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KCS TC/LINK-LN RTF conversion may fail on Windows 2008 R2

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Issue

You want to use KCS TC/LINK-LN on a Windows 2008 R2 machine to send messages from Lotus Notes in RTF format. Normal document conversion (e.g. converting .doc attachments) works in TCDCLINK Test-mode and productive mode, but TC/LINK-LN RTF conversion fails in productive mode.

Installed Components and required settings

  • Windows 2008 R2 with SP1
  • Lotus Notes Client 8.5.2 English, or higher, installed on the TC/LINK-LN machine in "Single user mode", i.e. there is only one NOTES.INI file located in the directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes". If you are using an older client version (e.g. 8.5.1) it is recommended to update to at least Lotus Notes Client version 8.5.2 (tested with 8.5.2 FP3).
  • All components doing document conversion are configured correctly (according to the documentation for TCDCLINK productive mode), running with the same Windows user account, TC/LINK-LN also uses this Windows user account:
  • TCLINKLN registry settings:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\UserID=<localAdminUser>

This might be a domain user (specified under registry value "Domain") which is also a member of the local "Administrator" group

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\LogonType=S
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\NOTES\Richtext=1 or 2

  • TCDCLINK registry settings:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCDCLINK\UserID=<localAdminUser>

This might be a domain user (specified under registry value "Domain") which is also member of the local "Administrator" group. User and Domain must be the same as specified for the TC/LINKLN

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCDCLINK\LogonType=B
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCDCLINK\UserMode=2 (=productive Mode)

  • DCOM Config (these settings are configured automatically if TCDCLINK\UserMode=2)
    • Started from "Run" with the command line "dcomcnfg"
    • Navigate to "Computers - My Computer - DCOM Config"

Check the "Identity" tab for the following applications. They are configured to the option "This user" using the same <localAdminUser> as used for TCDCLINK and TC/LINK-LN. The user is specified in the format "Domain\localAdminUser"

You should have these settings for following applications:

  • "Microsoft Excel Application",
  • "Microsoft Office PowerPoint Slide"0,
  • "Microsoft Office Word 97-2003 document"

Even after configuring all these settings, TC/LINK-LN RTF conversion still fails. Typically you will find within the TC/LINK- LN Trace the following trace entries (General\TraceLevel=0xFF):

16/12:01:40.665 (74c/b90) ***************************************************************
16/12:01:40.665 (74c/b90) Document Converter Version 2.16.01 TCDC_RTF2TCI started (RTF conversion)
16/12:01:40.665 (74c/b90) ***************************************************************

...

16/12:01:44.665 (74c/b90) Tcdc32\PrinterAttachEx2 <- AttachEx returned
16/12:01:44.665 (74c/b90) Error connecting to >TcDdiMcl.dll<
16/12:01:44.665 (74c/b90) TCLIB: tcCloseLibrary Set Lock Count to = 1
16/12:01:44.665 (74c/b90) Document Converter Version 2.16.01 TCDC_1 returned 2044

...

16/12:01:44.665 (74c/b90) ^ (00) Default printer="TOPCALL Fax to TCDC"
16/12:01:44.665 (74c/b90) ID:4005 RichText printing failed. (Non-delivery notif. will be sent to the recipient.) Mail  from:CN=Supadmin/O=AT-TS, Time posted:16.09.2011 12:01:24 CEDT, ID:OF7D84515D:C10307A5-ONC125790D:00370FA9
16/12:01:44.743 (74c/10c) TCSRV called: 10
16/12:01:44.743 (74c/10c) tcsrv status request
16/12:01:45.258 (74c/10c) TCSRV called: 10
16/12:01:45.258 (74c/10c) tcsrv status request
16/12:01:45.399 (74c/b90) ^ (10) Notes->Topcall: returned Notes NON delivery Notification, Reason: Converting Lotus Notes mail document to fax image failed. (TCLINK-err=2044)
16/12:01:45.399 (74c/b90) ^ (10) Notes->Topcall: Message closed: Converting Lotus Notes mail document to fax image failed. (TCLINK-err=2044)

Solution

  1. Configuration of Lotus Notes "Basic" Mode
    To get RTF conversion to work it was necessary to configure the Lotus Notes Client, which is used for RTF printing, to use the so called "Basic Mode". When using the Lotus Notes "Basic Mode" the Lotus Notes client is started without the Eclipse framework. See below screenshots of both modes. In basic mode the additional tab-bar with the blue "Open" button is missing.
  • Lotus Notes Eclipse mode (default setting with Lotus Notes 8.5)Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 2.16.53 PM.png
  • Lotus Notes Basic mode (recommended for TC/LINK-LN RTF conversion):
    Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 2.17.28 PM.png

How to configure Lotus Notes "Basic" Mode:

  • To force the "Basic" client mode you need to perform the following steps on the TC/LINK-LN machine:
    Log in with the same Windows user as the one that should be used later-on by TC/LINK-LN (registry configuration). This user must be a local Administrator.
  • Stop TC/LINK-LN via the KCS Monitor.
  • Open a Cmd prompt with the context menu option "Run as Administrator". You should see in the title bar:
    "Administrator: Command Prompt".
  • Change to the directory where the NOTES.INI file is located, typically this is the following directory:
    cd /D "C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\Lotus\Notes"
  • Open the NOTES.INI file with Notepad:
    notepad NOTES.INI
  • Insert an additional line, just below the [NOTES] line located in the first line:
    UseBasicNotes=1
  • Save the file after adding the "UseBasicNotes=1" line.
  • Start the 'Lotus Notes Client' from the Start menu and check if the 'Lotus Notes Client' now uses the "basic mode", compare with the screenshot attached above.
  • If this is OK, stop the Lotus Notes Client again.

  1. Other recommended settings

    Configuring the "Lotus Notes Basic" mode is the most important configuration change for solving Rich text conversion errors as initially described. But there are additional other recommended settings to prevent conversion errors.

    1. Use the latest version of Lotus Notes Client
      • It is recommended to use one of the latest versions of the Lotus Notes client. Currently (January 2013) this is version 8.5.3.
      • IBM also releases fix-packs between the regular versions.
      • You can check the installed version of the Lotus Notes client by using the menu option: "Help - About Notes". Here you will also see if any fix-packs are installed, e.g.

    2. Use fresh Cache.ndk and Desktop8.ndk files
      After long operating times it might happen that TC/LINK-LN Rich text conversion fails, because the Lotus Notes client brings up a popup Window indicating an out-of-memory or out-of-handles situation in the Lotus Notes client. Typically you will see trace lines like those shown below within the TC/LINK-LN Trace (assuming that the registry value TCLINKLN\Notes\TraceLevel>=10).
      The error message shown within the trace files comes from the Lotus Notes API itself, i.e. it will be shown in the language of the installed Lotus Notes client. This means that on a Link server with a German version of the Lotus Notes client you might see for example the error message "Nicht genügend Rahmen-/Rahmengruppen-Handles."

      05/11:24:17.490 (12d8/e48) ^ (00) Lotus Notes message-box text found. Message="Cannot create window (Insufficient Memory)"

      or:

      16/11:27:37.813 (a64/11ec) ^ (10) Lotus Notes message-box text found. Message="Insufficient frame/frameset handles."
      In this case perform the following steps:

  1. Set the Workspace as Home page for the Lotus Notes client:
    Initially, after setting up the Lotus Notes client, it will show you a "Welcome page" after start up. From here you have access to different Lotus Notes functions (Mail, Calendar,...) This "Welcome" page consists of many sub-windows, which will consume many GDI handles for displaying. Therefore it is recommended to use a less resource-consuming Welcome page.
  • Stop TC/LINK-LN.
  • Start the Lotus Notes client.
  • In the left toolbar click and expand the "Applications" icon (see screenshot below).
  • Right-click the "Workspace" and select the option "Set Bookmark as Home page".
  • Now the "Workspace page" is used as Homepage. Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 2.49.31 PM.png
  • Check if this is really the case by stopping and restarting the Lotus Notes client.
  • It should look similar as the 2nd screenshot shown in chapter "1. Configuration of Lotus Notes" "Basic" Mode.

  1. CloseClientMode settings

  • TC/LINK-LN closes the Lotus Notes client processes during start up.
  • To have a clean situation (Lotus Notes client not running as "hidden" application) it is recommended to stop the Lotus Notes Client Processes when stopping the TC/LINK-LN.
  • This is achieved by setting registry value:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\NOTES\CloseClientMode=0xa
  1. Configure NOTESNTSERVICE Environment variable
  • This environment variable ensures that the connection to the Lotus Notes server is not interrupted if you log off from the Windows machine when the TC/LINK-LN is started via the TCSRV service.
  • It must be defined in the System environment variables and must be set to 1, see attached screenshot: Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 2.56.10 PM.png

  1. Testing and Tracing

    1. How to check for popup messages shown by the Lotus Notes client
      • Using the "Interactive Service detection" feature of Windows 2008/2008 R2 is not really helpful to find out whether and which popup messages are displayed in the Lotus Notes client. In most cases it will only show you parts of the windows (Title bar, black background, ...) but the essential information is not readable.
      • The better choice in this case is to start the TC/LINK-LN interactively, which can be done as follows:
        • Log in interactively into the KCS server with the same Windows user as configured for TC/LINK-LN.
        • Stop TC/LINK-LN and the Lotus Notes client via KCS Monitor.
        • Open a Cmd prompt with the context menu option "Run as Administrator". You should see in the title bar: "Administrator: Command Prompt".
        • Change to the C:\TCOSS\TCLP directory with the command: cd /d C:\TCOSS\TCLP
        • Start TC/LINK-LN with the same command-line parameters as shown within the registry value
          HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\Commandline
          typically this is: C:\TCOSS\TCLP\TCLINK.EXE "TCLINKLN"
      • If Rich text conversion is enabled within the configuration, the Lotus Notes client will be started with the first message that has to be converted.
      • Now you could see a popup message as, for example, the "Trust signer" dialog shown in the screenshot below.
      • Selecting the option "Start trusting the signer to execute this action" will modify the local "Execution Control List" for the local Lotus Notes Client installation.
        Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 3.00.34 PM.png
      • The current settings of the "Execution control list" can be checked within the Lotus Notes client by using the menu option: "File - Security - User Security" .
      • Then navigate to the tab "What others do" - "Using Workstation" and check the assigned rights for "- No Signature-".
        Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 3.00.59 PM.png
    2. Trace Settings
      • Once the Rich text conversion is working properly with the TC/LINK-LN in 'interactive mode' (see chapter "3.1. How to check for popup messages shown by the Lotus Notes client"), you should check the results when TC/LINK-LN is started via TCSRV Service / KCS Monitor.
      • If there are still problems, please report the problem to your next Level of support. Include the following information in the Support Case:
        • Used Version of KCS package or KCS TC/LP.
        • Installed version and language of Lotus Notes Client.
        • Export of the Application Event log in .evtx format.
        • TC/LINK-LN Traces with following registry Trace Settings:
               HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\General\TraceLevel=0xFF (hex) 
               HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\General\MailDebug=1
               HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\General\TraceSmall=0
               HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\TCLINKLN\NOTES\TraceLevel=49 (decimal)
        • Export of the registry sub-key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TOPCALL\ in .reg format.

 

 

Level of Complexity 

Moderate

 

Applies to  

Product Version Build Environment Hardware
Kofax Communication Server All      

References

  • TC/LINK-LN being part of KCS 9.0 and KCS 9.1
  • Lotus Notes client 8.5 (tested with 8.5.2)
  • Windows 2008 R2 operating system

Keywords: Notes RTF conversion, UseBasicNotes, Domino,2044, Richtext