Problem with Reviewing Topics - not Active Directory email

[helen]

Flare 4.0 + Outlook 2007 + XP + Email that's not Active Directory =

My email does not 'use' Active Directory (it is hosted off site), but Flare refuses to let me get access to the "Outgoing SMTP box". As soon as I click "Setup mail" or "Send" it tries to connect using Active Directory and of course it can't.

If Flare would give me half a chance I'd tell it where to look - but the "Cancel" button doesn't work - nor does the "x". The memory then pours forth until either I kill Flare or Flare kills itself.

I've already submitted a request for support as this is clearly a bug, but is anyone else in the same boat? I just want to manually set my mail settings up, that's all.

[Richard Ferrell]

Flare and X-Edit currently only work with Active Directory. This should be corrected in a future version of Flare.


UPDATE! See this message

http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... 803#p38803

[RamonS]

Huh? That seems to be a blatant omission. Not everyone is a Microsoft only shop. There are people who use other products or want innovative technology. I am sure that the majority has no AD-email connection, but plain, simple, and reliable mail servers using established protocols.

[KevinDAmery]

I would hope there would be a patch sooner than that so that the cancel button actually works....

[KevinDAmery]

Huh? That seems to be a blatant omission. Not everyone is a Microsoft only shop. There are people who use other products or want innovative technology. I am sure that the majority has no AD-email connection, but plain, simple, and reliable mail servers using established protocols.

I'll agree with you there. But to me the worse thing is, Helen says that if she tries to exit the dialog it won't release. That's really unfriendly (what if someone does have AD but they don't know all of the details to enter in the dialog box at this time? Are they supposed to keep Flare tied up until IT can get back to them with the details?)

[RamonS]

Another case of developer arrogance. Screw the user and have support deal with it. Sometimes I wonder why developers are the best paid employees of a software company.

[helen]

I am astounded, I really am. What a let down. Not only does it not work, but it crashes Flare trying.

Well, I can hardly wait to break this one to the boss, he's not going to be pleased and I can't blame him.

[helen]

Huh? That seems to be a blatant omission. Not everyone is a Microsoft only shop. There are people who use other products or want innovative technology. I am sure that the majority has no AD-email connection, but plain, simple, and reliable mail servers using established protocols.

I'll agree with you there. But to me the worse thing is, Helen says that if she tries to exit the dialog it won't release. That's really unfriendly (what if someone does have AD but they don't know all of the details to enter in the dialog box at this time? Are they supposed to keep Flare tied up until IT can get back to them with the details?)

Yep, the Cancel button does absolutely nothing. It's happening to another user already I see: http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =13&t=7011

[Paul Griffiths]

Suggestion to MadCap: Since the Flare 4.0 honeymoon period seems to be over already, how about a (quick?) fix that would at least allow us to save topic files in .fltrev format for our X-Edit reviewers?

Suggestion to Fellow Users: Has anyone looked inside a .fltrev file to see what makes it "reviewable"?

Or is it not that simple?

[Richard Ferrell]

Sorry for the Earlier post, I stand Corrected, Active Directory is not required, Flare assumes that you have an Exchange server setup, and will look for it, but if it can not find it then it will ask you for your mail server name. and you fill this out.

[RamonS]

But isn't that exactly what doesn't happen?

[Richard Ferrell]

If they are still having problems, Please open a support ticket

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/support/contact.aspx

[helen]

If they are still having problems, Please open a support ticket

https://www.madcapsoftware.com/support/contact.aspx

I have, no reply as yet. Would you like me to send another one? I should have two open, this one and one about numbering in Flare 4.0 (possible bug). Edit, checked my email, I *think* it's case 6799, if that helps! I'd love to be able to get this problem sorted, I really would.

[Var]

Hi Helen,

We have received your case, please do not open another case. We understand your urgency and are doing our best to answer all cases as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, we are getting quite a few inquiries . So I want to ask everyone to be patient with us during the next few days. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Helen -since you have platinum support - please do feel free to call in if you want to get an immediate answer (although I know it is really late for you).

Thanks for your patience and understanding,

Var Galpchian

[helen]

Hi Helen,

We have received your case, please do not open another case. We understand your urgency and are doing our best to answer all cases as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, we are getting quite a few inquiries . So I want to ask everyone to be patient with us during the next few days. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Helen -since you have platinum support - please do feel free to call in if you want to get an immediate answer (although I know it is really late for you).

Thanks for your patience and understanding,

Var Galpchian

Thanks, I did think you'd be busy, I know I have two cases in. I've put it on the back burner for now but I'm happy to hear that all might not be lost for me and I might be able to send topics for review at some point in the future. Thanks for the offer but I won't call, our time zones don't really tie up as you know!

[Var]

We have both cases and we will get back to you today before our close of business

We are getting good inquiries, which is to be expected during major releases!

Thanks for the patience,

Var

[helen]

Ahh great support! Thank you very much! I've replied to your emails.

[KevinDAmery]

That's Madcap in a nutshell - sometimes they do ill-advised things, but when you point it out to them they put in a huge amount of effort to make it right.

[helen]

Absolutely. Issue one is a bug in 4.0 which I just happened to stumble across very early on and issue two has been resolved with some tinkering. Phew!

[Steve_SCL]

Flare 4.0 + Outlook 2007 + XP + Email that's not Active Directory =

My email does not 'use' Active Directory (it is hosted off site), but Flare refuses to let me get access to the "Outgoing SMTP box". As soon as I click "Setup mail" or "Send" it tries to connect using Active Directory and of course it can't.

If Flare would give me half a chance I'd tell it where to look - but the "Cancel" button doesn't work - nor does the "x". The memory then pours forth until either I kill Flare or Flare kills itself.
...

I have exactly the same issue. I have just downloaded X-Edit to use the review tools, but I have exactly the same problem that Helen describes.
I can see the recent comments here about great support, so there doesn't seem to be any point in opening another case.
Is there a fix I can apply for this problem?

[RamonS]

You should open another case mainly for two reasons:
a) MadCap will get a better picture of how many customers are affected
b) MadCap has a chance to send you a message when there is a fix or workaround

[Steve_SCL]

Hmm, I've tried to submit a new case, but I can't find my maintenance key. I did submit a case last month but have no idea how I succeeded.
So, if I don't buy a maintenance contract I can't get the fix for a bug in a fully licenced product? That can't be right can it?

Is there a workaround you are allowed to tell us about which allows your customers to use the product they have bought?

[KevinDAmery]

Contact Madcap sales and / or support using the same email address you corresponded with them previously. They're good about resending you the key codes.

[helen]

Have you seen this thread Steve? http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =13&t=7011

There's a resolution there but it depends on your set up. Some are still having problems.

[Steve_SCL]

Helen,
Thank you. No I had not seen that thread. When I found your description of the fix I didn't understand it but I showed it to our Technical guru.

He added my email address to my user profile and hey presto! It works.

That is, I got to the interactive dialogue when trying to send a module for review. Then I could add the email server address, and then it worked.

The whole email review process is a great feature for Flare/Blaze, but I still think:

1. Flare should not go instantly into an unbreakable loop simply because it assumes Active Directory has been configured perfectly. It's not hard for a programmer to correct that, so why has it been allowed to roll on from earlier versions? To my mind, it should be a showstopper bug.

2. The solution should be described in the documentation/help files where they talk about setting up the review interface. It is part of how to configure the feature.