[WEB4LIB] bug with IE5 upgrades and PDF files

[Bouchard, Kerry]

	Problems with PDF files seem to have reached a critical mass at our
site this semester as well.  In desperation, I just posted some info for our
users at: http://libnt1.is.tcu.edu/www/ereserve/acrobat_problems.htm.  It
sounds like the second problem described might address your issue; if not,
and you discover that it's something else, please let me know!

Thanks,

Kerry Bouchard
Asst. University Librarian for Automated Systems
Mary Couts Burnett Library, TCU


-----Original Message-----
From: Wes Edens [mailto:EDENSW at t-bird.edu]
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2000 4:02 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] bug with IE5 upgrades and PDF files


I apologize if this has been brought up before...I scanned through the
archives for the past several months and didn't see it.

We're having trouble with some databases that use PDF files.  Not all
databases--for example, no problem with Political Risk Yearbook Online.  No
problem with Investext Research Bank Web, but when we switched to the
Searchbank platform for Investext,  trouble.  This also happens with
ProQuest Direct.   Adobe never launches, and sometimes we get a message that
refers us to look at the Microsoft Active X gallery.
>From a copied email (sorry, I don't have the list or website this comes
from) a user in the UK found a local fix, which I'll lay out below.
**However, my question is this:  does anyone know what's happening at the
vendor side and is there anything we should tell them to do?**

Here's the fix that works for us, from Julian Thornhill:

"..[in a] 'typical' IE5 upgrade, all of the IE5 stuff seems to end up in the
winnt directory...You don't get a subdirectory 'plugins'.   However, as we
shall see, this is of use...I uninstalled IE5 and did a fresh install,
stating a specific installation directory.  This gave me a plugin sub-dir,
which was empty.  Now comes the magic: 
Copy nppdf32.dll from your Acrobat installation directory and put it in this
new empty plugin dir.  After this Acrobat will launch when you click on the
previous broken link.
Don't ask me to explain why any of this works."

I won't ask, but I'd really like to tell ProQuest and Gale Group what to do
on their end, since we have hundreds of students and faculty members who
won't be able to complete this fix on their laptop, and we can't go to all
of them around the world.

Thanks very much.


Wes Edens
Electronic Resources Librarian
Int'l Business Information Centre
Am. Grad. School of Int'l Mgt. (Thunderbird)
Glendale, AZ
(602) 978 7897
Fax:  (602) 978 7407
edensw at t-bird.edu