HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal

The Sample Cloud Portal is a complete ASP.NET web forms application that can connect to HotDocs Cloud Services' Direct SOAP API by way of the Cloud Services .NET Client library, display interviews to users, and generate completed documents. The source code, which is installed as part of the Sample Cloud Portal installation, is made available so that HotDocs Cloud Services developers can examine and learn from the code for use in their own web applications.

HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal is not meant to be used "out-of-the-box" in a production environment. It should only be used for demonstration or evaluation purposes, or as a source of sample code to be used in your own web application.

HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal includes the following three features:

  • Template Management: Templates may be uploaded to the server, displayed in a template list, and used to assemble documents on the server.
  • Answer Management: Answer files may be uploaded to the server and used with templates to assemble documents on the server. They can also be created and saved either on the server or on the local computer.
  • Document Creation: At the end of assembly, documents may be downloaded to the local computer, but they cannot be saved on the server.

System Requirements

Your system must meet the following software requirements before you can install HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
  • Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1 or greater

In addition to the requirements listed above for the server, end users who will complete browser-based interviews or view assemble documents must have certain software installed on their computers:

  • A Web browser capable of displaying an interview. JavaScript interviews require Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or later. Silverlight interviews require a browser in which the Silverlight 5 plugin is installed.
  • Any word processor that can display, edit, or print an assembled text document, including WordPerfect® and Microsoft® Word.
  • HotDocs® Filler (for assembled HFD and HPD form documents) and/or Adobe® Reader® (for assembled PDF-based form documents).

Install Sample Cloud Portal

The process of installing HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal on your Web server is handled by a custom installation package designed for this purpose. Like most installation packages, this installation consists of several wizard-like dialog boxes that gather the information necessary for Sample Portal to be installed correctly.

To install HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal

  1. Close all open applications.
  2. Save the installation package (SampleCloudPortal.exe) to a location on the server's hard drive.
  3. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder on the hard drive where the installation package is found.
  4. Double-click SampleCloudPortal.exe. The installation program begins installing Sample Portal.
  5. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the installation. You will be prompted for information at the following dialogs:
    • Program Files: Enter the folder where Setup should install the program files. By default, this is "C:\Program Files (x86)\HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal\."
    • Application Settings: This dialog box prompts for the following information:
      • Sample Portal Domain: In this section you should enter the name of your site, which will appear at the top of each page. The default name is HotDocs Sample Cloud Portal. You should also enter the name of the domain or computer you will use when accessing Sample Cloud Portal. If this is an internal server, you could use the computer name; for an external server, you would need to use a web-accessible name (e.g., www.domain.com).
      • HotDocs Cloud Services Credentials:: Enter the HotDocs Cloud Services URL (e.g., https://cloud.hotdocs.ws), along with the subscriber ID and signing key you received when you signed up for HotDocs Cloud Services. (The ID and signing key are both case-sensitive, so be sure to type those values exactly as you received them.) Unless you receive instructions indicating otherwise, you should use the default HDCS URL displayed in the install.
  6. After completing the installation, open a browser and enter the URL (e.g., http://www.domain.com/SampleCloudPortal) in the Address box. (The last part of the URL, SampleCloudPortal, will always be the same, but you must replace www.domain.com with the value you specified during the installation.) When the page appears, you will see a list of templates ready for assembly.