A helpful tip for troubleshooting IIS

The extended logs for IIS (stored in ..\Windows\System32\Logfiles\W3SVC1\) are stored in GMT time by default which can make finding your issue a little bit harder. Here's a simple way to change it to your local time.

The W3C Extended Logging format spec requires logging in GMT time. You can set the log roll-over to occur at midnight local time if you want. This avoids problems with situations like Daylight Savings, where you log goes "backwards in time" by an hour.

To enable logfile rollover based on local time, not GMT, open the IIS Manager, locate your website, rightclick and choose "Properties". On the "Web Site" tab, click "Properties" next to logging. Then check "Use local time for filename and rollover"

Updating fields with a Script Expressions

I've found this line of code invaluable when Quick Actions and Business Rules just won't work for you

currentBusinessObject.GetField("FieldName").SetValue(new Fusion.FusionValue(VariableName));

It writes the variable VariableName to the field FieldName in the current business object. You can also replace VariableName variable with a value of any type (obviously in the format "String")

ITSM: Quick Action Security in Web

In the 6.x systems you now have the ability to secure quick actions (by security group) this means that you can create a quick action that only some users can A. Run B. Edit C. Delete rather than specifying this for All quick actions.

The issues here is that in 6.2 and 6.1.4 and below the security does not work in the web client.

However, restricting Quick Actions does work in ITSM 6.1.5 since ITSM 6.2 is in older code build than ITSM 6.1.5. ITSM 6.2 and ITSM 6.1.5 codes builds will be merged in ITSM 6.3.

ITSM: The Perils of Hiding Tabs

I discovered this in the web 6.2 today and it reminded me of an issue with tabs in the full client.

In some versions of 5.x there was an issue that disabled all of the tabs from working. The issue comes from making the FIRST tab in the layout of an object hidden or conditionally hidden. This issue is fixed in 6.2 (or 6.1.2 or later) in the Full Client but the issue still exists in the web client.

The error is not too easy to spot in the web client, the first indication is that you can't navigate to any tab other than the first displayed tab. Secondly there is an yellow error next to "Done" in the web browser. The error details are "Unterminated String Constant".

The simple (and only fix) is to make the initial tab in the layout always visible. Either swap it with another Tab or change the Visibility rule.

ITSM 6.1.x Tip for the Week : Errors with DTC Setup

"Exception of Type 'Fusion:FusionException' was thrown. The partner transaction manager has disabled its support for remote/network transactions."
Last week I came across this error when setting up a connect (and also using the application). ITSM (or GMEE) will still allow you to create the connection and connect to the application server but will through this error and prevent saving of the object if you have the BPML engine running.

The issue is with the security setup of the Microsoft DTC service on both the ITSM and SQL Servers. There is a very helpful article from technet about 'New functionality in the Distributed Transaction Coordinator service in Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and in Windows XP Service Pack 2'

This outlines the settings that need to be enabled to allow the ITSM and SQL servers to communicate.