Deployment Guide – netDocShare app for SharePoint Server 2013

Introduction

This deployment guide assumes that the end user has the appropriate level of permissions to access and add/remove solution (.wsp files) from the root site collection. If you do not have these levels of permissions, please contact your farm administrator and ask for Root site collection Administrator access. Please also make sure that Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service is enabled and running on the server. Please see our pre-requisite documentation for more info.

This guide is meant to cover the deployment process of the netDocShare Visual WebParts Solution, specifically for designed for SharePoint 2013 On-Premises. If you would like further assistance with using and configuring the individual WebParts, please see our documentation entitled “netDocShare WebParts – Power User Guide”.

Note: netDocShare Visual WebParts are not compatible with SharePoint Online or SharePoint On-Prem 2016 and later. We provide a more up to date SPFx (SharePoint Framework) package for these environments. Site Collection Libraries MUST be able to host JSON and js files or else deployment will fail. Any security measures that block Popups or iFrames must be turned off as our authentication uses these resources.

Supported Browsers

Supported Browsers:

Microsoft Edge
Google Chrome (latest released version)
Mozilla Firefox (latest released version plus immediate previous version)
Apple Safari (latest released version)
Internet Explorer 11 (limited support only. IE11 Protected Mode is not supported)

Not Supported Browsers:

Internet Explorer 10
Internet Explorer 9
Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 6

Note: Please ensure that both your site collection and Farm server are using HTTPS to serve site collection pages and also retrieve content from the server. If there is a discrepancy between HTTP and HTTPS, our webpart asset retrieval will not work as the network requests will be blocked by default.

Farm Solution vs Sandbox Solution

We offer two different solution types for our deployment: a farm solution and a sandbox solution. There is no difference in the functionality of the two solutions; The main difference lies in how and where our app will be deployed.

Farm solution will deploy our code assets to the file system of the server that it is deployed on. A typical deploy location may look something like this:

https://{your-SharePoint-Tenant}/_layouts/15/netDocShareFarm/assets/images/folderIcons

You may recognize the _layouts designation which will be the source of the app code. From there it will be deployed across all the site collections that you need to use it through the SharePoint Central Administration deployment process.

In contrast, the sandbox solution will deploy assets to a direct location inside a SharePoint library of the site collection you plan to use netDocShare. The deploy location will look something like this:

https://{your-SharePoint-Tenant}/SiteAssets/netDocShare/CDN/assets/images/folderIcons/

We generally recommend using the Farm Solution as it avoids many permission-related issues during usage. For example, users will require permission to view the site collection where netDocShare is deployed but will ALSO need permission to access the library where our SiteAssets are deployed. The farm solution does not require additional permission as the Assets are loaded from a _layouts directory.

Deploying the Solution to your Site Collection

Farm Solution

Our Visual Webpart solution is to be deployed using the SharePoint Management Shell. Simply navigate to the location where our netDocShareFarm.wsp file and Install.ps1 file are located.

Firstly, please edit the install.ps1 file which specifies the absolute path where the WSP file can be found. Replace the path with your own. Run the install.ps1 file and this will deploy and activate the solution. Now, open up SharePoint Central Administration where you can view and confirm the deployment. Navigate to Site Settings > Site Collection Features where you can see the netDocShare feature that has been deployed. You must activate the feature on all site collections where you would like to use netDocShare. After the feature has been activated, the process of adding / removing webparts should be the same across both solution types.

Sandbox Solution

Our Visual Webpart solution is to be deployed via the Solution manager in the site collection where you are aiming to load the webparts. Once you are logged in as an Admin user (must have permission to deploy and activate solution files), navigate to the Site Settings page of the site collection. Click on Solutions as indicated below.

You can navigate to the Site Settings page by clicking the Cog icon at the top right-hand corner of the browser

On the solution page, you will see the option to “Upload Solution” in the top left part of the ribbon. Please click this and navigate to where our netDocShare.wsp file is located on your system. When the upload completes, you will receive a dialog where you can “Activate” the solution. Please click activate to automatically activate all the Webpart features.

Now, netDocShare has been deployed. You will be able to create a new page in this site collection and add a netDocShare webpart. Once deployment is complete, the process of adding / removing webparts should be the same across both solution types.

Licensing Note

Once the deploy is successful, please navigate to the location specified below where the app assets are deployed. Take the netDocShareLicenseKey.txt file provided and simply drop the file into this location. This should now enable your netDocShare license with the specific features you have requested. For more information on licensing, please consult our Power User Guide.

As Farm Solutions deploy to the server file system, this may differ depending on the version of Sharepoint and the server but generally your path will resemble the following:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server
Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\netDocShareFarm\assets\images\folderIcons

Note: Site Collection Libraries MUST be able to host JSON and JS files or else deployment will fail.

Note: Our Authentication uses iFrame popups by default. Any security measures that block Popups or iFrames must be turned off as our authentication uses these resources. However, if this is an issue, we do have a configuration option that can change the redirect behavior to full-page redirect instead of popup. Please see our “Power User Guide” in the Authentication section for more information.

Adding the WebParts

Navigate to the page where you want to add the webpart and click “Edit”.

This can be found under the cog icon in the top right-hand corner of the browser.

Click within the box you would like to add the webpart to and click “Insert” and “Web Part”.

netDocShare WebParts should appear under the “NetDocuments Webparts” folder in the list of categories as shown below.

For the farm solution, the folder should be named “netDocShare”

Once you have chosen the webpart, click add and you should be able to see it appear on your page. By default, it should show the message “Please input your NetDocuments Configuration Object”.

To read more about using and configuring webparts, please see our guide entitled “netDocShare WebParts - Power User Guide”

Note: Make sure that the page created for the webpart is specifically a “webpart page” instead of “wiki page,” which is the default option. Clicking “new” to create a new page will default to wiki page. Using wiki pages to host webparts may yield some unintended issues which we cannot control.

Note for Farm Solution: You may notice that the farm Solution has less types of webparts compared to the Sandbox solution. The farm solution has only 3 webpart types while the Sandbox solution may have 4-6. However, the farm solution is not missing any features.

In the Farm solution, we have consolidated all viewer webparts into a universal viewer that can be converted to any other view such as Treeview or RecentDocs view. Simply change

CollabSpaces: Sharing content with external users

Our webparts support the usage of CollabSpaces from NetDocuments.com. CollabSpaces are like workspaces and ShareSpaces; The major difference is that CollabSpaces can allow users external to netdocuments to have access to the documents inside the CollabSpace.

CollabSpaces can be displayed in normal or treeview using the “primarySource” value in the configs and inputting the ID and using “collabspace” as type. You can read more about this in the documentation named “netDocShare Webparts – Power User Guide”. To give access to external users, a few SharePoint-based permission tasks need to be done.

Firstly, the external user must be added to the group that the CollabSpace is shared with on netdocuments.com. This will send an email to the user and allow them access the netdocuments website through a special external user login.
In order to view the content on SharePoint, the user must first be added to the site collection where the webpart is located.
Finally, the external user must ALSO be added to the App Catalog site collection where the App is deployed. This is because they need permission for our code (retrieved from that location)

Upon giving the correct permissions, external users will have access to a specific webpart where they can see and interact with CollabSpace contents. The external users should be locked out of every other view except for the CollabSpace that we have allowed them to view. If the external user is removed from the group, they will continue to have access to the CollabSpace until their access token expires, which should generally be 30-40 minutes.

Updating your Deployment Package

Occasionally, we may provide an update package that improves functionality or adds new features to the netDocShare product. In this case, users will need to re-deploy their solution file (WSP) using the same steps as deploying it for the first time. Note that this process should not disturb webparts that have already been set up using our previous build. However, if you are switching between our Sandbox and Farm solution, this will, unfortunately, render your previous webparts non-operational.

Please be aware that there may be invisible webparts on existing page webpart pages. These invisible web parts are created when a user does not finish the set-up process of a new webpart. This may cause authorization issues because invisible webparts are also loading code. You can delete these webparts by navigating to Site contents → Site Pages → and click on the page that you wish to check. Once there, go to properties, and click the link “open webpart page in maintenance view”.

Sandbox Solution

Navigate to Site Settings > Solutions page as you have during the initial deploy. Simply deactivate and then delete the previous .wsp file from your list of deployed solutions. Then, upload the newest WSP file that we have provided. Please be sure to click activate when the option is available. No other action needs to be taken.

Note: Site Collection Libraries MUST be able to host JSON and js files or else deployment will fail. Any security measures that block Popups or iFrames must be turned off as our authentication uses these resources.

Farm Solution

Open SharePoint Central Administration and navigate to Site Settings > Manage Farm Solutions on this server. On this page you will see a list of all installed solution files. Select netDocShare and you will be able to see an option to “Retract” the solution. Once you confirm the retraction, you may have to wait several minutes depending on how many site collections that it has been applied to. Once it is confirmed that the solution was successfully retracted, then you will have the option to delete it.

Now, you can follow the same steps for deploying a farm solution earlier in this document to deploy the updated files.

New Authentication introduced in v2.4.1

Starting from version 2.4.1, we are introducing a new method of authentication which will make it easier for both administrators and users to authenticate with the NetDocuments API. As mentioned above, we have taken steps to ensure that webparts using the previous system are NOT affected.

The major change includes the removal of reliance on having an auth page created on your SharePoint site collection. For the foreseeable future, you may continue to use the auth-page-based authentication system but please be aware that a much easier system can be implemented with minimal time and complexity. Please see the new authentication section in our Power user guide for more information.

END-USER netDocShare LICENSE AGREEMENT

This is a Legally binding agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and KLoBot, Inc. (“KLoBot”) for the “netDocShare” Software and associated media and printed materials, and many include online or electronic documentation for netDocShare Software Product or netDocShare Software (collectively “netDocShare”). By installing, copying or otherwise using netDocShare, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement, including netDocShare license and disclaimer of netDocShare software warranty below. Please read this document carefully before using netDocShare. If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this agreement you should not install or use netDocShare.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE; netDocShare USE RESTRICTIONS.
In consideration for your payment of any applicable license fee for netDocShare, KLoBot hereby grants to you a personal, non-transferable (except as expressly provided in Section 4 below) and non-exclusive right to use and execute netDocShare on a single Microsoft Office 365 SharePoint Online Tenant or Microsoft SharePoint on-premises farm (collectively “tenant”), without right to sublicense netDocShare. Under no circumstance may you store, use or allow the use of netDocShare in any manner on more than one tenant at a time. You agree that you will not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of netDocShare. If you dispose of any media or apparatus containing netDocShare, you will ensure that you have completely erased or otherwise destroyed any netDocShare contained on such media or stored in such apparatus. Except as expressly provided in Section 4 below, you may not distribute, lease, transfer for profit, loan or otherwise convey netDocShare or any portion thereof to anyone.

2. COPYING RESTRICTIONS.
In order to effect your license rights hereunder, you may install netDocShare by copying it onto the tenant for use thereon, and you may make full or partial copies of netDocShare, but only as necessary for backup or archival purposes. You agree that

(i) your use and possession of such copies shall be solely under the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and

(ii) you shall place the same proprietary and copyright notices and legends on all such copies as included by KLoBot on the authorized copy of netDocShare that you downloaded from the netDocShare web site.

3. OWNERSHIP OF netDocShare AND MEDIA.
You agree and acknowledge that KLoBot transfers no ownership interest in netDocShare, in the intellectual property in any netDocShare or in any netDocShare copy, to you under this Agreement or otherwise, and that KLoBot and its licensors reserve all rights not expressly granted to you hereunder. After you pay any applicable license fees and/or the purchase price of the applicable KLoBot, you will own the media on which netDocShare was originally provided to you hereunder and on which you subsequently copy netDocShare, but KLoBot and its licensors shall retain ownership of all netDocShare and copies of netDocShare or portions thereof embodied in or on such media.

4. TRANSFER RESTRICTIONS.
If you transfer ownership of netDocShare you may transfer netDocShare and all licenses and rights in netDocShare granted to you under this Agreement to the transferee provided that:

(i) such transferee agrees in writing to accept the terms and conditions of this Agreement, and

(ii) you also transfer all netDocShare, including all copies thereof, to such transferee. Except as provided in this Section, you may not sublicense, transfer or assign this Agreement or any of your rights or obligations under this agreement, in whole or in part.

5. U.S. GOVERNMENT USERS.
If netDocShare is acquired by or on behalf of an entity of government of the United States of America, the following provision applies: U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND. Use, duplication or disclosure of SOFTWARE by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227.19( c)(2) or subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer SOFTWARE clause at DFARS 252.227.7013 and/or in similar or successor clauses in the FAR or the DOD or NASA FAR Supplement. Unpublished rights reserved under the Copyright Laws of the United States. Contractor/manufacturer is KLoBot, Inc.

6. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS.
The software is exported from the United States in accordance with the Export Administration Regulations. Diversion contrary to U.S. law is prohibited. You agree that you will not:

(i) export or re-export the software, directly or indirectly, to Iran, Syria, Sudan, Cuba or North Korea; or

(ii) release the software to a person on the denied persons list, unverified list, entity list, specially designated nationals list, debarred list or nonproliferation sanctions list (see http://www.bis.doc.gov/complianceandenforcement/liststocheck.htm ). The foregoing obligations will apply to you unless the Office of Export Licensing of the U.S. Department of Commerce has granted authorization to you in writing for the export or re-export of the software. Your obligations under this section shall survive any termination of this Agreement.

7. ENFORCEMENT OF TERMS; TERMINATION.
If you fail to fulfill any of your material obligations under this Agreement, KLoBot and/or its licensors may pursue all available legal remedies to enforce this Agreement, and KLoBot may, at any time after your default of this Agreement, terminate this Agreement and all licenses and rights granted to you under this Agreement. You agree that KLoBot licensors referenced in netDocShare are third-party beneficiaries of this Agreement and may enforce this Agreement as it relates to their intellectual property. You further agree that, if KLoBot terminates this Agreement for your default, you will, within thirty (30) days after any such termination, deliver to KLoBot or render unusable all netDocShare originally provided to you hereunder and any copies thereof embodied in any medium.

8. DISCLAIMER OF SOFTWARE WARRANTY.
KLoBot PROVIDES netDocShare TO YOU AS IS AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY ANY KLoBot EMPLOYEE, REPRESENTATIVE OR DISTRIBUTOR WILL CREATE A WARRANTY FOR THE netDocShare, AND YOU MAY NOT RELY ON ANY SUCH INFORMATION OR ADVICE.

9. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION.
If any third party brings a suit against you that is based on a claim that netDocShare, solely as furnished to you under this Agreement, constitutes direct infringement of any patent issued by, or copyright registered in, the United states, KLoBot shall defend such suit or proceeding and shall pay any damages and costs finally awarded therein against you with respect to such matter, provided that you promptly inform KLoBot of any such claim, furnish KLoBot with a copy of each communication, notice or other action relating to the alleged infringement and give KLoBot the authority, information and assistance necessary to settle, compromise or litigate such suit or proceeding. Following notice of a claim or a threatened or actual suit, KLoBot may, without obligation to do so, at KLoBot sole option:

(a) procure for you the right to continue to use netDocShare as furnished,

(b) replace or modify netDocShare to make it non-infringing, or

(c) discontinue your license for netDocShare and refund to you any license fee that you paid for it, less a reasonable value for use, determined by prorating such license fee on the basis of a thirty-six (36) month straight line depreciation method, applied to the period of actual use.

KLoBot shall not be obligated to defend or be liable for costs and damages if the infringement or claim thereof arises out of:

(i) use or combination of netDocShare with products or data not provided by KLoBot,

(ii) use of other than the latest unmodified release of netDocShare made available to you by KLoBot if such infringement would have been avoided by the use of such release of netDocShare,

(iii) modification of netDocShare by anyone by KLoBot,

(iv) use of netDocShare after receiving notice, or having reason to believe, that netDocShare infringes a patent or copyright of a third party, or

(v) a claim based on any portion of the Windows(r) software that may be included with netDocShare.

THE FOREGOING STATES YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY AND KLoBot ENTIRE LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT OR COPYRIGHT BY netDocShare, AND KLoBot SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO ANY OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT.

10. GOVERNING LAW.
This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with New Jersey law, excluding its choice of law rules.

11. TECHNICAL SUPPORT TERMS.

Definitions.As used herein the following capitalized terms have the meanings set forth below:

“Correction” means, without limitation, a workaround, maintenance release, patch and/or documentation change, as KLoBot deems appropriate.
“Defect” means a material failure of netDocShare to operate substantially in accordance with the applicable user guides and reference manuals.
“Update” means a maintenance or minor release of netDocShare that provides corrections or performance improvements, is designated by KLoBot as an Update and is generally made available to all KLoBot technical support customers.
“Upgrade” means a major release of netDocShare that provides new features or functional enhancement, is designated by KLoBot as an Upgrade and is generally made available to KLoBot Premium technical support customers.

Technical Support.

During any 12/24/36-month support period for which you have pre-paid the required premium support payment, KLoBot will provide you:

Notification, if you have requested to be notified, when Updates are available for downloading from netDocShare website at www.netdocshare.com ;
Notification, if you have requested to be notified, when Upgrades are available for downloading from KLoBot’ website; and
Access to My netDocShare Support Portal on KLoBot’ website through which you may:

- Download Updates when commercially available;
- Download Upgrades (Premium technical support customers only) when commercially available;
- Report Defects in netDocShare and obtain Corrections as described herein and in accordance with the types of response and timing referenced on KLoBot’ website;
- Request General advice on implementation, operation, functionality and use of netDocShare as described on KLoBot’ website;
- Participate in community forums, review KLoBot’ extensive knowledge base and obtain usage tips and other useful information regarding netDocShare, including up-to-date information on current releases, product compatibility, restrictions, enhancements, workarounds and fixes; and
- Access on-line documentation regarding netDocShare, including application notes that include installation instructions, release notes and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Defect Correction.

When you report a suspected Defect in netDocShare to KLoBot using its My netDocShare Support Portal, KLoBot will attempt, based upon information provided by you, to recreate the suspected Defect. If the Defect is confirmed, KLoBot will use commercially reasonable efforts, given the nature and scope of the Defect, to make available to you through the My netDocShare Support Portal a Correction in accordance with the guidelines set forth on KLoBot’ website. KLoBot will make available to Premium technical support customers live chat, telephone call back and live meeting support as appropriate and warranted to confirm Defects and develop Corrections.
KLoBot will not be responsible for correcting Defects in any release of netDocShare other than the most recent release of netDocShare, provided that KLoBot shall continue to support the prior release superseded by recent release for a reasonable period sufficient to allow Premium technical support customers to implement the newest release or until the end of the current non-Premium technical support period.
You agree to implement within a reasonable time all Corrections provided by KLoBot hereunder.

Limitations.

KLoBot will not be obligated to provide technical support relating to problems, errors or malfunctions caused by

malfunction of the computer system and communications network on which you have installed and are using netDocShare,
other software installed in the same SharePoint environment not licensed pursuant to this Agreement,
any use of netDocShare in disregard of any known adverse consequences, including without limitation the failure of user to make appropriate backups, warning messages, and other written instructions,
any modification to netDocShare not authorized by KLoBot,
Mainstream Support of a given SharePoint Platform has been retired by Microsoft, or
any other cause not attributable to KLoBot.

Renewal of Support.

KLoBot provides the first year of basic technical support for no additional charge. Unless renewed in accordance herewith, basic technical support will cease on the last day of the 12-month support period that commenced upon the effective date of netDocShare license.
For an additional fee, you may obtain Premium technical support. Unless renewed in accordance herewith, Premium technical support will cease on the last day of the support period for which you have paid the additional Premium technical support fee.
Support fees for additional support periods must be paid in advance on or prior to last day of the support period for which you have paid the required support fee.
Approximately forty-five (45) days prior to the termination of the then current support period, KLoBot will invoice you for renewal of technical support. The support fee due for the next support period shall be KLoBot’ then current applicable list price for renewal of technical support as of the date of invoice.
KLoBot reserves the right to withdraw technical support of netDocShare, and to alter the prices, terms and conditions for technical support in advance of any renewal of support. Any such withdrawal or alterations will become effective as of such renewal date.

Reinstatement of Support.

If you allow technical support to expire, in order to reinstate support of netDocShare, you may be required to pay to KLoBot a reinstatement support fee, the then current annual support fee, and, If you are not licensing the then current release of netDocShare, an upgrade license fee for the current release of netDocShare.
Required Identifier.

In order to access My netDocShare Support Portal you must provide the identifier issued to you when you licensed netDocShare. Upon entry of such identifier access will be granted if you have paid in full the required maintenance fee.
Termination of Technical Support.

Notwithstanding Section 4 above, resale, assignment, or transfer of the technical support provided by KLoBot is strictly prohibited and will be grounds for termination of the technical support.

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