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Question

Method for shortening WebClient search URL

Web Client WebLink
Updated January 4, 2024
asked on January 3, 2024 • Show version history

I just want to be thorough and make sure someone hasn't already figured this out before I give up on it. 

 

I am embedding a WebClient search URL into a 3rd party SIS (Synergy) and am finding there is a character number restriction so I am limited on the complexity of the URL I can use. Here is an example:

https://OUR_SERVER_HOSTING_WEBCLIENT/laserfiche/Browse.aspx?repo=VPS#?search=(%7BLF%3ALOOKIN%3D%22%5CSTUDENT%20RECORDS%5C1.%20STUDENT%20CUMULATIVE%20FOLDERS%22%7D)%20%26%20%7B%5B%5D%3A%5BOther%20ID%5D%20%3D%20%22144196%22%7D%20%26%20%7BLF%3AName%3D%22*%22%2C%20Type%3D%22DS%22%7D&view=search

I thought of shortening the server name to the IP. Anyone else have any tricks before I petition the powers that be to allow more characters in this field?

 

Thanks so much. 

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on January 3, 2024 • Show version history

Public certificate authorities (CAs) will not issue TLS certificates for private IP addresses, only public ones. See: https://sectigostore.com/page/ssl-certificate-for-ip-address/

Private CAs like an Active Directory domain CA may issue certs for private IP addresses. Either way, it's not generally considered a good practice.

  1. Try to get the field's character limit raised
  2. Use a short DNS alias like "lf.example.com" (may or may not save you enough characters)

 

If you're pre-generating the search URLs yourself rather than dynamically populating the values from Synergy, another option is to use a URL shortener. URL shorteners are essentially lookup tables between the short and full URLs. Ex (from a random public one):

You'd want a to self-host one that lets you create short URLs under your own domain, especially since it looks like the search strings can contain sensitive data. The flow would be something like this:

  1. Generate Web Client search URL with Workflow
  2. Use a Workflow Web Request (or Script) activity to call the URL shortener's API, pass it the full search URL, and have it return the short URL
  3. Send the short URL to Synergy

 

Below are some options I found.

Disclaimer: Please note that I have not used any of these myself and am sharing what I found from some quick online research for informational purposes. Laserfiche does not officially endorse, warrant, etc. any of this 3rd party info and software.

After checking some of those, these three look the most legitimate and promising to me (2.5k-10k "stars" on Github and reasonably active open source development)

Cheers,
Sam

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Replies

replied on January 3, 2024

Make sure the ssl certificate still validates with the IP address - I think it's possible but unlikely, unless you've specifically planned for it. Another possibility would be to use a shorter dns alias that is still on your domain, which is a more user friendly experience. Especially if you've been teaching your users to only click on links they trust, giving them a link with an IP address isn't great.

1 0
SELECTED ANSWER
replied on January 3, 2024 • Show version history

Public certificate authorities (CAs) will not issue TLS certificates for private IP addresses, only public ones. See: https://sectigostore.com/page/ssl-certificate-for-ip-address/

Private CAs like an Active Directory domain CA may issue certs for private IP addresses. Either way, it's not generally considered a good practice.

  1. Try to get the field's character limit raised
  2. Use a short DNS alias like "lf.example.com" (may or may not save you enough characters)

 

If you're pre-generating the search URLs yourself rather than dynamically populating the values from Synergy, another option is to use a URL shortener. URL shorteners are essentially lookup tables between the short and full URLs. Ex (from a random public one):

You'd want a to self-host one that lets you create short URLs under your own domain, especially since it looks like the search strings can contain sensitive data. The flow would be something like this:

  1. Generate Web Client search URL with Workflow
  2. Use a Workflow Web Request (or Script) activity to call the URL shortener's API, pass it the full search URL, and have it return the short URL
  3. Send the short URL to Synergy

 

Below are some options I found.

Disclaimer: Please note that I have not used any of these myself and am sharing what I found from some quick online research for informational purposes. Laserfiche does not officially endorse, warrant, etc. any of this 3rd party info and software.

After checking some of those, these three look the most legitimate and promising to me (2.5k-10k "stars" on Github and reasonably active open source development)

Cheers,
Sam

1 0
replied on January 4, 2024

These are excellent suggestions and will help other for sure. Thanks so much for this thorough response. Since I am dynamically creating the URLs in Synergy I think the best case scenario is to request that the character count get increased. I love this idea of shortening URLs though. I'll save that idea for later use :)

1 0
replied on January 4, 2024

You're very welcome Chris =)

I found a copy of the "Synergy SIS® System Administrator Guide" Volume 01, Edition 02, Revision 04, dated July 2016, Document Number: SISSGAG-010111 (which I will not link to here because the document had a "Proprietary and Confidential" footer). Didn't find anything dated later that seemed to be an administrator guide mentioning custom fields.

Under "Chapter Seven: Customizing Screens" > "Add Custom Fields" (p.205), it shows a "User Defined Data" configuration interface with a simple "Max Length" property:

with the helpful instruction of "Enter the maximum length of the data in the field in the Max Length column."

Now, given the date of that document, the interface it references may or may not exist in whatever version of the Synergy SIS software you're using today. None of the ~2020 dated docs referencing TeacherVUE I found mentioned custom fields at all, though they seemed more user than admin oriented. But it is hopefully suggestive that updating the Max Length property of a custom field is not a big ask.

Good luck!

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