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Web Scanner

The existing Web Scanner mechanism was not supported by all the browsers and required changes in the methodology. The Advanced Web Scanner Service provides a more secure and improved process of scanning the images. User can download the Advanced Web Scanner Service on their client machines. And can configure the switch for storing the scanned images on the local system or server (TIFF files will always be stored on the server as they are used for OCR processing). Another switch can be configured for backward compatibility if you want to use the existing process.

Also, a major enhancement in the Advanced Web Scanner Service is that the service will now support both the protocols HTTP and HTTPS. The service runs on a specific port range defined in the application for HTTP (50001 to 50005) and HTTPS (60001 to 60005). During the installation, the installer will assign a port available for each protocol to run the service. Configuring the HTTPS protocol requires to import a certificate on the client machine. For detailed information, read the complete article.

The scanning mechanism in the Advanced Web Scanner Service is similar as it was before; the only change in the UI is the drop-down list reflecting the installed Scanners instead of the Source button.

The user can also see information about batches created via Web Scanner. For this purpose, a pop-up window is displayed once the batch scanning is completed and the Finish button is clicked on the Web Scanner screen. The scanning completion pop-up includes the following information:

  • Batch Instance Id
  • Batch Instance Name
  • Batch Instance Description
  • Batch Page Count

The pop-up window also contains a cookie-based “Don’t ask me again” option. Once this option is selected, the pop-up will not be displayed upon scanning completion.

Video Walkthrough:

 

Configure the Advanced Web Scanner Switch

  1. Go to Ephesoft >>Application >> WEB-INF
  2. Open the web.xml file in your local editor.
  3. By default, the switch is ON. In case it is not, Turn-on the Advanced Web Scanner Switch:
    <init-param><param-name>advancedWebScannerSwitch</param-name><param-value>ON</param-value></init-param>
  4. This will redirect the Web Scanner URL from /webscanner.html to the Advanced Web Scanner URL i.e. /advancedwebscanner.html.

Note: Turn-off the advancedwebscanner switch from the web.xml file if you want to use the existing scanning mechanism. (Value = OFF)

Install the Web Scanner service

If you are running the application on a Client machine and have admin rights, you can install the Web Scanner Service from the application UI itself. In case you do not have the admin rights, you can also go with the manual installation process.

Installing from the Application Interface:

Assumption – You have the admin rights on the Client Machine.

  1. Go to the application homepage and click on Web Scanner.
  2. If the Advanced Web Scanner switch is ON, the application will check whether the Web Scanner service is installed and running on your local machine.
  3. If the service is not installed (running), a popup message appears with an OK and Download Service button.F:EnterpriseProduct documentation 4060imagesscanner4.png
  4. Click on OK if the service is not up and Download Service if not installed.
  5. By clicking on Download Service, it will open a new tab and start downloading the installer.
  6. Once the installer is downloaded, run the installer manually to install the service on your local machine.
  7. The installation will assign a port for each protocol (HTTP and HTTPS) to the service and make the service up.

 

Installing from the Ephesoft directory:

Assumption –You have the Ephesoft server installed on your machine and have admin rights.

In this case, you can install the service from the application UI, as well as from the Ephesoft directory.

  1. Go to Ephesoft>> SharedFolders
  2. In this folder, you will find the installer – EphesoftScannerService.msi
  3. Open command prompt as Administrator and install the service.
    msiexec /i EphesoftScannerService.msi

 

Manual Installation:

Assumption – You do not have the admin rights.

In this case, you have to request the admin user to get the Zip folder containing the executable file. The Zip folder is placed on the Ephesoft server (Ephesoft>> SharedFolders>>EphesoftScannerService.zip).

  1. Download the Zip folder on your local machine.
  2. Unzip and place the folder at the desired place.
    Make sure the folder name should remain same i.e. EphesoftScannerService.
  3. Click on the EphesoftScanner_Click_Me.exe which will setup the service, make the necessary changes on the file and will place the required file on the startup folder so that the service will be auto start on system startup.
  4. For manually start of server, click on EpheSoftScannerServiceStart.bat file.
  5. For stopping the service, click on EphesoftScannerServiceStop.exe.
  6. Whenever you want to change the location of the service folder, stop the service and copy the whole folder to the desired location.
  7. Click on EphesoftScanner_Click_Me.exe and start the service by executing the EpheSoftScannerServiceStart.bat file.

Configuring the Advanced Web Scanner over HTTPS

The HTTPS protocol is enabled in the Advanced Scanner Service to avoid Mixed Content error. When a user visits a page served over HTTPS, their connection with the web server is encrypted with TLS and is therefore safeguarded from sniffers and man-in-the-middle attacks. If the HTTPS page includes content retrieved through regular, clear text HTTP, then the connection is only partially encrypted; the unencrypted content is accessible to sniffers and can be modified by man-in-the-middle attackers, so the connection is not safeguarded. When a web page exhibits this behavior, it is called a mixed content page. Thus, if Ephesoft server is running over HTTPS and web scanner is used then everything should work without the mixed content error. Also, it is assumed that Ephesoft server is running over HTTPS with valid and verified certificate.

Since the Advanced Web Scanner Service will always execute over the client’s local domain i.e. localhost, no third party will provide a valid signed SSL certificate. This is because: –

  • Misconfigured devices actually exist, in the wild, that wait for lookups before resolving localhost from /etc/hosts.
  • If a router defines localhost.foo.local, it may cause localhost to resolve incorrectly (you’ve probably seen this class of error before).

Due to the above reason, Ephesoft has signed its own certificate on which the service would be running. The root certificate of Ephesoft needs to be imported in all the browsers as a trusted CA certificate for everything to work as expected. It is available at “EphesoftScannerService/Ephesoft-Browser-Cert.crt”.

Import the Certificate on Chrome

  1. Open the Browser.
  2. Go to Settings.
  3. Click on Advanced Setting.
  4. Scroll down to section ‘HTTPS/SSL’.
  5. Click on ‘Manage Certificate’.
  6. Go to tab ‘Trusted Root Certification Authorities’.
  7. Click on Import.
  8. Follow the wizard with all default values.
  9. Close the browser and re-open it to use Web Scanner.

Import the Certificate on Mozilla

  1. Open the browser.
  2. Go to Options >> Advanced.
  3. Click on ‘View Certificates’.
  4. Go to ‘Authorities’ tab.
  5. Click on Import.
  6. Browse to the location of ‘Ephesoft-Browser-Cert.crt’.
  7. Check all the options in the ‘Downloading Certificate’ pop-up.
  8. Click Ok and close all the pop-ups.
  9. Close the browser and re-open it to use Web Scanner.

Import the Certificate on Internet Explorer

  1. Open the browser.
  2. Go to Tools.
  3. Go to Internet Options.
  4. Go to Content tab.
  5. Click on certificates.
  6. Go to tab ‘Trusted Root Certification Authorities’.
  7. Click on Import.
  8. Follow the wizard with all default values.
  9. Close the browser and re-open it to use Web Scanner.

Import CACERT to local keystore

If self-signed certificates are being used to configure the Advanced Web Scanner, the steps below must be followed.
If your certificate is signed by a valid authority, the steps below may not be needed unless certificate errors persist after installation.
Since certificates being used are self-signed certificates thus these certificates must be imported as Trusted Root Certificates on Web Scanning Machine (where Ephesoft Web Scanner Service is executing)

  1. Open certmgr.msc and select Trusted Root Certification Authorities, please import following certificates:
    a. Cacert.pem generated while generating server certificates. (CACERT is certificates which represents a Certificate Signing Authority). Certificates being used for configuring Ephesoft Server are signed by this generated Certificate Authority (CACERT), thus importing this certificate as trusted root certificate on client machine makes it valid for communication with the client and the server.Please refer snapshot certificate and HTTPS appears to be valid to the browser.
    b. Import Ephesoft-Browser-Cert.crt present in EphesoftScannerService installation folder as trusted root certificate. This step is also required to make communication between Web Scanner Client (browser) and Ephesoft Web Scanner Server (internal) valid.
    Please refer snapshot certificate and HTTPS appears to be valid to the browser.
  2. Next step is to import self-signed CA (CACERT) generated above in EphesoftWebScannerService JRE Keystore using the command prompt.
    Locate and navigate to cacerts located at < EphesoftScannerService>jrelibsecurity.
    keytool -importcert -keystore <EphesoftScannerService>jrelibsecuritycacerts -storepass changeit -alias ephesoftrootCA -file cacert.pem
    Please substitute the path of cacerts and cacert.pem accordingly.
  3. Restart Ephesoft Web Scanner Service.
  4. Please make sure to access Ephesoft Server with same hostname as was used while generating the server certificate otherwise communication will become insecure and browser may not allow insecure communication.

 

Use external CA signed certificates to configure Web Scanner for HTTPS

If you don’t want to use self-signed certificate provided by Ephesoft for the Web Scanner, you can follow the steps below to replace the self-signed certificate in Web Scanner installation with your own certificate:

  1. Install the Web Scanner Service by following the instructions described in section 1.2 “Install the Web Scanner Service” above.
  2. Stop the Web Scanner Service.
  3. Place your servercertificate.jks (server certificate with .jks extension) inside the Web Scanner Service installation directory and rename it to self.jks.
  4. Open the properties file present inside the folder WebScanner_Installation_Directoryconfigapplication.properties in any text editor.
  5. Change the value of the property server.ssl.key-store from classpath:self.jks to just self.jks.
  6. Change the value of the property server.ssl.key-password to the actual password of the server certificate (self.jks).
  7. Import the cacert.pem (Root CA certificate with .pem extension, certificates with .crt and .cer extension can also be used) inside the keystore cacert present inside the folder WebScanner_Installation_Directoryjrelibsecurity by executing the below command in windows command prompt:
    keytool -import -alias alias -file certificate_file_name -keystore keystore_name
  8. Import the Root CA certificate in your local keystore (system’s certmgr) and browser (if not already present) by following the instructions described in sections 1.4 “Import the Certificate on Chrome”, 1.5 “Import the Certificate on Mozilla”, 1.6 “Import the Certificate on Internet Explorer” and 1.7 “Import CACERT to local keystore” above.
  9. Start the Web Scanner Service.

 

Local Storage Switch

Every time you start scanning images and each scanned image is stored in three different formats:

  • TIFF – for batch processing.
  • JPG – for viewing image in large size in the right panel of web scanner UI.
  • Thumbnail JPG – for viewing image in thumbnails in the middle panel of web scanner UI.

In the existing web scanning mechanism, all the scanned images were stored at the server.

Path: EphesoftSharedFoldersscannedImages BatchClassIdentifier_username_timestamp

For example, EphesoftSharedFoldersscannedImages BC1_ephesoft_2016-06-13_03-24-26

In the Advanced Web Scanner service, the Local Storage switch is ON for each Profile by default. If the switch is ON, all the display images (JPG and Thumbnail JPG) are stored in a temp folder where you have installed the advanced web scanner service.

For example, C:Program Files (x86)EphesoftScannerServicetempusername

The TIFF files are always stored at server as they are used for batch processing.

F:EnterpriseProduct documentation 4060imagesscanner3.png

 

Note:

If user started scanning with a Scanner Profile having Local Storage enables, then another operation (insert, rescan, etc.) cannot be performed via another Profile having Local Storage disabled.

If the user is on Review/Validation Screen and performing any operation like rescanning or insert, and navigates to the Web Scanner Screen. The Local Storage switch will be “Off” regardless of the Profile and the scanned files will go on server.

Configure Timeout

If the Local Storage Switch is ON and the system is in idle state for Timeout duration (no scan operation is performed), then the application itself deletes all the images and folder where display images are stored and user will have to restart the scanning process.

You can configure the timeout settings:

  • Go to EphesoftApplicationWEB-INFclassesMETA-INF
  • Open the application.properties file in your local editor.
  • Change the timeout settings in the property – webscanner_toolkit_session_timeout.

By default, it is set to 30 mins.

webscanner_toolkit_session_timeout =30

Configure log level

All the scanner service logs are available in the file ‘WebScannerToolKitLogs.log’located at:

C:Program Files (x86)EphesoftScannerServicelogs

You can also configure the level of logs (INFO, ERROR, DEBUG) for the scanner service.

To change the log level:

  • Go to C:Program Files (x86)EphesoftScannerService
  • Open the file logback.xml in your local editor.
  • Change the log level from the logger tag.

<logger name=”com.ephesoft” level=”INFO“>

<appender-ref ref=”LOGS” />

</logger>

Error Handling

If any error occurs while performing any scanning operation, the relative error message will pop up.

But in case of Paper stream supported scanner, it is possible that the error message opens at background of the application UI. So, it is recommended to enable the Error Recovery Guide while installing the driver so that the error notification appears on the taskbar.

If you are experiencing problems with scanning process or the scanner service becomes unusable, make sure to check that Multi Transfer Scanner Profile property is set to “true” (this refers to all the Scanner Profiles used in a Batch Class while scanning). This property is available on the Scanner Profiles screen specific to each Batch Class. While the Default Profile has Multi Transfer property enabled automatically, the user has to ensure that it is set to “true” when copying or creating new Profiles.

 

Recommendations

Important: Transact and the Web Scanner versions must be in sync for each release.  When upgrading the Transact product all Web Scanner clients in use on client machines must be uninstalled and re-installed to the latest version to be in sync with the Transact product.

 

DPI settings recommended for Scanning:

Black and White Images – It is recommended to set the resolution to 200 DPI. If set above 200 DPI, buffering may occur.

Grey Scale – It is recommended to set the resolution to 200 DPI. If set above 200 DPI, buffering may occur.

Colored – It is recommended to set the resolution to 200 DPI. If set above 200 DPI, buffering may occur.

 

As a one-time activity after installation of Web Scanner Service (in case of Ephesoft Transact application upgrade / in case of normal fresh scanner installation / in case the user encounters the “INVALID ACCESS” error), it is recommended to perform the following steps:
1) Log out from the Ephesoft Transact application.
2) Reopen the browser and clear the browser cache.
3) Restart Ephesoft Scanner Service.
4) Hit the Scanner URL.

 

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