Files Used with HotDocs Server

You should become familiar with the different files used by HotDocs Server, including DLL, JavaScript, and other ancillary files. The main program files folder (e.g., C:\Program Files\HotDocs Server ) contains the following subfolders:

In addition to the subfolders listed above, HotDocs installs any HotDocs-developed host applications, such as HotDocs Sample Portal and HotDocs Template Portal, in this same program files folder by default.

Template Keys

When HotDocs Server caches certain template “support files” like interview definitions, it uses a template key to identify files within the cache. The default cache key is the complete path to the template, which is fine if the template paths are constant in your host application. However, if you have stored and versioned your templates in a DMS, and extracted to temporary paths when needed, the path to the same template may change from one request to the next. In this case, you require a constant cache key to avoid unnecessary work building and caching files that already exist in the cache.

When you call BuildSupportFiles or GetInterview2, you must provide a templateKey as the second parameter:

• If templateKey is null, HotDocs Server uses the template path (without the extension) to calculate the cache key.
• If templateKey is not null, HotDocs Server bases the cache key on the given templateKey and the base template file name (without the extension).

HotDocs specifies template keys (using BuildSupportFiles) and provides them (using GetInterview2) on the basis of a parent template, and therefore apply to that parent template and all its dependent files as well.

HotDocs Server will automatically rebuild the cached support files for a template every time you open an interview from an updated template. This feature is automatically turned on when you install HotDocs Server but you can choose to disable this feature.

If your host application needs to access templates from temporary or transient locations such as temp directories, it is strongly recommended that you always pass in a version specific template key that identifies the parent template in your DMS. Using a version-specific key will ensure that HotDocs can appropriately cache supporting files associated with that template and all its dependencies.

HotDocs Server\bin

This folder contains the main HotDocs Server executables, as well as the various utility DLLs used by HotDocs Server. The main application files are:

• HotDocsServer.exe: The HotDocs Server service executable.
• HDAsmEngine.exe: The HotDocs Server assembly engine.

The bin folder contains subfolders for previous version interfaces.

Beginning with HotDocs Server 10, the .NET assembly and primary interop assembly contained in the bin folder appear as HotDocs.Server.dll and HotDocs.Server.Interop.dll to correspond with the new namespace. Earlier versions of HotDocs Server include a LexisNexis prefix on the namespace.

HotDocs Server\HDServerFiles

This folder acts as a virtual directory for the files necessary for viewing browser-based interviews. It contains the following files and subfolders:

• js: Contains the JavaScript files, Silverlight assemblies, and other files used for HotDocs Server's browser-based interviews.
• stylesheets: Contains the cascading style sheets that determine how the HotDocs interview will look.
• You can modify the style sheets (HDSsystem.css, HDSuser.css, and HDSUser.xaml) to alter the interview appearance.

Beginning with HotDocs Server 11 images are stored as sprite images in the stylesheets folder.

• temp: Contains temporary files created during an interview, such as document preview files.

• Web.config: Configuration file.

HotDocs Server\Management\11

This folder contains the following files, which the HotDocs Server Management Tool uses:

HotDocs Server\Web Service API

This folder contains files used by the HotDocs Server Web Service API (if installed). There is a subfolder for each version (e.g., 2008, 10) where you can find the Web Service API and customizable C# source code.