Butterworths LinkDirect - Updating information

If you already have an installation of LinkDirect please remember that in order to hyperlink any additional items, such as unique references to parts of Simons Direct Tax service, you must run the update at regular intervals.

There is no need for the LinkDirect service to be shut down while an update is happening. If LinkDirect has been installed with multiple instances of the MarkUp engine then the service will not be interrupted at all as each instance is updated in turn, leaving the other instances to continue to service incoming requests.

This update is can be run manually but it is recommended that you set up a scheduled task to run the update at a period of time (eg late evening). The file update service only retrieves files that have become out of date, and these files are compressed during transmission. The size of the files can still cause the update to take quite a while, so if manual updating is used consider that it may potentially take a while to complete.

The file update program is called LinkDirectUpdateNow.exe and is installed in the directory selected during the installation of LinkDirect but can be run from any directory. The program requires access to the Internet, specifically www.butterworths.com.

Running the update manually
  1. Click Start, Run
  2. Type in ‘cmd’ and press Enter. This displays the command window (DOS window).
  3. Type the name of the drive where the installation directory is, enter a colon and backslash afterwards and hit Enter (eg c:<enter>). Using the change directory (cd) command change to the LinkDirect installation directory, (e.g. cd LinkDirect)
  4. type: LinkDirectUpdateNow 213.38.165.127 80
  5. A message is displayed for each file indicating whether it is up to date or whether it is being retrieved. After all files are successfully transferred they are implemented and the LinkDirectService is restarted.

Please note: A message is displayed indicating progress and results. If the transfer or restart fails the operation can be retried. All information is also logged to a file ‘c:\temp\trace.log’ which can be checked afterwards for information regarding the update. This is useful when running a scheduled task.

There is a test page that can be downloaded which will determine that the links to all available are working correctly. This page can be downloaded from here.

For more information on how to run the update automatically please see the LinkDirect user guide, which can be downloaded from the User Guides page of the Butterworths site.