WebGrabber Release Notes 2013.2.1.15299
WebGrabber 2013 R2.1 Build 2013.2.1.15299
This article contains the software release notes for ActivePDF WebGrabber 2013 R2.1 (build 2013.2.1.15299) This release includes bug fixes and a new feature for selecting secure protocols.
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NOTE: Prior versions of WebGrabber used the SSL 3.0 Protocol with the native engine. The SSL 3.0 protocol is vulnerable to the POODLE* attack. This build introduces the option to select an alternate protocol.
If you are using WebGrabber and the native engine in an SSL 3.0 environment and plan to migrate to an alternate protocol, update to this release.
The default behavior of the Microsoft Internet Explorer engine is to adapt itself to match the protocol in use by the URL, so no adjustment is needed. To change the default behavior of the Microsoft Internet Explorer engine, adjust the Internet Options settings in the browser.
*Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption attack
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- Software Requirements
- Hardware Requirements
- New Feature
- Known s
- Fixes
- Additional Solutions
- Installation and Getting Started
- API Reference
Software Requirements
The following software is required to successfully use WebGrabber.
- Windows Server® 2008 (32- or 64-bit edition) OR
- Windows Server® 2012 R2
- Microsoft® .NET Framework is required to use WebGrabber's .NET component
(.NET 3.5 for the API, .NET 4.0 for the service — if it is not detected, you will be given the option to install it.)
Important! If using Windows Server 2012 or above, and using the Internet Explorer engine for conversions, follow the instructions in the Installation section of these release notes before installing WebGrabber.
Note: If ActivePDF Server is installed on the same machine, you need to install Server 2013 R1.1 (2013.1.1.15090) or higher before installing this WebGrabber update.
Hardware Requirements
The minimum hardware requirements for WebGrabber are:
- 350 MB of RAM
- 175 MB of hard disk space (for application)
New Feature
You can now choose which SSL protocol to use when using the native engine. The new COM and .NET SslProtocol property allows you to choose a protocol:
- 0 = SSL 3.0
- 1 = SSL 2.0
- 2 = TLS 1.0
You can also use the WebGrabber user interface to select the SSL protocol to use.
- In the ActivePDF WebGrabber UI, go to: WebGrabber top page > General tab >
- From the Conversion Engine dropdown menu, select Native.
- In the Native Engine Settings area, from the SSL Protocol dropdown menu, select the protocol you wish to use.
Known Bugs
When a bug is fixed, it is moved to the Fixes table.
NOTE: Even if a workaround exists, the bug may be fixed in a later release.
Bug | Known Issue | Workaround |
340 | COM: Remote conversion using a large input string or a large file will occasionally timeout. | The problem is intermittent; for a workaround, please retry the conversion. |
1296 | Dotted line does not display as expected after conversion. | Use the Internet Explorer engine for this file. |
2449 | File specific: Native engine: WebGrabber is not able to convert this large file. | Use the Internet Explorer engine for this file. |
2545 | File specific: When using the Native engine the output PDF has extra horizontal lines. | If the border is moved to inside the div the lines display as expected. |
2673 | If SetMargins is used, the PDF links converted from hyperlinks are misaligned in the output PDF. | No workaround available. |
3128 | Native engine: Form fields are missing borders in the output PDF. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
3133 | File specific: Native engine: the text at page break is cut off, and becomes more pronounced when SetMargins is used. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
3134 | Native engine: When using PreserveTextBoxes set to True or False, Japanese characters inside text areas appear garbled in the output PDF (even when using Unicode). | PreserveTextBoxes does not currently support Unicode characters. |
3142 | Instead of being deleted during conversion, href links that point to destination anchors create links in the output PDF. These links point to the original HTML page. | Remove anchors and corresponding links prior to conversion. This will be resolved in an upcoming release |
3419 | Native: COM: When using PreserveTextBoxes set to True or False, the check box, text input, combo box are misaligned in the output PDF. | Use the Internet Explorer engine (the fields will not be editable). |
3689 | Native engine: The background color style is not completely filling the content background when applied to the HTML body tag. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
3830 | Native engine on a Japanese OS: Japanese characters set using HeaderHTML or FooterHTML do not display as expected in the output PDF. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
3859 | Native engine: There are slight differences in character spacing and crispness when certain fonts/character combinations are used. | In cases where font fidelity is a high priority, we recommend using the Internet Explorer engine. |
3949 | Native engine: When saving the output PDF to UNC paths (Unified Naming Convention; for example: \\mynetworkshare\myfolder\myfile), a -3007 error (failed to download output from the server) is returned. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
3952 | Native engine: URL specific: When WebGrabber attempts to convert the URL, it times out. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
3956 | Native engine: File specific: Hyperlinks attached to image in the output PDF do not display as expected. | No workaround available. |
4007 | Internet Explorer engine: If the PaperSize enumerator is set to 0 for a custom page size, the PaperLength and PaperWidth properties cannot be set. | Use the Native engine and its PDFLength and PDFWidth properties as a workaround. |
4244 | Native engine: On Windows Server 2008R2 and 2012R2, when setting EmbedFlash = 0 (do not attach Flash file), an error is returned when converting an HTML file that contains Flash. | Set EmbedFlash = 1 (attach Flash file). Or use the Internet Explorer engine. |
4258 | Native Engine: When converting a file using the font AGaramondPro-Regular.otf, the output file is created properly, but the font is not listed in the PDF document properties. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
4269 | Native engine: When using StampBackground set to 1 (place stamp in background) the stamp does not display as expected in the output PDF. | Use the Internet Explorer engine or set StampBackground to 0 (place stamp in foreground). |
4345 | Native Engine: When using FitToPage with a hard-coded page size of 11 inches, the output file results in a blank page for each page converted. | Fix: Use Internet Explorer engine, or set the page size to 10.8 inches, or turn off FitToPage. |
4390 | Native engine: Output PDFs are sometimes missing footers. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
4392 | Internet Explorer engine: If the text in a header or footer includes an apostrophe, neither the header or footer print. | Replace the apostrophe with two sets of double quotes: |
4414 | Although all settings are set to embed fonts, the HelveticaBold font in the source does not fully embed, and the output PDF displays Arial. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
4831 | URL specific: A graph does not convert to PDF (using either engine). | No workaround available. |
4841 | Native engine, URL specific: The web site fails to convert. | Use the Internet Explorer engine. |
4847 | URL specific: The web site fails to convert using the Internet Explorer engine. | Remove the @page selector in the CSS. |
4853 | URL specific, Internet Explorer engine Images in the output PDF look blurry. | Use the Native engine. |
Fixes
Bug | Description | Resolution |
3976 | Native engine: When using FitToPage and text-align: justify, character spacing is inconsistent in the output PDF. | In WebGrabber, the width calculations for strings were updated, using a different model. |
4437 | Native engine, file specific: Unwanted spacing was added between some characters. | In WebGrabber, the width calculations for strings were updated, using a different model. |
4765 | File specific, .NET: When using FooterHeight an unknown error occurred and the conversion failed. | This issue has been resolved and the HTML converts to PDF as expected. |
4786 | When FooterFirstPageHTML was used, the FooterHTML call continued to print the configured footer on the first page. | The footer on the first page now displays as expected. |
4818 | Windows Server 2012R2: When the group policy was set to display a legal message for users of the remote desktop, the WebGrabber terminal failed to log in the user. | The log-in procedure has been updated, and this issue is resolved. |
4829 | File specific: When a font size was included with a FooterHTML call, the font size was not applied. | The file included invalid style scripting. To configure the font size when calling FooterHTML, use this format: WG.FooterHTML = "<div style='font-size: 8pt'>This is the footer text.</div>" |
4850 | When using Microsoft Internet Information Services and HTMLTextToFile was called, the path to the text file was wrong. | This has been corrected, and the correct file path is now used. |
10087 | When the source HTML contained double spaces or <span> elements, the output PDF contained characters that were shifted to the left, which resulted in overlapping text. | In WebGrabber, the width calculations for strings were updated, using a different model. |
Additional Solutions
These occurrences may happen when WebGrabber is working as expected.
ID | Incident | What to do |
1313 | After conversion, the first and second pages have different spacing at the top of their pages. | Adjust the HTML code for body style: <body style="margin-top:-4px;"> |
3430 | Native: When FitToPage is set to True, data such as radio buttons, text, and dropboxes on the page break are split between Pages 1 and 2 in the output PDF, instead of displaying on either Page 1 or Page 2. | This is by design. FitToPage instructs WebGrabber to force the content into a specified page size, regardless of right margin or page breaks. The workaround is to set FitToPage to False. |
3779 | When using the Internet Explorer engine, dynamic Google charts in the source file are missing in the output PDF. | Use the WaitBeforePrinting property to set enough time for the charts to load. Note: If you are converting a local file ("file:///xxxxx") on your computer system, follow these steps to configure Internet Explorer to allow active content to run in local files: · In Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet Options > Advanced · Scroll down to Security and and check: |
4222 | File specific: Using the SetMargins and FitToPage properties together, the output PDF does not display as expected. Comment: The HTML file has fixed width tables which cause text to be cutoff when using FitToPage and SetMargin. | Instead of applying a width to a table, wrap it in a div and set a width to the div element. Or set margins to 0, 0, 0, 0. |
4436 | When logging in remotely using Internet Explorer 9 or later, conversion attempts fail. | Internet Explorer 9 and later requires the user to be logged in to create files. To be granted file creation permission, reboot the remote machine and log in as the WebGrabber Internet Explorer user. |
4837 | Native engine: The SSL 3.0 Protocol used with the native engine may be vulnerable to the POODLE attack. | When using the native engine, you may now select the SSL Protocol to use: See the New Feature section for more information. |
Installation and Getting Started
If you are using Windows Server 2012 or above, and will be using the Internet Explorer engine for conversions, follow the steps below to ensure that the WebGrabber user has sufficient permissions for performing conversions.
Before installing WebGrabber on Windows Server 2012 or above:
- Log on to Windows Server( 2012 and above) as Admin user.
- Create a new user account for the WebGrabber user with administrative and remote login privileges.
- Log in, then log out as the as the WebGrabber user.
- Follow the installation instructions (see the link below) and install WebGrabber.
After installing WebGrabber on Windows Server 2012 or above:
Set up WebGrabber to use the Internet Explorer engine:
- Launch the WebGrabber user interface.
- Under the WebGrabber settings, turn on the Enable Internet Explorer Conversions.
- Select Save.
Note: In order to perform conversions with the Internet Explorer engine on Windows Server 2012 or above, the WebGrabber user with administrative privileges must be logged in (but can be disconnected).
For more installation instructions and general startup information, see the Legacy section for the WebGrabber Installation Guide at:
https://www.activepdf.com/support/documentlinks.
API Reference
See the Legacy section for the WebGrabber API Reference Guide for information about .NET and COM methods and properties at: