Where do I install Hyper.Net?
Converting large numbers of documents into various formats can be extremely resource intensive. For this reason, Hyper.Net SharePoint Edition can/should be installed on a dedicated “transformation” server. After the Hyper.Net Transformation Server is online, you can configure SharePoint libraries to send it transformation requests. Transformed results are in turn published back into designated MOSS libraries.
What are the minimum and recommended hardware requirements?
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Component
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Minimum
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Recommended
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Processor
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Dual Core
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Quad Core
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RAM
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4 GB
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8 GB
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Bus
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32 Bit
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64 Bit
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Available hard disk space
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60 GB
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120 GB
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What supporting software do I need to install?
Required platform-level software (Hyper.Net Transformation Server)
Windows 2003 Server (R2) (Service Pack 2) (32 or 64 bit)
MS.Net 2.0 (optional 3.0 / 3.5)
ASP.Net 2.0 (optional 3.0 / 3.5)
IIS 6.x
SQL Server 2005/2008 Service Pack 2 (32 or 64 bit)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard/ Enterprise SP1/SP2 (32 or 64 bit)
MOSS (on the same server as Hyper.Net or on 1..n dedicated MOSS servers!)
Required application-level software (Hyper.Net Transformation Server)
The transformation process requires backend access to Microsoft Office code to enable a wide array of advanced conversion and transformation functions. You will thus need to install Microsoft Office on the transformation server as follows:
Office 2007 Standard/Professional/Enterprise (32 or 64 bit)
Optional, if you need to convert Visio documents: Visio 2007 (32 or 64 bit)
Note: Coextant has more than 10 years experience in the control of Office applications remotely and in parallel on servers. The installation of client software like Office 2007 on a production server for the purpose of backend code access poses no specific dangers and has no administration impact. The software is not launched at the GUI level.
Can I make transformed content conform to our Corporate Identity (CI)?
Hyper.Net publishes content directly into WCMS as SharePoint-native data. All SharePoint-standard formatting techniques and approaches (PageLayout, MasterPage) can be used to make transformed content conform to your CI or any other desired look-and-feel.
In addition, the appearance of content transformed with the Hypertext format enabled can be 100% controlled via CSS. This also allows you to achieve full compliance with human accessibility directives.
How do I access and customize a WCMS application that presents content transformed by Hyper.Net?
Transformed content is accessible in the same way as any other data stored in SharePoint. You can customize your WCMS application as desired using the technologies and approaches you already know: XSLT, JavaScript, PageLayouts and MasterPages. There is no need to compile any code.
Which SharePoint features are not supported?
All SharePoint features are supported! Because the transformed content is native WCMS content stored in MOSS itself, all SharePoint features function as usual for both you and the user.
Which Hyper.Net components do I need to install to create a WCMS application that presents transformed content?
The following components are automatically installed by the installation program. They are provided to help you get a quick jump-start on the development of your application:
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Site content types
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The Hyper.Net integration event handler
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Images
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XSLTs
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JavaScript code
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PageLayouts
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MasterPages
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Sample pages
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Sample customized WebParts
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You can use these components as templates, modify them as needed or delete them and write your own components using standard SharePoint techniques. They do not need to be present in your installation to run Hyper.Net or use the content it creates.
Which tools do I need to customize the WCMS application?
You can use any tool you prefer, for example:
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SharePoint Designer
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Visual Studio
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Any other desired application, even notepad.exe
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SharePoint itself offers configurable Web forms you can also use. It’s your choice. Use what you know. Hyper.Net functions solely as a content transformation engine that ensures Web-ready content is created from your documents and updated with the document lifecycle. There is no need to learn any Hyper.Net-specific design applications or struggle with design features not yet implemented by Hyper.Net. The full world of SharePoint possibilities is open to you.
What do I need to do to prepare for the installation?
First, make sure the server you wish to use as your Hyper.Net Transformation Server fulfills the minimum requirements. A frequent temptation is to use hardware that does not fulfill the requirements. This results in wasted time and creates frustration.
Second, make sure your SQL server and database access login accounts are ready for use. (The SQL server is used to maintain the Hyper.Net Master Index, a library of all transformed documents and their current status. It provides Hyper.Net with the necessary bookkeeping facility to maintain the versioning process, manage publication expiration dates and allow bulk transformation and delete actions.)
Finally, start the setup software.
What if the installation fails?
Check the install log file, resolve the indicated problem and run the setup software again.
Yes. The uninstall removes all selected and previously installed components from the computer (unless they have become locked for some reason).
What happens to existing transformed content when I uninstall the software?
It will also be removed. If you want to keep it, make a backup before uninstalling.
Are any Hyper.Net components installed directly into SharePoint?
Hyper.Net elements are installed in the following SharePoint locations:
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Layout folders
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Features
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Windows GAC
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Master gallery
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Control templates
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Site template gallery
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Style library
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Web part gallery
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Site column and content types
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The installed elements consist of items that enable SharePoint to send conversion and publication requests to the Hyper.Net Transformation Server in the background, as well as elements that support faster entry of publication-related metadata on the document profile.
What administrator rights are required to install Hyper.Net?
Optimally, the account you use to install Hyper.Net should have the following rights:
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Database owner
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Local Administrator
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MOSS SiteCollection Administrator
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Is it possible to use SharePoint’s Smart Authoring function (“Convert docx to Web Page”) with Hyper.Net?
Yes, you can use this function in parallel with Hyper.Net, but you should be aware that Hyper.Net offers exactly the same capability out of the box, including a similar interface and process. The Hyper.Net version, however, offers greater stability and reliability.
How many document/page libraries can or must be installed?
You need to have at least one document/page library, but you can install as many as you’d like.
Is it possible to publish the same content into more than one page library at the same time?
Yes. You can configure Hyper.Net to publish transformed content into multiple page libraries. You can also make the target library document-specific by using a SharePoint metadata field that is associated with each document that is checked in.
Can I use the standard page library in WCMS?
Yes, but it needs to be extended with additional content types. We recommend a separate document/page library.
Configuration, Administration, and Monitoring
How can I check the status of the transformation process?
Hyper.Net’s Web-enabled Master Index database makes it possible to check on the status of the transformation and publication processes in real time. Transformation requests can be manually canceled and re-queued; publications can be deleted. The Master Index also provides a detailed facility for verifying when transformation requests were processed and the associated content published. In addition, transformation requests can be searched and re-queued or deleted in bulk.
An additional logging tool named log4net is also provided. This enables the writing of log entries into the Windows Event Log, into Hyper.Net’s Master Index and onto the file system. Both info and debug modes are supported.
What kind of configuration tools exist?
Hyper.Net’s most commonly used features are all configurable via an ASP-based Web application.
Which input and output formats are supported?
Microsoft Office Word (.doc .docx)
Microsoft Office PowerPoint (.ppt .pptx)
Microsoft Office Excel (.xls .xlsx)
Microsoft Office Visio (.vsd .vss)
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Image (.bmp .gif .jpg .jpe .jpeg .png)
Text (.txt .rtf)
OpenOffice Text Document (.odt .sxw)
OpenOffice Presentation Document (.odp)
OpenOffice Spreadsheet (.ods)
OpenOffice Graphics Document (.odg .sxd)Supported output formats
Hypertext (multi-topic publications navigable via table of contents — tagged for 100% control via CSS)
PDF and PDF/A
HTML (single page, standard Office output)
Flash (optional Flash transformation engine required)
MP3 (text-to-speech)
Source file
How is Hyper.Net’s Hypertext format different from HTML?
Hyper.Net’s “Hypertext” output format is pure, vendor-neutral HTML that conforms religiously to the HTML spec and provides you with the fine-grained tagging needed to fully control content presentation via CSS. The default formatting provided in the source document is also preserved in the output HTML tag set should you not desire to override the authored formatting via CSS. All HTML tags are populated with additional IDs that allow you to determine how things should look in your WCMS application. This allows you to overcome the challenge of making documents authored with different templates across the organization conform to a consistent look-and-feel, for example.
Hyper.Net’s Hypertext format also goes beyond the default, single-page “HTML dump” format provided by Office in many ways. Additional functions include (among many others):
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Automatic hyperlink recognition and generation, within a document and between documents using pattern matching rules
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Revision mark generation
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Automatic image resizing, resolution down-sampling and thumbnail creation
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Bookmark, glossary term, footnote and comment generation
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Comprehensive document control and release functionality
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Taxonomy tool for multi-dimensional content classification and flexible navigation trees
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The Hyper.Net transformation process is typically installed on a dedicated server (known as the “transformation server”) to keep resource-intensive tasks from slowing the functionality of your SharePoint servers. Installed in this way, Hyper.Net has no impact on the speed of SharePoint.
One Hyper.Net transformation server configured using the minimum requirements can typically manage unlimited numbers of documents and thousands of transformation requests per day. When installed on a server providing the recommended resources, Hyper.Net is capable of handling the needs of even very large document sets and high-volume transformation activity. Actual results are dependent on server capacity, document volume, document size and document content. The transformation process can also be configured to execute transformation requests in parallel.
Using the transformation server approach, Hyper.Net services are infinitely scalable through the organization or enterprise without impacting the SharePoint infrastructure and independent of how the SharePoint infrastructure grows. One or more SharePoint libraries can be configured to send transformation requests to any desired Hyper.Net transformation server.
Existing customers have implemented both centralized and decentralized transformation processes.
Where do I set/map my own metadata?
Hyper.Net provides a built-in, Web-enabled Schema Editor that allows you to pre-define mappings that enable any desired SharePoint source document library field values to be published into specific publication metadata values in the transformed content. This information is available throughout each publication and all of its structural elements to make it easier to create user interfaces that display transformed content and also to control issues such as personalization, security and categorization within your WCMS application.
How do I handle problems that occur during the transformation process?
If anything goes wrong during the transformation process, you’ll be able to track down the problem either in the Hyper.Net Master Index application or in the standard log entries. If the given error messages are not sufficient, you can also requeue the transformation request with debug mode enabled. It is also possible to evaluate intermediate results after every stage of processing by starting and stopping the various Hyper.Net components. If you can’t solve the problem on your own, you can send a description, the log files and the intermediate results to support@coextant.com.
Is there a trace mode for Hyper.Net?
Yes. Hyper.Net the commonly used logging tool log4net, which allows you to differentiate between Info, Warning, Error, Trace, and Fatal log entries.