Copyright: Copyright © iOra Ltd
Citation: SoftCD is the property of iOra Ltd


Amended Content
The amended content of a publication is the up-to-date contents of the publication as edited on the SoftCD Publisher computer. The amended content is the source of the amendment file generated by SoftCD Publisher.


Amendment
An amendment is the difference:

between the first amended content and base content (the original publication), or

between an amended content and the previous amended content.

These amendments form a sequence which SoftCD Client uses to transform the base content into the latest published updated content.


Amendment Date
The amendment date is the date and time at which the amendment was created by SoftCD Publisher. All changes to the amended content up to that date and time are included in the amendment.


Amendment File
An amendment file is a single self-contained file that contains an amendment.

Each time SoftCD Publisher runs, it constructs an amendment file for the publication. The amendment file has a name of the form <publication title>-<amendment number>.ora.

An amendment file may be stored and accessed via a network or the Internet or may be sent by email or physical disk.

Updating a publication in SoftCD Client with an amendment file updates with that amendment only, which must follow on in sequence from the amendment with the preceding number.


Amendment Index File
An amendment index file is a single file indexing all the amendments for a publication.

Each time SoftCD Publisher generates an amendment for a publication, it adds to the amendment index file for the publication. The amendment index file has a name of the form <publication title>.ori.

An amendment index file may be stored and accessed via a network or the Internet or may be sent by email or physical disk. The amendment index file contains the path or paths on a network server or web server at which the amendments may be accessed.

Updating a publication in SoftCD Client with an amendment index file updates with all the amendments for the publication that have not yet been applied, downloading the necessary files from the network server or web server.


Amendment Link File
An amendment link file controls the updating of a publication: When you double-click on the amendment link file with SoftCD Client running, your publication is updated. The amendment link file controls all the following:

Searching for the network server or web server, including dialing up, if necessary

Where on the server to find the amendment index file and amendment file(s)

Downloading the files and updating the publication.

Updating a publication in SoftCD Client with an amendment link file updates with all the amendments for the publication that have not yet been applied.

The amendment link file of a publication has a name of the form <publication title>.orl.


Amendment Number
Each amendment has a unique identifier associated with it called the amendment number. This starts at one and increases with each new amendment.

Amendments can only be applied in sequence, and the amendment number keeps track of the amendments that have been published or applied.


Amendments Folder
The amendments folder on the computer running SoftCD Publisher is the folder into which amendment files, amendment index files and amendment link files are generated by SoftCD Publisher. It also holds the distribution instructions file, publication name.txt which is produced when an amendment is generated.

It is different from the publications folder, which holds internal files for SoftCD. Also, it is usually a different folder from the folder on a network server or web server from which a SoftCD Client computer would access the amendments. Note that copying files from the amendments folder to the published server paths is a manual task.

Note: We recommend that you backup the amendments folder for each publication each time you generate an amendment. You can then restore your system if a file or folder is deleted by mistake.


Authentication Code
The authentication code is the code that unlocks a publication on a particular machine. The authentication code differs for each publication and SoftCD Client machine combination.


Base Content
The base content of a publication is the original information. This fixed data (often the contents of a CD-ROM or a folder on a CD-ROM) is available both to the SoftCD Publisher and to all SoftCD Client computers. SoftCD Client will update the publication with amendments generated by SoftCD Publisher to make base content appear to have been updated.


Contents
SoftCD Help Contents

Key Information

What is SoftCD?

The publication lifecycle

Glossary of terms

Getting Help

Getting technical support


Different ways to distribute amendments

There are a number of ways to distribute a publication amendment. You need to know which method(s) you are going to use before you generate the amendment because SoftCD Publisher needs this information for the amendment link file and the amendment index file. The methods you can use are: by email, by network server by web server - and usually by a combination of these. The rest of this topic explains these options in detail.

Note: The primary server can be either a network server or a web server. If you are using two servers, the other server is the secondary server. This can also be either a network server or a web server. SoftCD Publisher produces detailed distribution instructions when the amendment is generated that can be displayed and printed. This distribution instructions file is automatically saved.

By email

This is the method to use if SoftCD Client computers do not have access to a network server or web server.

Email the amendment file to each SoftCD Client user as an attachment. The amendment file can be saved on the SoftCD computer or simply used from within the email system. With most email systems you can double-click on an attachment from within the email program, where the amendment file is usually displayed as an icon (details may vary from one email system to another). If this is not possible with your email system, save the amendment file to a disk on your computer and double-click on it there using Windows Explorer.

Note: Emailing large amendment files can be inefficient. Also it is possible for users to try and update a publication with amendments in the incorrect order. For this reason, where a server is accessible, we recommend one of the other methods of distribution discussed below.

By network server/emailing notification of amendment

This is the method requiring the least input and knowledge from the SoftCD Client user. It is also the quickest way of accessing amendment files and amendment index files.

Before distributing the base content for a new publication, create an amendment link file using SoftCD Publisher and place the file on the root of the CD-ROM or folder with the base content. If you are preparing the base content for distribution, you can select the checkbox, Include the link file in the base content, which will do this automatically for you.

When you have generated an amendment, copy the amendment file and the amendment index file to the network server in the directory entered as the primary download address for amendment files. Email each SoftCD Client user telling them to double-click on the amendment link file. When they do so, the SoftCD Client computer searches for the network server. If it is accessible, the files are downloaded and the publication updated without further input.

Note: This method cannot be used to update publications that are already distributed or are based on CD-ROMs that have been produced already. Use the following method instead.

By network server/emailing the amendment link file

When SoftCD Client computers have access to a network server, copy the amendment file and the amendment index file to the server. Email each SoftCD Client user with the amendment link file. The amendment link file can be saved on the SoftCD computer or simply used from within the email system. With most email systems you can double-click on an attachment from within the email program, where the amendment link file is usually displayed as an icon (details may vary from one email system to another). If this is not possible with your email system, save the amendment link file to a disk on your computer and double-click on it there using Windows Explorer.

The SoftCD Client computer searches for the network server. If it is accessible, the files are downloaded and the publication updated without further input.

By web server/email

A web server can be used instead of a network server. Both the methods above can be used with a web server. However, downloading from a web server is only recommended if the SoftCD Client computer does not have access to a network server because downloading a file is slower than accessing it across a network.

Note: The amendment link file can be set up to look first for a network server and then for a web server, dialing up if necessary. This caters for situations in which the network may be inaccessible.

By a link in a web page

You can create a web page with a link that updates a particular publication. The text of the link does not need to be a file name; for example, it could be Update mypublication. The link points to the amendment link file, so that clicking on the link starts the update process.

To use this method, email users with the URL of the page containing the link. Tell them to display the page and click on the link. If they are asked whether to open or save the amendment link file, they should select open.


Download
When a required amendment file or amendment index file is on a web server, it is downloaded (i.e. copied) into a temporary file on the SoftCD Client computer's hard disk. SoftCD displays an indication of the progress while downloading amendment files.


Edition
A publication that has had several amendments may be better republished as a new edition. Each edition is based on a new CD-ROM (or other base media) as a "new start".


Enable/Disable Amendments
On the SoftCD Client computer, all applied amendments are normally enabled, so that accessing the publication accesses the latest updated content. However, the amendments for a publication can be explicitly disabled.

Applying the Disable Amendments function on a publication disables the amendments, so that accessing the publication accesses the base content. Reapplying the Enable Amendments function on the publication then re-enables the amendments, so that when you access the publication you see the latest updated content again.


Enable/Disable Logging
SoftCD Client can maintain a diagnostic log file that can be used by iOra support staff to track down any problems that may arise with the use of SoftCD.

The log files generated are called C:\IORALOG.TXT and C:\IORALOG.OLD and will never use more than 2MBytes of disk space. The Enable SoftCD Logging function enables this diagnostic log mechanism. The Disable SoftCD Logging function disables it.


Encryption
Encryption is a method of scrambling data so that it is unreadable without the correct unencryption program.


Epsilon Factor
The epsilon factor for an amendment is the ratio of amendment file size to the total publication size for that amended content. This is a indication of the scale of the changes and a measure of SoftCD’s effectiveness.


File extensions
SoftCD uses a number of proprietary file extensions:

.ora files are amendment files

.ori files are amendment index files

.orl files are amendment link files

.orv  files are files containing the encrypted vault

By default Windows does not show the file extension in browsers. For information on how to display the full filename see the topic, Viewing filename extensions in the Windows Help.


Getting technical support

iOra Ltd provides technical support for SoftCD. However, there are some things you can do to help yourself before contacting us.

Things to check first

If you have problems using SoftCD, check the following information for help:

If an error message is displayed, note down any text or number displayed.

If you are having problems installing or running SoftCD, check the system requirements in the Readme file.

If you are in dialog with a Help button, read the online Help. (The online help can also be displayed from the iOra SoftCD program group in the Windows Start menu.)

Look on our Internet site at http://www.iora.com/support. This contains useful information such as the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about SoftCD.

If you are still experiencing problems

If the steps above do not help you, do the following:

Make a note of what you did before the problem occurred and any messages displayed.

Email us at support@iora.com

When you email us, you will need to provide the following information:

The serial number of your SoftCD license.

On a SoftCD Publisher computer, you can find the license number by selecting About SoftCD Publisher from the Help menu in the SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager. Then Details.

On a SoftCD Client computer, you can find the license number by displaying the properties of a publication. In the SoftCD Client Publication Manager select a publication title and select Properties from the File menu. In the Properties dialog, click on the License tab.

Note: The license number is entered when you install SoftCD Publisher, or later by using the SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager. Select About SoftCD Publisher from the Help menu. Then select Details and Update License.

What you did before the problem occurred and any messages displayed.

The date and approximate time the problem occurred.

Attach the two log files, ioralog.txt and ioralog.old which may be found in the SoftCD data folder that was specified when SoftCD was installed (this defaults to C:\iOra). As these files can be up to 1MByte in size, we recommend that if you have a program such as PKZIP or WINZIP, you use to it reduce the files before emailing them to us.


Glossary
SoftCD Glossary of terms

A

Amendment

Amended Content

Amendment Date

Amendment File

Amendment Index File

Amendment Link File

Amendment Number

Amendments Folder

Authentication Code

Authentication Code File

B

Base Content

C

D

Download

E

Edition

Enable/Disable Amendments

Enable/Disable Logging

Encryption

Epsilon Factor

F

File extensions

G

H

I

J

K

L

License

M

N

Network Server

New Edition

O

.ora file extension

.ori file extension

.orl file extension

P

Password

Primary Server

Publication

Publication Timeout Period

Publication Timeout Warning Period

Publication Title

Publications Folder

Q

R

Reconfiguration

S

Secondary Server

SoftCD

SoftCD Client

SoftCD Client Publication Manager

SoftCD Publisher

SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager

T

Taskbar icon

U

Update

Updated Content

URL

V

Vault

W

Web Server

X

Y

Z


License
SoftCD may only be used according to the terms and conditions of the license which has been purchased, directly or indirectly, from iOra Ltd and which were agreed at the time of installation.

Each licensed copy of SoftCD Publisher has limitations on the number of publications it may support and the number of client computers on which amendments to the publications may be applied. Each publication has associated with it the license of the SoftCD Publisher that generated it. A client computer may only apply amendments that have been generated within the terms and conditions of the license.

SoftCD can be purchased with or without the encryption facility. Be sure that your license agreement meets your requirements.

The full text of the SoftCD Publisher or SoftCD Client license is available in the online help. See the Contents page of the appropriate help file.


Network Server
A network server is a server computer that can be accessed by means of a file path. It is preferable to access an amendment file or amendment index file from a network server than to download it from a web server. The primary server and/or secondary server can be a network server.


New edition
A new edition of a publication is the second or subsequent publication. It is when you distribute a new physical CD-ROM (or other base media) to your users.

You may want to create a new edition when the number of changes to the original publication is such that the files for it occupy to much disk space on client computers and you want to "start again".

Typically, the new edition is the most recent amended content of the previous edition.

The new edition replaces all the amendments on client computers. Later, the new edition can be amended in the normal way.


Primary server
The primary server is the server that SoftCD tries first when updating a publication with a link file. If the primary server is unavailable, and a secondary server has been defined, SoftCD will try this server instead. Both network servers and web servers can be secondary servers.


Publication
A publication is a collection of files and folders that form a complete set of information that is being kept up-to-date by SoftCD. A publication is normally associated with a CD-ROM but can be any folder on any drive. At any time, a computer may know about a number of publications.

A publication name can include the following characters: a to z, A to Z, 0 to 9, Underscore (_) and dollar ($).


Publication Timeout Period
A publication can be set to timeout after a certain number of days (the publication timeout period). After this period the publication is disabled until a later amendment which has not timed out is applied.


Publication Timeout Warning Period
The Publication Timeout Warning Period is the number of days before a publication is due to time out that users are warned of the timeout.


Publication Title
Each publication has a unique title by which it is known and its amendments can be identified. The publication title is chosen when the first amendment is created. It may not contain spaces or some other punctuation characters. A publication title is limited to 50 characters.


Publications Folder
The publications folder contains the files necessary for SoftCD to work. The SoftCD Publisher and the SoftCD Client use their own publications folder: Therefore, a computer that is both a publisher and a client computer will have two distinct publications folders. These folders are normally in C:\iOra, but may be installed to another disk.

Note: We recommend that you backup the SoftCD publications folders regularly. You can then restore your system if a file or folder is deleted by mistake.


Reconfiguration
Reconfiguration is the process of changing the properties of a publication. The following properties can be amended: amendments folder, download address and the methods used to distribute the publication. Security settings cannot be reconfigured.

Reconfiguration is done through the SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager.


Secondary server
Secondary server is the server that SoftCD tries if the primary server is unavailable. Both network servers and web servers can be secondary servers. Defining a secondary server is optional.


SoftCD
SoftCD is a suite of programs to manage the publication of amendments to the contents of a CD-ROM (or other normally fixed data) so that when you use the updated publication on the client computer, the CD-ROM appears to have been physically updated.

The main components are SoftCD Client and SoftCD Publisher.


SoftCD Client
SoftCD Client is software that runs on the client (often mobile) computer to make the contents of a CD-ROM (or other normally fixed data) appear as if they have been physically updated by the amendment files received.


SoftCD Client Publication Manager
SoftCD Client Publication Manager is software that runs on the client computer to manage all the publications that are known on that computer.

The Publication Manager allows publications to be updated with new amendments. You can also delete the latest amendment for a publication, or all the amendments for the publication using the SoftCD Client Publication Manager. There is also an option to reconfigure a publication that also regenerates broken publications.


SoftCD Publisher
SoftCD Publisher is software that runs on the publisher computer. Using this software, the contents of publications (often CD-ROMs) can be updated. Amendment files, amendment index files and amendment link file are generated for distribution to clients via e-mail, LANs, WANs or the Internet.


SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager
SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager is software that runs on the publisher computer to manage all the publications that have been published from that computer.

The Publication Manager allows new amendments to be generated for publications. You can also delete the latest amendment generated for a publication, or all the amendments for the publication, using the SoftCD Publisher Publication Manager.


Taskbar icon
The SoftCD taskbar icon is a small CD-ROM picture which appears when SoftCD Client is running.

The icon is displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen in the taskbar.

Clicking on the SoftCD taskbar icon with the left mouse button displays a list of the publications in use on your computer. Clicking with the right mouse button displays a pop-up menu.


The publication lifecycle

The way in which SoftCD is used to keep a publication up to date is the same irrespective of the publication size, content or location. This topic describes the publication lifecycle and how SoftCD is used.

1	Distribute original publication

The original information, the base content of the publication is distributed on CD-ROM. One copy is sent to each end-user. This CD-ROM can also contain the SoftCD Client which is installed on to the remote, client computer.

One CD-ROM, or the original information from which the CD-ROM was made remains centrally on a location accessible to the computer running SoftCD Publisher.

2	Generate the first amendment using SoftCD Publisher

When the publication requires updating, the base content of the publication is copied to the SoftCD Publisher computer maintaining the directory structure of the publication. The publication content is edited with new information. These changes can incorporate new files, changes to existing files and even the removal of files from the publication. The edited set of files and directories is the amended content of the publication.

SoftCD Publisher is then run on the publication. It compares the amended content with the base content (the original CD-ROM) and generates the amendment file containing only the differences between them - that is, the changes you edited. Typically, the amendment file is hundreds of times smaller than the full contents of a new CD-ROM would be.

Two other files may be generated depending on how the amendments are going to be distributed: the amendment index file and the amendment link file.

Note: The base content is only required when the first amendment is generated. For subsequent amendments, you do not need the original publication.

3	Distribute amendments and update publication

There are a number of ways to distribute the amendment: Email, using a network server or downloading from a web server. The best method for your organization depends on the way you work. Whichever method you use, updating the publication with the amendment is simply a case of double-clicking on a file. The result is the updated content of the publication.

Every time you now use the publication with SoftCD Client running, you see the updated content. This looks exactly as if you had received a complete new publication.

For more details about distributing amendments, see Different ways to distribute amendments.

4	Further amendments

To keep the publication current, successive amendments can be generated as often as necessary (perhaps daily or weekly). To do this, simply repeat steps 2 and 3 each time. Each amendment has an amendment number so that it is not possible to apply amendments in the incorrect sequence.

Note: No amendment file contains or delivers information already present in the original CD-ROM or in some previous amendment file. Therefore only the absolute minimum information is distributed and stored on each SoftCD Client computer.


URL
A URL (or Uniform Resource Locator) is the path to a file on a Web server. It should start with http:// or ftp://, followed by the name of a web server and the path to the file within the server. Note that URLs are often case sensitive, unlike Windows file paths.


Update
To update a publication on the client computer is to apply an amendment link file (.orl), an amendment index file (.ori) or an amendment file (.ora).

Updating with a amendment link file or an amendment index file applies all the amendments up to the date and time at which the amendment index file was last generated. SoftCD Client remembers the network server path or Web server URL of the last amendment file or amendment index file used to update the publication. The Update Now action on the publication will either access the remembered amendment index file (which may have changed its contents in the meanwhile) or the next amendment file with the next amendment number in sequence.


Updated Content
An updated content of a publication is what you see on the SoftCD Client computer when a publication has been updated with one or more amendments. SoftCD Client makes the CD-ROM or folder containing the base content of a publication appear to contain all the amendments that have been received and applied.


Vault
The vault is a secure way of delivering data to users. Files in the vault are both locked and encrypted. When a file is unlocked by a later amendment, SoftCD Client unencrypts the file making it available to the user.


Web Server
A web server is a server computer that is accessed by a URL. An amendment file or amendment index file is downloaded from a Web server if it cannot be accessed in any other way. (Accessing these files from a network server is preferred to downloading from a web server.) The primary and/or secondary server can be a web server.


What is SoftCD
What is SoftCD?

SoftCD provides the answer to a common problem - how to update information distributed remotely, for example on CD-ROM. If your organization provides information for your staff, clients, or partners to use on their own computers, you can now keep this information up-to-date simply and cost effectively.

The traditional solution of providing the updated information on a server and retrieving the information from there is slow because of the speed of sending large files across a company network or WAN, or downloading from the Internet. SoftCD is very efficient at handling large files, especially those including multi-media, graphics or large read-only databases because it just sends the changed parts, the amendments, not the complete file. Typically, this is a small percentage of the total information.

An important feature of SoftCD Client is that the updated CD-ROM is seen by all applications. Any program, whether standard or specialist, accesses the updated data as though it is reading the original CD-ROM. No changes to applications or operating procedures are required to take advantage of SoftCD’s updates.

Two components

SoftCD has two components: SoftCD Publisher which generates the amendment files, amendment link files and amendment index files and SoftCD Client which runs on each remote computer and merges the amendments with the original publication.

Typically a publication is the contents of a CD-ROM. However, it can just as easily be one directory or folder with any number of subdirectories or folders, and these can be stored on a CD-ROM or hard disk.

Using Epsilon replication technology

SoftCD Publisher uses the latest Epsilon replication technology to reduce the amount of information in an amendment file. This is achieved in three ways:

1	SoftCD Publisher identifies the files that have been changed or added since the publication was last amended and works with only these. Deleted files are marked for deletion.

2	Within the modified files, SoftCD Publisher recognizes and selects only the new or replaced blocks of data.

3	These changes from the modified files and any new files are compressed and used to generate the amendment file.

The combined effect of these three steps can result in an amendment file being several hundred if not a thousand times smaller than the complete publication (of course, this depends how much the publication has been changed). The ratio of sizes is called the epsilon factor.

Data security

Even sensitive information can be delivered to users with SoftCD.

SoftCD uses encryption technology to encrypt some or all of a publication. The encrypted files can be unencrypted in one step or in a number of stages.

Additionally, passwords can be used to ensure that only bone fide users can access data. The passwords can be changed with each amendment for extra security.

The use of a publication can be limited to authenticated machines using authentication codes. This prevents users from copying publications from one machine to another.

Publications can timeout so that they have a limited lifespan. This lifespan can be extended by applying later amendments. Timeouts can be applied to both unencrypted and encrypted publications.


authentication code file
The authentication code file holds the information needed by the authentication utility to generate authentication codes. If a publication uses authenticated machine security, an authentication code is required to unlock the publication for unencrypting.


ora file extension
The .ora file extension is used for amendment files.

Each time SoftCD Publisher runs, it constructs an amendment file for the publication. The amendment file has a name of the form <publication title>-<amendment number>.ora.


ori file extension
The .ori file extension is used for amendment index files.

The amendment index file of a publication has a name of the form <publication title>.ori.


orl file extension
The .orl file extension is used for amendment link files.

The amendment link file of a publication has a name of the form <publication title>.orl.


password
A password can be applied to an amendment or to the vault. It acts as an additional key to unlock the vault or amendment.