Softcopy

Known problems in the October 2003 softcopy collections

Known problems in the October 2003 collections

• Problems using IBM Softcopy Reader and the autorun preferences tool
• Problems opening PDF files
• Cross-book links might fail

  Problems using IBM Softcopy Reader and the autorun preferences tool

Interaction between autorun preferences tool and IBM Softcopy Reader 3.0 or later on a system with XKS files in user-defined directories:

If you have SCR 3.0 or later installed, the autorun preferences program on CDs from before August 2003 might not open SCR 3.0 or later. It depends on whether you have extended shelves (XKS files) in any user-defined directories.

• If you do not have XKS files in any user-defined directories, the autorun preferences program on a pre-August CD will open SCR 3.0 or later as set in the preferences.
• If you do have XKS files in any user-defined directories, the autorun preferences program on a pre-August CD will not open SCR 3.0 or later as set in the preferences. Instead, you have to open SCR manually (such as by clicking on the desktop icon for Shelf Organizer).

• If you insert a disc from a March 2003 collection (other than VSE) and want to set an autorun preference for discs containing both BookManager and PDF files, you cannot select the option for IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer. This problem will be resolved starting with the collections being updated in June 2003.
• If you had previously set a preference for IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer, and you insert a disc for a collection from before March 2003 (or a disc from the March 2003 VSE Collection), the autorun preferences tool does not allow you to select the option for IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer for any type of disc. You also cannot select IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer as an immediate option. Customers can avoid this problem without installing JRE by using collections from March 2003 or later.
• If you had previously chosen IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer as the preference for BookManager-only discs or mixed discs, and you insert a BookManager-only disc or mixed disc for a collection from before March 2003 (or from the March 2003 VSE Collection), IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer is not automatically launched. Instead, the input panel for the autorun preferences tool is displayed. As described in the preceding bullet, the autorun preferences tool does not allow you to select the option for IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer for any type of disc. You also cannot select IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer as an immediate option.

If you have installed IBM Softcopy Reader 2.4.0 but have not deleted JRE from your system, you will not encounter these problems.

You can fix all the problems listed above by installing JRE 1.3.0 or later from a softcopy collection, or from the Sun Microsystems Web site: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/download.html (from the Download page, select the Windows Download in the JRE column). Another solution is to open IBM Softcopy Reader - Bookshelf Organizer directly, instead of as an autorun preference.

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  Problems opening PDF files

You might experience difficulties viewing PDF files depending on the level of your Adobe Reader and your Windows platform. In some cases the file does not display, while in others you get a message that the file is being repaired and then it displays. If you have problems, try using a different level of the Adobe Reader. You can install an Adobe Reader from the collection, or you can download one from the Adobe Web site.

If you are having trouble viewing a PDF file on a CD or the Internet, try downloading the file and viewing it from your hard drive.

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 Cross-book links might fail

Cross-book linking works for z/OS and OS/390 documents in both BookManager and PDF format. For PDFs, the linked documents must be in the same directory. For BookManager, the linked documents must be uploaded to z/OS or OS/390 and must be located on the same bookshelf. Cross-book linking for documents on CD-ROMs or DVDs also works among documents on the same disc or DVD.

PDFs link to each other by file name, and IBM changes a document's file name whenever the document is updated. Thus a link from an unchanged PDF might not connect to a new edition of a target document, because the new edition has a new file name. However, a link from an unchanged PDF will still connect to its original target document. Therefore, if you maintain your own PDF repository, IBM recommends that you keep multiple levels of PDFs together in the same directory, to minimize unresolved links.

In contrast, BookManager documents link to each other by their base order numbers, which stay the same from release to release, so an unchanged BOOK file can usually link successfully to an updated target BOOK file.

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