Appendix A: Content Analyzer Setup

  • Article

This appendix describes how to set various options in Content Analyzer, using the Program Options dialog box (available from the View menu). Some of the settings are described fully, while others are mentioned briefly and refer you to a more appropriate part of the manual for complete information.

Topics in this appendix:

The General Tab

The Helpers Tab

The Proxy Tab

The Cyberbolic Tab

The Passwords Tab

The General Tab

The General tab of the Program Options dialog box lets you set various options that affect your browser, private libraries, and the Search Results window. The following sections describe how to coordinate Content Analyzer with your browser. Refer to "Determining which Properties Appear in the Search Results Window" in Chapter 6, "Searching Maps and Creating Custom Reports," for information about columns in the Search Results window.

Setting Up Content Analyzer to Work with Your Browser

Content Analyzer works side-by-side with your Web browser. You can use a WebMap to quickly locate what you're interested in and then display the object in your browser. You can configure Content Analyzer to use the browser of your choice to display objects that you double-click in the map.

As you browse the Web, you'll come across sites that provide WebMaps. Before you can click a WebMap icon to view a map in your browser window, you need to configure the browser to recognize Content Analyzer as a helper application.

Configuring the Default Browser

When you double-click an object in a WebMap, Content Analyzer launches your Web browser (if necessary) and displays the corresponding object in your browser. Your Content Analyzer default browser configuration determines which browser is launched. When you installed Content Analyzer, your most recently installed browser was configured as the default. If you have more than one Web browser on your computer, you can change the default to the browser of your choice.

In addition, when you use your browser to navigate the Web, the WebMap stays in sync with your browser. When you travel to a page in your browser, the selected map object changes to correspond to the page you've displayed in your browser. (However, if the page hasn't been discovered yet in the active map, Content Analyzer can't select it in the map.) When you set up the default browser, you can choose to turn off map synchronization; that way, you can explore the site with your browser and still return to the same place in the map.

To set up the default browser

  1. Choose Program Options from the View menu, then choose the General tab in the Program Options dialog box.

  2. In the Browser box, enter (or browse for) the path and name of the browser you want to use as the default.

  3. Be sure that the Synchronize WebMap to Browser Location checkbox is selected if you want the pages you navigate to in the browser to be simultaneously selected in the map. If you don't want the map to synchronize with your browser selections, clear the checkbox.

  4. Click OK.

Using Additional Browsers as Helper Applications

The default Web browser determines which browser is launched when you double-click an object in the WebMap. You can configure additional browsers as helper applications if you want to view your work in multiple browsers. For more information on helper applications, see "Using Helper Applications to Edit or View Source Files" in Chapter 8, "Site Management Tips & Techniques."

Configuring Your Browser to Recognize WebMaps

If you browse a Web site that contains a WebMap (a wmp format file), you'll see that the WebMap is represented in the site by the WebMap icon:

 

Click this icon to launch Content Analyzer and display the map. But before you do this, your Web browser will need to know which application (often called a helper application) it should launch to display the wmp file.

Each Web browser has its own procedure for configuring helper applications. For example, if your browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can use the following procedure to configure Content Analyzer as a recognized helper application. Keep in mind that these instructions show you how to configure helper applications for Internet Explorer; another browser's procedure is likely to be different.

To configure helper applications (for Microsoft Internet Explorer)

  1. In the Internet Explorer window, choose View from the Options menu and select the Programs tab.

  2. Click the File Types button. The File Types dialog box appears.

  3. Find Content Analyzer in the Registered File Types list. Click OK. Internet Explorer should have no problem calling Content Analyzer when you click a WebMap icon in a Web site.

  4. If Content Analyzer isn't in the list, click New Type.

  5. Enter Content Analyzer in the Description of Type box.

  6. Type wmp in the Associated Extension box. 

  7. Type application/webmap in the Content Type (MIME) box.

  8. Click the New button.

  9. In the New Action dialog box, type Open.

  10. Click the Browse button and browse for Content Analyzer's location. If you used the default directory when you installed Content Analyzer, the path will be C:\Program Files\Content Analyzer\Wmapper.exe.

  11. Click OK.

Now you can click a WebMap icon in your Internet Explorer window and launch Content Analyzer.

If You Plan to Include WebMaps in Your Web Site

If you plan to include WebMaps as part of your Web site, you'll first need to configure the WebMap MIME type for your server. This allows you (and others) to access those WebMaps from your site. You only need to configure the MIME type once.

To configure the WebMap MIME type for IIS (Windows NT or Windows 95) servers:

  1. In Windows 95, launch Windows Explorer.

  2. From the View menu, choose Options.

  3. Click the File Types tab.

  4. In the Registered File Types list, double-click WebMap.

  5. Click the Edit button, then enter application/webmap in the Content Type (MIME) box.

  6. Click OK.

The Helpers Tab

Use the Helpers tab in the Program Options dialog box to set a variety of helper applications for different object types. See "Using Helper Applications to Edit or View Source Files" in Chapter 8, "Site Management Tips & Techniques," for complete information about how to configure helper applications in Content Analyzer.

The Proxy Tab

The Proxy tab in the Program Options dialog box helps you set various options for using Content Analyzer with a proxy server. The following sections describe how to configure Content Analyzer to work with your proxy server.

Important note If you're using the WINSOCK proxy, you don't need to do anything at all. Microsoft Analyst automatically recognizes the WINSOCK proxy, so don't fill in any information on the Proxy tab.

Using Content Analyzer with Proxy Servers

Many companies use proxy servers to connect securely to the Internet. A proxy server is a program that communicates with external servers on behalf of internal clients by providing a single host with Internet access for multiple users. The proxy server sends requests back and forth between you (on the internal network) and the external server. As far as you, the user, are concerned, talking to the proxy server is just like talking directly to the real server.

If you're on a local network that uses a proxy server to connect to the Internet, you need to supply Content Analyzer with the proxy server address and port number. This ensures that Content Analyzer maps Web sites on the Internet successfully, since the proxy will connect to the real server on the Internet and thus return the correct information for mapping the site.

With Content Analyzer, you have three options for working with proxy servers:

  • Supplying a proxy server address and port number to connect to the Internet.

  • Bypassing the proxy server when you're working inside the firewall.

  • Disabling the proxy server but keep the existing settings for future use.

Supplying a Proxy Server Address

If you're on a local network that uses a proxy server to connect to the Internet, you need to supply Content Analyzer with the IP address or hostname and the port number of your proxy server to ensure that Content Analyzer receives the correct information for mapping a Web site on the Internet.

You should be able to obtain the proxy address from your system administrator or from your Web browser. The address should be a URL containing the Internet domain name and port number; for example, runner.microsoft.com:1717.

To add a proxy server address

  1. Obtain the proxy address from your system administrator or from your browser configuration.

  2. Choose Program Options from the View menu. The Program Options dialog box appears.

  3. Select the Proxy tab.

  4. Select Custom Proxy Configuration.

  5. Enter the IP address or host name and the Port number.

  6. Click Apply or OK. Content Analyzer verifies the existence of the proxy server and now recognizes the proxy server address.

Bypassing the Proxy Server

You must bypass the proxy server if it is located outside the firewall and you're working inside the firewall on internal Web resources. (You may also want to bypass the proxy server if both the server and the site are internal.) To do this, you simply enter the addresses that you want the proxy server to bypass.

To bypass the proxy server

  1. Ask your system administrator for the IP address or host name and port number of the computer(s) you want to bypass.

  2. Choose Program Options from the View menu. The Program Options dialog box appears.

  3. Select the Proxy tab.

  4. Select Custom Proxy Configuration.

  5. Click the Add button. The Add Proxy Bypass dialog box appears.

  6. Enter the IP address or host name of the computer, then enter the port number.

  7. Click Add.

  8. When you've finished adding IP addresses, click Close. The addresses appear in the Bypass Proxy On list.

  9. Click OK.

Adding bypass addresses 

Disabling the Proxy Service

When you don't want to access the Internet with a proxy server (for example, when you want to work only inside the firewall), you can disable the proxy service. If you do, the existing settings in the dialog box remain intact but appear disabled.

To disable the proxy server

  1. Choose Program Options from the View menu. The Program Options dialog box appears.

  2. Select the Proxy tab.

  3. Select Disable Proxy Services.

  4. Click OK.

The Cyberbolic Tab

Use the Cyberbolic tab in the Program Options dialog box to configure the way objects move about in the Cyberbolic view. See "The Cyberbolic View" in Chapter 2, "Anatomy of a WebMap," for complete information about how to configure options in the Cyberbolic view.

The Passwords Tab

The Passwords tab in the Program Options dialog box lets you apprise Content Analyzer of any password-protected pages in your site.

If Your Site Has Password-Protected Areas

If you've protected any of your site's areas with passwords, you'll need to inform Content Analyzer about them. If you don't, Content Analyzer won't be able to map any of the pages in those areas. Here's what to do:

  1. Choose Program Options from the View menu.

  2. Select the Passwords tab. (If you've already configured any passwords, you'll see them listed by domain, realm, and User ID.)

  3. Click Add. The Add dialog box appears.

     

For each password-protected area, you'll need to enter the domain, realm (often this is the same as the server name; see the next few paragraphs for a detailed description of realms), user ID, and password. If several pages share the same information (for example, a set of pages in a single protected area), you only need to enter it once. You can modify password information at any time. Just click Modify instead of Add on the Passwords tab. If you want to delete a password, just select it and click Delete.

Important Note If the site you're dealing with is on a Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) server, the User ID needs to be in the form of Domain\UserName, where Domain is the Windows NT login domain, and UserName is the Windows NT user name.

More on Realms

The realm--sometimes also called Share or Resource--is the name of a protected resource or area on the server. If you try to access such a protected resource with a browser, the name of the realm usually appears in the dialog box that asks for your username and password. For instance, if you point Internet Explorer at a protected page, the "Enter Network Password" dialog box is displayed, which displays the the resource (realm), and asks for a user name and password.

Realms allow you to partition the protected resources on a server into a set of "protection spaces," each with its own authentication scheme and/or authorization database. (See the next section for details on possible authentication schemes you may have used with your server.)

Sometimes (as with the IIS server), only one realm (resource) can be defined, and the realm name is the same as the server name. So if the server containing a password-protected Web page is called MyServer, you'd enter MyServer in the Realm box when adding a password for Content Analyzer.

It's a little tricker to discover the realm name for Netscape servers. To do so:

  1. Go to Access Controls/Restrict Access in Netscape Admin.

  2. Choose the directory you are restricting access to, and select the Permissions button. This takes you to a form.

  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for Login Prompt. The text in this field is the name of the realm.

If, after reading this information, you still don't know what to enter for the Realm field, check with your server's system administrator.

A Note on Authentication Schemes for IIS

When you (or the system administrator) set up password protection for your site, you have a choice of three different authentication (password) schemes:

  • Allow Anonymous

  • Basic (Clear Text)

  • Windows NT Challenge/Response

If you have selected Allow Anonymous, no resources or directories will be password-protected in your site. The Basic (Clear Text) scheme works fine with the Password dialog box in Content Analyzer; you can enter the necessary password(s) for protected realms and then map the entire site with no problems.

However, the current version of Content Analyzer will not be able to gain access to any part of your site if you use the third scheme--Windows NT Challenge/Response. This scheme sets up a protected realm for the entire site, and the current version of Content Analyzer has no way of penetrating this protection scheme.

So if you want to protect parts of your site, but still be able to map the entire site, be sure to use Basic authentication.