Installation of OWA For PDA / OWA For WAP

This guide describes the installation of the OWA For PDA and the OWA For WAP products from www.leederbyshire.com .

Wherever a name is specified (such as a folder name, or a Virtual Directory name), then the name given as an example will be the name used as if you were installing OWA For PDA. If you are installing OWA For WAP, then you would replace the word 'PDA' with the word 'WAP'.

If you are installing both products on the same server, then each requires its own file folder and Virtual Directory. If you are installing one of the products onto a server where the other product already exists, then you do not need to create the registry entries, or configure any user access permissions, since this will already have been done when the first product was being installed.

Requirements:

Windows Server running MS Outlook Web Access 5.5, or
Windows Server running MS Exchange 2000 or 2003, or

Windows Server running MS Outlook Web Access 5.5

OWA For PDA / WAP require ASP and CDO support. If you are running any Windows Server with Outlook Web Access 5.5, then all requirements are met, and OWA For PDA / WAP installation is as described below in the 'Installation' section.

Windows Server running MS Exchange 2000 or 2003

With Exchange 2000 / 2003 there are a number of extra configuration tasks you will need to complete that would normally be done during the installation of OWA 5.5. You can do these either before, or after, the procedure described in the 'Installation' section:

You will need to give the 'Everyone' group the 'Log On Locally' right in the Windows 2000 / 2003 'Local Security Policy' Control Panel applet, or in the 'Domain Controller Security Policy' applet for an Active Directory Domain Controller.

Also, MS Exchange CDO will attempt to store temporary .mmp files in C:\WINNT unless another directory is specified as a string value in the registry key;

  HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Messaging Subsystem\ProfileDirectory

If you do not make this modification, only Administrators will be able to open their mailboxes. Since you need to modify the registry, you need to back it up, and proceed with extreme caution. There are three stages.:

1. Create a directory, for example C:\WebTemp , using Windows Explorer. Make sure that the 'Everyone' Domain group has at least change permissions on the directory.

2. Create a string type registry key at the HKLM location specified above. Set its value equal to the name of the directory you created in step 1. An OWA-PDA-W2K.reg file to help create this entry is included in the OWA For PDA / WAP package. It contains the directory name C:\WebTemp. Just double-click the file if you want to use this directory. You can edit it if you want to use a different directory. Please note that if you are editing a .reg file to specify a directory, then any backslash character must be doubled like this \\ . If you are creating the registry entry with Regedit, then you just use a single backslash \ .

3. Stop and restart the World Wide Web Publishing Service when it is next convenient to do so. CDO only reads this registry key at startup, so if you change the value after using the program, you will need to restart the WWW service.

Remember that you only need to do this for Exchange 2000 / 2003.

Installation (all server platforms):

First, use Explorer to create a folder to contain the package ASP files. In the example described, the folder is named OWA-PDA and is located in the root of the IIS server's C: drive. Copy the ASP files into the folder and close Explorer.

Using Notepad, edit the file named DEFINE.INC so that the line beginning CONST SERVERNAME contains the computer name, or IP address, of your MS Exchange server. Do not make the mistake of entering the name of your IIS server unless they happen to be the same machine. In this example, the server is called MYSERVER. Remember to retain the double quotes " ". If your are using Exchange 5.5, set CONST EX5P5 = True and CONST USERENDERER = True.

Save the file and close Notepad.

Start the IIS Manager and expand the tree in the left-hand pane to reveal the Default Web Site.

Create a new Virtual Directory under the Default Web Site and configure it as shown in the following diagrams. In this example, the Virtual Directory is called OWA-PDA and the source files have been copied to C:\OWA-PDA .

Having created the Virtual Directory, check its properties and make a few more adjustments as shown in the following diagrams. You probably won't need to change anything on the first page, but it's a good idea to double-check it.

Make sure that there is an entry for DEFAULT.ASP in the list of default documents for the Virtual Directory. If it is not in the list, add it.

Select Basic Authentication and de-select Anonymous Access. In Windows 2000, deselect Digest Authentication and Integrated Authentication so that only Basic Authentication is enabled. In Windows NT 4.0, deselect Windows NT Challenge/Response so that only Basic Authentication is enabled.

If your OWA server is a Member Server, click the button labelled 'Edit' next to the Basic Authentication option and set the Basic Authentication Domain to your Windows NT domain name. In this example it is called MYDOMAIN.

And that's it. You can now access the site using the Virtual Directory name. So, for example, if your IIS server is called MYIISSERVER, and your Virtual Directory is called OWA-PDA as in this example, you can open the site with HTTP://MYIISSERVER/OWA-PDA . If you are using Exchange 2000 / 2003, please make sure you have performed the additional installation steps described earlier, to allow non-Admin users to access the application.

After Installation:

There are additional options that you can configure within DEFINE.INC , these are described below. Most of the options are used to change the visual appearance of the displayed output, but when configuring the options for the WAP version of the application, you will need to remember that WAP only allows a page size of about 1500 bytes, so it is important not to make too many changes at once.

ADDRESSESPERPAGE - This defines the number of entries to display in address book lists.

AMPCHARS - The correct HTML representation of the "&" character throughout is "&". Unfortunately, some PDA browsers get confused if they encounter this in a hyperlink. If you come across this problem, you can revert it to "&" by changing this setting.

APPOINTMENTSPERPAGE - This defines the number of appointments to show in appointment lists.

BANNERTEXT (PDA only) - If you put some text in here, it will be displayed on the login page. You can use HTML tags here, too, e.g.:

  CONST BANNERTEXT = "<b><i>MY COMPANY NAME</i></b>"

BODYCOLOR (PDA only) - You can use this to specify a background colour (using an HTML literal) for all the application output, e.g.: "RED", "blue", "#F1F2F3", etc.

CHARSET (PDA only) - You can use this to define a character set for the application output, e.g. "UTF-8"

EX5P5 - Set to True if your Exchange server is version 5.5 . CDO is almost identical in Exchange 5.5 and 2000, but a few small differences have been found, and the application code will need to take this into consideration.

EXPANDFOLDERS (PDA only) - Set to True if you want to be able to select any mail folder from the main folders page. If you have a lot of mailbox folders, though, it will make the display rather untidy.

EXPANDPFOLDERS (PDA only) - Set to True if you want to be able to select any Public Folder from the main folders page.

FOLDERDATEWIDTH (PDA only) - This defines how many characters are reserved for the date in message listings.

FOLDERSENDERWIDTH - This defines how many characters are reserved for the sender's name in message listings.

FOLDERSPERPAGE (WAP only) - This defines how many folders are shown on each page in a folder listing. Too large a value will make the page size too large for the device or the gateway.

FOLDERSUBJECTWIDTH - This defines how many characters are reserved for the subject in message listings.

FONTFACE (PDA only) - You can use this to specify a font face, or a font family, for all the application output, e.g.: "Arial", "Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif", etc.

FONTSIZE (PDA only) - You can use this to specify a font size, or a relative font size, for all the application output, e.g.: "2", "-1", etc.

FOOTERTEXT (PDA only) - If you put some text in here, it will be displayed at the bottom of each page. You can use HTML tags here, too, e.g.:

  CONST FOOTERTEXT = "<b>MY FOOTER TEXT</b>"

HEADERTEXT (PDA only) - If you put some text in here, it will be displayed at the top of each page. You can use HTML tags here, too, e.g.:

  CONST HEADERTEXT = "<b>MY HEADER TEXT</b>"

HTMLBODYCONTROL (PDA only) - Use this to define whether or not the application will display HTML message bodies. Please remember that it is not always safe to display HTML messages from unknown sources. Here are the settings:

  0 = Show TXT
  1 = Show HTML
  2 = Default to TXT, with a link to HTML body
  3 = Default to HTML, with a link to TXT body

LOGOFFLINK - If you set this to True, the application will display a Log Off link at the bottom of the Mailbox page. Please note that it is not possible to make a browser 'forget' a set of Authentication credentials once they have been entered, until the browser is closed (and PDA browsers are often always running). This facility is meant only to allow users to share the same device, if you cancel the second login prompt, it will continue with the previous logon credentials.

MAILBOXPROMPT - If you set this to False, the application will bypass the Mailbox Name screen. In the WAP application, the Mailbox Name screen will appear briefly, then move to the main Mailbox screen.

MAXPAGESIZE - This controls how much of each message is displayed per page in the mobile device browser. How much you can safely display depends on the capabilities of the device you are using. This value is especially critical for the correct operation of WAP devices which have a total maximum page size (including markup etc.) of approximately 1500 bytes. The current recommended maximum message page size for WAP is 400 bytes.

MESSAGESPERPAGE - This defines how many messages are shown on each page in a message listing. It is largely a matter of personal preference with a PDA device, but again the value is critical for WAP devices.

MULTIPLEMOVE (PDA only) - If you set this to True, the application will display a 'Move Marked' button and a folder list alongside the 'Delete' button in message listings. It is off by default to save screen space and reduce the page size.

NOTESPERPAGE - This defines how many notes are displayed in a Notes listing.

OPENATTACHMENTS (PDA only) - This defines whether or not the application will display links to message attachments. Not all PDAs can display attachments.

PASSWORDACCESS (PDA only) - Set to True if you have configured your OWA server to allow Web clients to change their passwords, and you want to extend this functionality to PDA clients. Set to False otherwise.

PREVIEWSIZE (PDA only) - Set this to a non-zero value if you want the application to display so many characters of the message body below the subject in message listings.

RANDOMURLPARAM - If this is set to True, the application will add a random, unused parameter to the end of each hyperlink it displays. This is an attempt to prevent over-aggressive browser caching by ensuring that successive URLs to the same object always appear different.

SENDERSUBJECTBREAK (PDA only) - If you set this to True, the application will display the sender name above the message subject, instead of beside it. This will allow you to show more of the name and subject, but it will take up more screen space.

SERVERNAME - This must be the computer name (or NetBIOS name) of your Exchange server (not the IIS/OWA server if they are different machines). It should be in double-quotes "" . You can also use an IP address if you prefer. If your OWA server is also your Exchange server, you can use the special localhost IP address "127.0.0.1" .

SHOWDATESINFOLDER - Set this to True if you want to show the message date in message listings.

SHOWERRORS - Occasionally, the application will encounter message/folder object errors that prevent them from being displayed. If you set this to False, the application will attempt to continue past these errors to display remaining objects.

SHOWICONS (PDA only) - Controls whether or not icons are displayed in various part of the display. Here are the settings, just add the numbers together to get the combination you want:

  0 = No icons
  1 = Show icons on mailbox page
  2 = Show icons in folder listings
  4 = Show icons in message listings

SHOWPUBLICFOLDERS - Set this to True if you want the application to display Public Folders.

TABLEROWCOLORA, TABLEROWCOLORB (PDA only) - You can use these to specify alternate row colours in the table (message, folder listings) output, e.g.: "RED", "blue", "#F1F2F3", etc.

TASKSPERPAGE - This defines how many Tasks are displayed in a Task listing.

TEXTAREASIZE (PDA only) - This defines the HTML settings for the message TEXTAREAs (where the message body is typed). You can define a number of rows and columns. Some PDA browsers will ignore it, though.

USECSS (PDA only) - If you set this to True, the application will use the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) include file OWA-PDA.CSS to format the output. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, not many PDA browsers can interpret CSS. If you are able to use CSS, you can edit the CSS file to format the output.

USELOGINNAME - If you set this to True, the application will assume that your mailbox names are the same as your network login names. This is usually the case in Exchange 2000.

USELONGFOLDERIDS - Exchange Folder IDs are very long (over 100 chars), if you set this parameter to False, you can reduce the transmitted page size by making the application calculate ordinal folder numbers, but at the expense of exponentially increased processing time.

USELONGPFOLDERIDS - This option is similar to USELONGFOLDERIDS, but it affects the generation of Public Folder IDs, instead of mailbox folder IDs.

USERENDERER - OWA For PDA / WAP can make use of the CDO 'Renderer' if required. It may be necessary to use the Renderer when displaying messages in non-Western character sets. Attachment delivery is also much faster when the Renderer is used to send them to the client. However, you should be aware that the Renderer is not available in Exchange 2003 unless you obtain, and register, CDOHTML.DLL (from Exchange 2000) on the server.

USETABLES (PDA only) - Set to False if your device can't display HTML tables. I-Mode devices, for example, are unable to do so.

Attachments (PDA only):

OWA For PDA can be configured to deliver attachments to your mobile device, but whether or not you will be able to open them depends entirely upon the client platform. PocketPC devices will normally be able to save attachments to the file system for subsequent opening. Palm devices will probably have only limited success.

If you want to configure the application to deliver attachments you need to set the value of OPENATTACHMENTS in Define.inc to True.

  CONST OPENATTACHMENTS = True

You will also need to configure a Custom Error message for the error '404 - Not found' on your OWA-PDA Virtual Directory. Mobile browsers do not understand content types as comprehensively as desktop browsers and need to believe that the attachment exists as a file on the server (which it does not - it's embedded in the message). When the browser requests the file, the custom 404 error page extracts the attachment and delivers it.

The configuration you need to make is to define /OWA-PDA/AT2.ASP as the URL for the 404 error (assuming that OWA-PDA is the name of your Virtual Directory). Open the properties of the OWA-PDA Virtual Directory and click the Custom Errors tab. Select error 404 from the list and click the Edit Properties... button. Select URL from the Message Type: drop-down list, and enter

  /OWA-PDA/AT2.ASP

Finally click OK, and OK once more to save your changes.