactivity time? A: If the website uses forms authentication the users will be logged out automatically by .Net after a certain time of inactivity. This time period can be changed in web.config by setting the value of the "timeout" attribute in the forms section, see below.

Upgrading from EPiServer 3.5 to 4.x

Tue, 01 Apr 2003 00:55:00 GMT

General Do not upgrade in a live production environment. EPiServer4 is almost completely rebuilt from the ground up and is entirely based on the Microsoft .NET platform. The only thing that is left from EPiServer 3 is the database structure. We recommend extensive testing of customized templates and other vital functions. Special functions for editing may have to be adjusted. Se ...

ASP.NET caching problems (parser and compiler error messages)

Thu, 20 Mar 2003 11:08:00 GMT

Q: ASP.NET caching problems (parser and compiler error messages). A: In case you get one of the errors below you may have a caching problem, which means that there are cached assemblies that conflicts with the assembly you are trying to build. Parser Error Message: Could not load type 'development.Global' Compiler Error Message: CS1595: 'System.Collections.ArrayList' is defined in multiple...

I cannot upload files larger than 4MB

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 13:15:00 GMT

I cannot upload files larger than 4MB - why? How do I limit the size of uploaded files? EPiServer 4 uses the ASP.NET control HtmlInputFile which by default will receive files up to a maximum size of 4 MB. This setting has been introduced to prevent denial-of-service attacks by uploading very large files. To adjust this setting you need to follow the instructions in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase a...

Problems with mscorlib.dll

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 12:00:00 GMT

Q: Problems with mscorlib.dll A: This article describes solutions to problems causing one of the following error messages: Compiler Error Message: CS1595: 'System.Collections.ArrayList' is defined in multiple places; using definition from 'c:\winnt\microsoft.net\framework\v1.0.3705\mscorlib.dll' Compiler Error Message: CS1595: 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGlobalScopeAttribute' is de...

EPiServer 3 sites does not appear in the installer

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:08:00 GMT

The .NET framework enforces that an IIS directory must be set as a Virtual directory or the Path attribute cannot be read even though it exists. Some sites created by the EPiServer 3 have this defect with the result that is doesnt appear in the EPiServer 4 installer that enumerates IIS to detect installed sites. Download MetaEdit from Microsoft to inspect the IIS Metabase, the problem will occu...

Error in admin or edit: "The resource cannot be found"

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:09:00 GMT

Make sure the ASPNET account have read access to all directories below the root directory or they will appear as they do not exist to ASP.NET. The resulting error is "The resource cannot be found". For more information about ASPNET security settings in EpiServer, see this article .

Failed to Start Monitoring Directory Changes - When you browse to an ASP.NET Page

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:09:00 GMT

By design, ASP.NET requires read, execute, and list access for the ASPNET account (the Aspnet_wp.exe process account) on the root Web site or on any virtual directory. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q316721 for more information.

How do I force a windows logon on pages that do not demand it?

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 14:52:00 GMT

Q: How do I force a windows logon on pages which doesn't demand it? A: You can force a windows logon by calling the function AccessDenied() which resides in the PageBase object.

How do I list versions of a page?

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 14:49:00 GMT

Q: How do I list versions for a page? A: The following example shows how to get all versions of a page. To test it, create a DataGrid control on an EPiServer template and paste the code in Page_Load(). using System.Data; using EPiServer.DataAccess; private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { PageVersionDB pageVer = new PageVersionDB(); DataSet versionData&...

License checksum error

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 13:24:00 GMT

Q: License checksum error A: The obvious reason for this error is that your EPiServer license has somehow become corrupt and is therefore treated as invalid. However, if you know that the license is valid, it could be an encoding problem. The license information is stored in web.config and the file must be encoded as UTF-8 and the file must begin with the UTF-8 signatur...

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException

Thu, 06 Mar 2003 09:36:00 GMT

Q: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Specified argument was out of the range of valid values. Parameter name: slidingExpiration. A: One of the page cache parameters in web.config are out of bounds (EPnPageCacheTimeout or EPnRemotePageCacheTimeout). If you set the slidingexpiration parameter to less than zero, or the equivalent of more than one year, an ArgumentOutOfRangeException is...

How do I implement user registration in 4.20 and earlier?

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 15:29:00 GMT

Q: If you would allow users to create their own accounts and just have to enter username and password, it feels unnecesary to show EPiServer.Util.ExtranetForm. Is there another way to create users without showing every unnecesary fields? A : Yes there is another way, try the following code: // Create user ExtranetForm form = new ExtranetForm(); PropertyDataCollection props...

How do I configure IIS to use the function "Simple address to the page"?

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 15:12:00 GMT

Q: How do I configure IIS to use the function "Simple address to the page" in EPiServer 4? A: EPiServer 4.0.0.22 and later In EPiServer 4.0.0.22 and later versions a custom error page replaces the standard "404 Not Found" error page to handle requests against directories that only exists in EPiServer and not in the file structure. The custom page that is used is by defa...

How do I search and replace the contents of a property on multiple pages?

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 09:41:00 GMT

Q: How do I search and replace the contents of a property on multiple pages? A: See example code below. // Search and replace contents of a property in multiple pages. // The following code should be added somewhere in an aspx.cs file. using EPiServer; using EPiServer.Core; using EPiServer.DataAccess; // Example of a search and replace of contents...

Unable to create an instance of the EPiServerScheduler.ProjectInstaller installer type

Wed, 26 Feb 2003 10:34:00 GMT

Q: Unable to create an instance of the EPiServerScheduler.ProjectInstaller installer type A: If you rename the EPiServer directory or if you move EPiServerScheduler.exe from a directory to another, the service-settings for the scheduler in Windows becomes corrupt. This is not a problem within EPiServer. A work-around for this problem is to uninstall the scheduler service manuall...

Recycle bin issues

Wed, 26 Feb 2003 10:23:00 GMT

Q: Recycle bin issues A: Below we have collected solutions to some common issues that has to do with the Recycle bin . What ways are there to empty the Recycle bin ? There are two ways to emtpy the Recycle bin : Choose Empty recycle bin in edit mode. Execute the following SQL statement in the database to delete pages that are older than a given number of days, in this examp...

Display link to page with authorization for anonymous user

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 15:55:00 GMT

Q: Is it possible to display a link for an anonymous user to a page that requires authorization? A: Yes, add the following property to the aspx page in code-behind: protected string GetExternUrl() { EPiServer.Core.PageReference pageRef = (EPiServer.Core.PageReference) ((EPiServer.PageBase)Page).CurrentPage["ExternRef"]; EPiServer.Core.Pag...

How do I inherit values between pages?

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 13:49:00 GMT

Q: How do I inherit pages between pages? A: The properties for a page belongs to the page type which is defined for the page and they can neither be inherited nor inherit from another page. The recommendet way to inherit values from parent pages to children is by the use of dynamic properties. You first have to create a dynamic property in admin mode and open a page in edit ...

How to use LanguageManager for best performance?

Tue, 25 Feb 2003 10:12:00 GMT

Q: How should I use the LanguageManager for best performance? A: The fastest way to translate labels etc is to use the built-in LanguageManager object in EPiServer. The object is loaded and cached at the same time the EPiServer application is warmed up and it is always available and ready to be used. Here is an example that translates a button label to the current language: SearchButton.Value =...

How do I create a new page in EPiServer with webservices?

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 17:13:00 GMT

Q: How do I create a new page in EPiServer with webservices? A: Here is a code example of a windows client application that uses webservices to create a sample page. // include the web references namespace // (we have named it EPiServer4 here) using TestApplication.EPiServer4; private void CreateSamplePage() { // Page is added under the default start page (ID #30) // and the page ty...

Can I run the database script manually to create the EPiServer database?

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 15:48:00 GMT

Q: Can I run the database script manually to create the EPiServer database? A: Yes, you can. The recommended way is to run the EPiServer Installer utility, but if you for some reason have to run the database script manually (for instance because of collation problems), you can do so. Note that the script file is Unicode and cannot be opened and read into Query Analyzer as is...

How do I configure subscriptions?

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 00:00:00 GMT

To make the subscriptions run, the following needs to be fulfilled The EPiServer Scheduler service is running. To receive subscriptions mails users must have a valid e-mail address and they have opted to subscribe to one or more pages. One or more of the subscriptions pages or their children are changed. Users will receive mail about the changes within an hour or as soon as the s...

Search algorithm in EPiServer

Tue, 04 Feb 2003 09:41:00 GMT

Q: How does the search algorithm work in EPiServer? A: The search algorithm is based on the quite common p-norm extended boolean model with ranked retrieval (Salton, Fox, Wu, 1983). Every page in EPiServer which is saved and published is analyzed to calculate the word frequencies. The results are stored in an index table which is later used for search queries. After the search in...

Load page in DOPE mode

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 13:56:00 GMT

Q: Is there a way to enter DOPE mode directly when you load a page? EditMode = True on a property makes the page to enter edit mode on start. Is there a similar way for DOPE? A: No there isn't, but you can register a JavaScript which will make this work. Page.RegisterStartupScript ("EnterDopeMode", "