Installing the Web Services API

Before you can use the Web Services API you need in run the installer you received from your HotDocs representative.

To install Web Services API

1. Double-click setup.exe.
2. Click Next.
3. (Optional) Click Change... to change the install path from the default value.
4. Click Next.
5. Select the Do you want to create a website in IIS option; you will need to manually create the website if this option is not selected.
6. Select a Port Number option:
• Install under the default IIS site (Port 80) – configures the Web Services API application to use Port 80.
• Install under a specified port –configures the Web Services API application to use a custom port; you must then enter a port number:
1. Enter a Port Number
7. Click Next.
8. (Optional) Enter the fully qualified URI – with a trailing forward slash – for the HotDocsTemplateHubApi application installed in IIS; this is only required if you are using HotDocs Hub as part of your solution.
9. Click Next.
10. Click Install.

The installer for the Web Services API creates a site in your local IIS named ‘HDSWebAPI’ at the port number you assign during the install process. The installer also creates a new application pool named ‘HDSWebAPIAppPool’ that is assigned to the site, and gives the user ‘NETWORK SERVICE’ full permissions to the site in order for it run.

Working with root files

After installing the Web Services API you can access the following files in your root destination folder (set in step 2 above):

Web.Config

There are only two settings you can edit in the web.config file. You can change the location of the Content folder and you can choose not to allow users to upload templates to your site.

To change the location of the Content folder

1. Open the web.config file.
2. Locate the appSettings block near the top of the file.
3. Locate the following line: <add key="ContentDirectory" value="~/Content"/>
4. Change the value to your new file path. Do not change the key.

To stop users from uploading templates to your site

1. Open the web.config file.
2. Locate the appSettings block near the top of the file.
3. Locate the following line: <add key="AllowPackageUpload" value="true"/>
4. Change the value to "false". Do not change the key.
5. Now any request to the Upload Package method returns a 403 forbidden request message and is not allowed.

Template Cache

You can find the template cache in the Content folder in the root directory. HotDocs creates a new folder for each template package (.hdpkg) uploaded. The new folder is named with the template package ID.

Unlike Cloud Services, the template cache in Web Services API is permanent.

Logging

Web Services API uses log4net for logging, you can view the log4net.config file in the root directory. It is configured to create a text file (log.text) which you can view in the Logs folder (also located in the root directory), and to write to the system event log which you can view from the event manager.