Lower Cost Barcode Scanners

We’ve used the Motorola (Symbol) barcode scanners with great success.  However, one of our customers recently pointed out that there are less expensive alternatives.  For example, check out this model for about $30 bucks:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003OUQ174/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details

If you are OK with using the wired USB scanners, this is a good alternative.

Now someone just has to find a less expensive Bluetooth-enabled scanner…

Fix for Firefox 8.0.1 and Mosaic Vivarium Cage Side Assistant (CSA)

Despite the fantastic work of the Mozilla folks, it seems like every time a new Firefox version comes out something breaks.  Firefox 8 is no exception.

Users have reported problems with the Cage Side Assistant under Firefox 8 on both the Mac and the PC.  Two pieces of good news here:

• We did a quick test of Safari 5.1.2 on the Mac:  all of Mosaic Vivarium, including CSA, seems to work.  With Apple’s improvements, Safari now seems like a viable platform for using Mosaic Vivarium.
• We have a work-around for users of Firefox 8.0.1 (Mac and PC).

Here’s how to allow Cage Side Assistant to work properly under Firefox 8.  First, make sure you have the latest Silverlight 5.0.61118.0 installed by visiting this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/getsilverlight/get-started/install/default.aspx

That’s all you should need to do for the Mac.

For the PC, put on your work gloves, because we’re going under the hood for this one.

1. Open Firefox 8, type “about:config” into the address bar, and press the button:
   
2. Type “ipc” in the filter box, then double-click on the “dom.ipc.plugins.enabled” entry until its value is “false”:
   
3. Close all Firefox 8 windows and restart Firefox 8.  CSA should now work normally.

What did we just do?  Firefox runs some plugins (like Flash and Silverlight) in a separate process.  The idea is that if the plugin fails, Firefox doesn’t crash.  Great idea if the plugin still works correctly…  If you are technically curious, some related information (pre-Firefox 8) may be found here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Plugin-container_and_out-of-process_plugins

Please login to your Mosaic Vivarium account and send us feedback if you are still having problems.

Tablet Computers for Mosaic Vivarium

Tablet computers are becoming useful alternatives to laptops for laboratory animal resources (LAR) data entry directly in the animal room.  We find that tablets and laptops provide the depth of functionality needed by husbandry staff.

To use Mosaic Vivarium, you’ll need a Windows 7 based tablet (not an Apple or Android based tablet).  We’ve successfully used the Acer Iconia W500 Tablet.  These are currently available through Amazon.  Acer Iconia TAB W500P-BZ841 10.1 Inch AMD Dual-Core C-50/2GB/32GB SSD/No ODD/Win7 Pro Tablet PC.  Note that we recommend the “BZ841” version with Windows 7 Professional.

Get a Bluetooth Motorola (Symbol) LS 4278 scanner to go with this tablet.  Simply plug your DYMO Turbo 450 into the USB slot when you’ve queued up a bunch of cage cards to print.

One concern with any consumer device in the LAR environment is durability.  Most of our customers have had good experience with consumer laptops, but we don’t yet have enough experience with the new tablets.  (How often are they dropped?)  In the meantime, we’ve tested a ruggedized tablet from MobileDemand.  The T7000 model has an integrated barcode scanner that is fast (laser, not camera based), as well as an optional add-on keyboard.  You can check out the videos at their web site.  The screen resolution is comparable, but the physical size is a 7” display (T7000 model) or 8.4” (T8700 model) compared to the Iconia’s 10.1” display.

The MobileDemand tablets have a proven track record of durability and scanner-productivity in other industries.  They also have straps/harnesses for walking around with the computer without fear of dropping.  We found the MobileDemand computers quite usable.

Avoiding the Pesky Internet Explorer File Download Blocker

If Internet Explore is blocking your cage card downloads, here are some settings you can check.  These screenshots are from Internet Explorer 9.

1. Locate the Tools menu, or the “Gear” button in the upper left:
   
2. Select Internet options:
   
3. Go to the Advanced tab and
   check “Notify when downloads complete” and
   uncheck “Do not save encrypted pages to disk:
   
   
4. You may also need to go to the Security tab and
   click Trusted Sites and
   click the Sites button and
   add Mosaic to the list:
   
   
5. Make sure your trusted sites enable file downloads.  Hit the Custom Level button and enable “Automatic prompting for file downloads”
   
6. Finally, restart your browser.  You should now be able to download without being blocked.

Preparing Your IIS Server for Future Mosaic Vivarium Updates

Background

This topic is for customers with Mosaic Vivarium installed on local servers.  Releases of Mosaic Vivarium after June 2011 will require the following features on your IIS server:

• .NET 4
• URL Rewrite Module 2.0

Please take a few minutes soon to make the preparations shown below.

Solution

The Microsoft .NET Framework 4 installer can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=17851

The URL Rewrite Module 2.0 installer can be found here:

http://www.iis.net/download/URLRewrite

The installation takes a few minutes and does not require a server reboot.  Once completed, you will have a new Feature in your IIS Management Console:

We also anticipate using an ASP.NET v4.0 application pool in Integrated pipeline mode.  Instructions regarding this configuration change will accompany future updates.

How to Create the Mosaic Web Windows Event Log Source

Background

This topic is for customers with Mosaic installed on local servers.  Mosaic logs exceptions in the Windows Event Log using event source “Mosaic Web”. These events may be used to help diagnose certain configuration errors, such as an inability to send emails from the application.  This article describes how to create the Mosaic Web event source.

 

Solution

Get a command prompt running as an Administrator on the Mosaic web server. (On Windows Server 2008, run a command prompt as administrator by right-clicking and choosing “Run as Administrator.”)

Change directories to the “bin” directory of the Mosaic web.

Run the following command:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\installutil vci.dll

Mosaic events may now be viewed in the Windows Event Viewer under the “Mosaic Web” source.

Using Mosaic with a Proxy Server

For customers with Mosaic installed on your servers, you may find that help topics or Mosaic alerts are not displayed.  This can be due to a misconfiguration of your “External Help Url” or your “Notification URL” or you may have a proxy server in place at your organization.

Solution

Under Administration | Maintenance –> Mosaic Settings, locate the “Mosaic Application Configuration” section.

If the “External Help Url” or “Notification URL” settings do not appear, click “add/remove settings” and add them by clicking their checkboxes.

The correct setting for “External Help Url” is:

http://www.virtualchemistry.com/MosaicHelp/MosaicHelpHandler.aspx

The correct setting for “Notification URL” is:

http://www.virtualchemistry.com/MosaicHelp/SaasAlerts/alerts.aspx

If Help and Alerts still do not work, your Mosaic server may communicate through a proxy server. You’ll need to obtain the address and port of your proxy server. Place an entry similar to the following into the <configuration/> element of the web.config file for your Mosaic web.

<system.net>
  <defaultProxy>
    <proxy
      proxyaddress=http://proxy.company.com:8080
      bypassonlocal="true"
    />
  </defaultProxy>
</system.net>