Conversion Process
Part One - Preparing Notes Databases For Conversion
Pouring of Courses
We need poured NSF databases to work from. This gives us pristine courses with no student data and/or corrupt faculty created data to hang up Conversation Thingy. I would recommend continuing with the same pour process we currently use to produce these pristine nsf files since everyone already knows how to do this.
Strip Out Access Control
Lotus Notes courses need to have Access Contol stripped out for Connverstion Thingy to work. That way you can enter any usgernames and passwords and it will run. Moreover, Access Control (Needing to enter logins and passwords) is a huge obstacle if we plan on using a batch conversion process. It is extremely inefficient to have to enter passwords every time it switches to a new course, which is the current situation. We need a way to strip out the access control and/or figure out a way to automatically enter the password so we don't have to baby-sit the process just to enter the same password over and over again.
How to strip out Access Control - A two step process
Step One - Create a New Copy With Access Control Unchecked - Here is how to do this.
Right Click the Icon for the database you are working with.
Scroll down and select Database.
Scroll over and select New Copy.
At the bottom of the Copy Database window that opens up you need to uncheck Access Control List.
Click OK.
This is now the database you will use for Converstion Thingy.
Step Two
From the Icon the represents the local replica of your course you just created do the following:
Make sure you have replication of this course turned off and never use it to replicate again or all hell will break loose.
Right click on the Icon the Represents your local replica in the Lotus Notes client.
Scroll down and select Database.
Scroll Over and Select Access Control.
We recommend you delete all but default from the Access Control List.
Click on default.
Select Manager Under Attributes Access.
Check All The Roles Listed in the Roles Window.
Click OK to close the Access Control Window.
Transferring Poured Courses From The Server To The Conversion Thingy Desktop Machine
Once the courses are Poured they will need to be transferred from the server to the Desktop Machine(s). This can be done a number of ways including, but not limited to:
- FTP transfer - but do we have the bandwidth to do this?
- Burn onto DVD or other type of portable storage device - there are security issues here. Can they be encrypted before and after the burn?
Another reason to use the current pour process is that all the courses from each school will already be organized into individual school folders, greatly simplifying the server to desktop transfer process.
Part Two - Preparing the Local Desktop Machine To Run Conversion Thingy
Windows XP Machine
We will only support Conversion Thingy run from Windows XP Machines, this reduces the number of variables we would need to troubleshoot for.
Conversion Thingy Only Runs from the Internet Explorer browser
Since Conversion Thingy runs in a dot.net framework, it will only work using Internet Explorer. It will now work using any other browser.
Upgrade to Lotus Notes Client 6.04
Connversion Thingy will not run unless the Lotus Notes client has been updated to at least Lotus Notes Client 6.04. This client update is not available on the SLN CD. It can be downloaded here:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LOTUS NOTES 6.04 CLIENT.
CLICK HERE FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO INSTALL THE LOTUS NOTES 6.04 CLIENT
*NOTE - Don't attempt to download the client from the instructions page. Use the link I give you above.
Install Microsoft's MSXML 4.x parser and Hot Fix
You will need Microsoft's MSXML 4.x parser as will as it's Hot fix installed on your machine for Conversion Thingy to run. If you already have both of these installed on your machine, you will not need to do this step. If you haven't installed Microsoft's MSXML 4.x parser, attempts to run Conversion Thingy will produce an error message.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MICROSOFT MSXML 4.X PARSER
Click on the file and follow the on-screen instructions.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE HOT FIX
Click on the file and follow the on-screen instructions.
Install Conversion Thingy Onto The Windows XP Desktop Machine
Once you have installed Louts Notes 6.04 and made sure you have Microsoft MSXML 4.x with Hot fix, you are ready to install Conversion Thingy itself. First you need to go the Conversion Thingy Install Page at the following address:
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/peter.friesen/conversionthingy/publish.htm
(This is Peter's Page, we will need to have our page set up)
*NOTE - you must do this using Internet Explorer. It does not work with any other browser.
You will then need to click the Install button.
Conversion Thingy install will check to see if you have the dot.net framework installed on your machine. If you don't have the dot.net framework installed on your machine, the install button will install this for you. Just follow the on-screen instructions. After the presence of the dot.net framework is out of the way, it will then install Conversion Thingy itself.
*NOTE - Conversion Things is constantly being updated. Always run it from the install button at the web address listed above to make sure you are running the most current version.
Running Jim Stoner's Naming Convention Program - we need to get this and decide if we want to use/modify it for our needs.
Part Three - Running Conversion Thingy
See the attachment called runconverstionthingy.doc to see this process step by step
Remember Convesion Thingy needs to be run from Lotus Notes Courses That have had Access Control Removed or you will get username/password access errors that will not let you continue.
Aggressivly Pruning SLN Content seems to put a strain on Converstion Thingy so it should not be selected. Consequenlty, you should ignore section in the documentation that advises you to select this option. So you should make sure this option is not checked.
Part Four - Post Conversion Thingy Process
These are yet to be determined.
However, as a starring point, I did create a document that outlines the things we need to concern ourselves with. This document takes our template created by the Course Creator Wizard and does two thing:
Compares the differences between a pruned and not pruned course
Highlights "troublesome" text in RED, with my comments suggestions in BLUE.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS DEFAULT TEMPLATE ANALYSIS
I have also included a similar analysis on Bill Pelz's course which is viewed as the SLN Gold Standard
CLICK HERE TO SEE AN ANALYSIS OF BILL PELZ'S COURSE
Run ZipSearch or something like it to do needed find and replace issues we agree upon
http://pilot.sln.suny.edu/documentation/ANGEL/faculty/converstion/Conversion_Thingy_Fixes.html
Part Five - Uploading The Conversion Thingy Archive To A Course
See the attachment calledtoangel.doc to see this process step by step.
Part Six - Known Problems
CLICK HERE TO SEE A BOILERPLATE DOCUMENT WITH THE MOST COMMON THINGS THAT NEED TO BE "FIXED" AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CONFLUENCE ANGEL MIGRATION OUTLINE PAGE WHICH CONTAINS THE KNOW ISSUES (Scroll down a bit after open this page)
