Technical FAQs for "PrizmDoc Viewer"

PAS appears to be unable to retrieve my document. What could be the issue?

If PAS is trying to retrieve documents from a source with a bad SSL certificate or a self-signed certificate and it is not configured to allow bad SSL certificates, it will fail to retrieve the document and log a generic 580 error.

For more information about Viewing Session creation parameters, including acceptBadSslCertificate see here:

https://help.accusoft.com/PrizmDoc/latest/HTML/webframe.html#pas-viewing-sessions.html

When trying to create a viewing session directory to the PrizmDoc back end over port 18681:

(POST http://prizmserver:18681/PCCIS/V1/ViewingSession)

why am I receiving a 500 internal server error?

There are some troubleshooting steps below you can take to verify the health of the server as well as ensure the API call you are making is properly formatted.

1. Verify the Prizm service is healthy by opening a browser on the Prizm server and using the following service health check URL (http://localhost:18681/admin)
2. Verify your POST command has all the required elements which can be verified in detail on the following documentation page:

https://help.accusoft.com/PrizmDoc/latest/HTML/webframe.html#viewing-sessions.html

How can I tell which server has the cache for a specific document in a clustered PrizmDoc environment?

When a document is viewed, it creates a Viewing Session ID. That Viewing Session ID has information regarding which server in the cluster is doing the work, however, it is encoded and cannot be read directly.

In order to determine which PrizmDoc cluster server is doing the work for a specific document in a specific viewing session, you can do a text search for the Viewing Session ID in the plb.sep_multi.log on all servers. Only one server in the cluster will be a match for that Viewing Session ID.

Can European/CJK character sets be auto-redacted in PrizmDoc?

In general, if PrizmDoc is able to extract text from the document, it is able to do a redaction. There are no known issues with auto/manual redaction except OCR’d “text over image” documents. For these documents, image text may have a different location or height/width in comparison to the text recognition result included in that document as well. A redaction will be applied to the text, but the underlying text on the image can still be visible.

I have installed PrizmDoc based on the documentation against a clean CentOS 7/RedHat 7 system, and Prizm services starts and is showing healthy. However, one of two issues are occurring:

1. I cannot view HTML or picture files but can view PDF files.
2. I cannot view PDF, Excel, or Word documents but can view HTML and Picture files.

If you cannot view HTML or picture files but can view PDF files, it is often due to specific required libraries not being installed. The following procedure can be executed on CentOS/RedHat 7 to ensure all required PrizmDoc libraries are installed.

1. Stop the Prizm service: sudo /usr/share/prizm/scripts/pccis.sh stop

2. Copy and paste all of the library installers into a terminal and wait for them to finish:

   yum install -y libbz2* libc* libcairo* libcups* libdbus-glib-1* libdl* libexpat* libfontconfig* libfreetype* libgcc_s* libgif* libGL* libjpeg* libm* libnsl* libopenjpeg* libpixman-1* libpng12* libpthread* librt* libstdc++* libthread_db* libungif* libuuid* libX11* libXau* libxcb* libXdmcp* libXext* libXi* libXinerama* libxml2* libXrender* libXtst* libz* linux-vdso*
   

3. Restart the server.

If you cannot view PDF, Excel, or Word documents but can view HTML and Picture files, this is often due to installing the Generic PrizmDoc installer, which ends in either client_x86_64.tar.gz or server_x86_64.tar.gz. To resolve this issue you will need to re-install using the links that end in client_x86_64.rpm.tar.gz and server_RHEL7.tar.gz.

I have EML and MSG files that contain attachments. I want to combine the original EML/MSG document with each of its attachments into a single PDF. How can I do this?

To do this you are going to need to create a viewing session for the EML or MSG file. Once you’ve created the viewing session you can get the viewingSessionIds of the attachments. Once you have the viewingSessionIds you can get the workFile ID associated with each viewing session. With the workfile IDs you can use the Content Conversion Service (CCS) to combine the email with its attachments into a single PDF.

Use the following API requests to do this:

Create a new viewing session with:

POST {server_base_url}/PCCIS/V1/ViewingSession 

This will give you a viewingSessionId which will be used in future requests.

The body for this request will be JSON:

    {
        "render": {
            "html5": {
                "alwaysUseRaster": false
            }
        }
    }

Upload the document with:

PUT {server_base_url}/PCCIS/V1/ViewingSession/u{viewingSessionId}/SourceFile?FileExtension={extension} 

The request body must be bytes of the source document. Make sure to include the FileExtension or PrizmDoc won’t be able to detect the file as an EML or MSG file.

Poll for and get the viewingSessionIds of the attachments with:

GET {server_base_url}/PCCIS/V1/ViewingSession/u{viewingSessionId}/Attachments

This will return the viewingSessionIds for each of the attachments.

Get the workfile ID for each of the viewing sessions with:

GET {server_base_url}/PCCIS/V1/ViewingSession/u{viewingSessionId}/FileId 

You’ll need to get a fileId for each attachment’s viewingSession and the email’s viewingSession.

With those workfile IDs, you can use the Content Conversion Service (CCS) to combine each of the workfiles with:

POST {server_base_url}v2/contentConverters

The body for this request will be JSON and need to include the workfileId for each of the attachments and the email itself. The body would look like this:

    {
        "input": {
            "sources": [
                { 
                    "fileId": "{EmailWorkFileId}"
                },
                { 
                    "fileId": "{Attachment1WorkFileId}"
                },
                { 
                    "fileId": "{Attachment2WorkFileId}"
                }
                
            ],
            "dest": {
                "format": "pdf"
            }
        }
    }

This will return a processId that you can poll using:

GET /v2/contentConverters/{processId}

Once the process is complete, the request will return a results array that will contain the fileId of the final document.

You can get the final document that contains all the attachments and original EML/MSG file combined into a single PDF with:

GET /PCCIS/V1/WorkFile/{fileId}

We are using the Webforms Samples and want to know how to enable the “Always User Raster” feature. Which file needs to be modified and how should it be modified?

In order to enable the “Always Use Raster” option for our Webforms sample, you will need to do the following:

• Modify the Default.aspx file
• Update the Central Configuration file

How To:

1. In the Sample, before modifying, make a backup of the following file for safekeeping:

\Prizm\Samples\dotnet\webforms\full-viewer-sample\Default.aspx

2. In the original file, modify the code that is located close to line 115:

\Prizm\Samples\dotnet\webforms\full-viewer-sample\Default.aspx

Line to Replace:

} else {
        sessionData.source = getDocumentSource(query.document || '');
        }

Replace with:

} else {
        sessionData.source = getDocumentSource(query.document || '');
        sessionData.render = {
          html5: {
             alwaysUseRaster: true
          }
       };
}

3. Next, to update the Central Configuration file you will need to stop the Prizm Services.

4. Make a backup of the prizm\prizm-services-config.yml file.

5. Edit the .yml file and remove the leading # for the following line and add true to the array so that it looks like the following:

viewing.sessionConstraints.render.alwaysUseRaster.allowedValues:
[true, false]

6. Restart the Prizm Services.

My PrizmDoc Cloud hosted server is reporting as unlicensed even though the license lease file is being written to the S3 bucket, what could be causing this?

This issue can occur when using a single S3 bucket for both licensing files as well as additional document storage. When our cloud licensing module attempts to search for the expected lease file inside of this S3 bucket, it requests the list of objects in that directory. However, whenever there are more than 1,000 objects in this bucket, this call only returns a list of the first 1,000 objects.

If there are over 1,000 objects in the bucket, then this could cause the Licensing Service to not see the license lease file when it gets the list of files. The result is that no lease file is found, which in turn causes the service to go unlicensed.

The solution for this issue is to make sure the bucket you are using for licensing is only used for that purpose. Should you encounter this issue, try moving all other files out of the bucket. If that is not possible, you may need to contact Accusoft Support to request changing the bucket your license uses for licensing.

We are trying to create new viewing packages, however, in the [prizmdoc_process] table we see the process is 100% complete. However, the error code field indicates an Internal Error.

The document does not display in the viewing session and gives a 480 error. The following error code is:

{errorCode: “ViewingPackageNotUsable”}

What might be the issue?

When creating viewing packages, the PrizmDoc Application Services (PAS) uses the PrizmDoc Server to do the conversion work. In order for the viewing package to be created successfully, the PrizmDoc Server needs to be licensed and healthy.

If you see an error “ViewingPackageNotUsable” this can be related to the PrizmDoc Server either not being healthy or specifically not being licensed.

To verify the PrizmDoc Server status and if it is licensed, you can run the following command on the PrizmDoc Server in a web browser:

http://localhost:18681/admin

What are the technical details/process of “Flattening” a PDF document?

It is possible to “Flatten” PDF documents in PrizmDoc Viewer. You can do this by converting the document to a raster format (TIFF is recommended for PDF conversion) using PrizmDoc’s Content Conversion Service, and then converting it back to PDF format. This will result in a PDF with a single layer and no hidden objects. However, this will usually lower the quality and increase the file size of PDFs that are largely text.

Here is an example workflow using the Workfile API and the Content Conversion Service API:

1. Create a WorkFile from PDF

POST {{pccisUrl}}/PCCIS/V1/WorkFile
Content-Type: application/octet-stream

{{file bytes}}

2. Initiate Conversion to TIFF

POST {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "input": {
        "sources": [
            {
                "fileId": "{{fileId}}"
            }
        ],
        "dest": {
            "format": "tiff"
        }
    }
}

3. Poll until response[“state”] === “complete”

GET {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters/{{processId}}

4. Initiate Conversion from TIFF back to PDF

POST {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters
Content-Type: application/json

{
    "input": {
        "sources": [
            {
                "fileId": "{{fileId_from_Step3_output}}"
            }
        ],
        "dest": {
            "format": "pdf"
        }
    }
}

5. Poll again

GET {{pccisUrl}}/v2/contentConverters/{{processId}}

6. Download

GET {{pccisUrl}}/PCCIS/V1/WorkFile/{{fileId}}?ContentDispositionFileName={{desiredFileNameWithExtension}}

When selecting download and including annotations, the resulting PDF does not include the comments. How can we obtain the file as a PDF with the annotation comments included?

By design, when using the download button, the comments to the annotations are not included in the download.

Workaround

1. Under the View tab, select Print.
2. From the Print dialog, select the More options drop-down.
3. Under the Comments section, select either After Each Page or At End of Document.
4. When selecting a printer, use the Print to PDF option and it will create a PDF with the comments included.

I would like to remove the mark selection handles from the marks (annotations and redactions) in the viewer so that my users can’t resize marks, but so they can still move the marks around. How can I do this?

The easiest way to achieve the functionality you’re looking for would be to simply change the CSS for the mark handles to set their display to none !important. The CSS for the mark handles can be found in viewercontrol.css. See the following code for an example:

/* mark selection handles */
.pccMarkHandleTopLeft,
.pccMarkHandleTopCenter,
.pccMarkHandleTopRight,
.pccMarkHandleMidLeft,
.pccMarkHandleMidRight,
.pccMarkHandleBottomLeft,
.pccMarkHandleBottomCenter,
.pccMarkHandleBottomRight,
.pccMarkHandlePoint,
.pccMarkHandleTextSelectionStart,
.pccMarkHandleTextSelectionEnd {
    position: absolute;
    width: 40px;
    height: 40px;
    display: none !important;
    background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw...);
}

@media screen and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), 
       screen and (min-resolution: 2dppx),
       screen and (min-resolution: 192dpi) {
    .pccMarkHandleTopLeft, 
    .pccMarkHandleTopCenter, 
    .pccMarkHandleTopRight, 
    .pccMarkHandleMidLeft, 
    .pccMarkHandleMidRight, 
    .pccMarkHandleBottomLeft, 
    .pccMarkHandleBottomCenter, 
    .pccMarkHandleBottomRight, 
    .pccMarkHandlePoint, 
    .pccMarkHandleTextSelectionStart, 
    .pccMarkHandleTextSelectionEnd {
        -webkit-background-size: 40px 40px;
                background-size: 40px;
        display: none !important;
        background-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw...);
    }
}

You will want to set the !important flag so that the functions inside viewercontrol don’t set the display back to block.

One thing you may want to do is separate out pccMarkHandleTextSelectionStart and pccMarkHandleTextSelectionEnd to not include display: none. This way, the text selection annotations are able to be edited, since they are reliant on the handles for "movement" because they select a portion of the text signified by the handles.