The vast majority of AskiaVista's components are stored in the \AskiaCtrl\ folder. You'll find below some of the most critical / interesting components.

Askia.config

askia.config is a system file used by AskiaVista. It contains information concerning AskiaVista's configuration, such as its database providers for the AskiaVista DB, paths to \AskiaCtrl\ and so forth. As of version 1.1.5.0 you can also tie in references to drive configuration information for custom AskiaAnalyse API portals/projects. Below is an overview of all the configuration values handled by this file:

File structure (v1.1.7.0)

<configuration v="1.1.7.0">
 <appSettings>
 <item id="MainDatabase" v="Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Data Source=DRIVE\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=AskiaVista;Persist Security Info=True;" />
 <item id="ReportDatabase" v="Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Data Source=DRIVE\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=AskiaVistaReport;Persist Security Info=True;" />
 <item id="AskiaVistaPath" v="D:\HTTP\AskiaVista\" />
 <item id="AskiaCtrlPath" v="D:\AskiaCtrl\" />
 <item id="AskiaBasePath" v="D:\AskiaCtrl\" />
 <item id="AskiaQesPath" v="D:\AskiaQes\" />
 <item id="LinkOfAskiaVistaRoot" v="http://drive.askia.com/AskiaVista/" />
 <item id="LinkOfAskiaVista" v="http://drive.askia.com/AskiaVista/Authentificate.aspx" />
 <item id="LinkOfWebSite" v="http://www.askia.com" />
 <item id="LinkForComment" v="" />
 <item id="LinkForDownloadCenter" v="" />
 <item id="LinkForFAQ" v="" />
 <item id="LinkForHelp" v="http://www.askia.com/AskiaUpdater/AskiaVistaHelp.htm?lg=??LanguageId??" />
 <item id="EmlSenderAdr" v="askiavista@askia.com" />
 <item id="EmlSenderName" v="vista // drive.askia.com" />
 <item id="EmlToSendAlert" v="" />
 <item id="SmtpServer" v="127.0.0.1" />
 <item id="SmtpLogin" v="" />
 <item id="SmtpPwd" v="" />
 <item id="AlertLicence" v="60;45;30;15;8;3;1;0" />
 <item id="AppToolBar" v="[+lt]div align=[+q]right[+q] class=[+q]winformcaption[+q][+gt][+lt]b[+gt][+lt]i[+gt]??User??[+lt]/i[+gt][+lt]/b[+gt] .:. [+lt]font size=[+q]-2[+q][+gt]last session: ??LastConnection??[+lt]/font[+gt] .:. [+lt]b[+gt]askiavista[+lt]/b[+gt] [+lt]font size=[+q]-2[+q][+gt]??VersionId??[+lt]/font[+gt][+lt]/div[+gt]" />
 <item id="ManifestAllowDwnd" v="-1" />
 <item id="ManifestUrl" v="http://www.askia.com/AskiaUpdater/AskiaVistaManifest.xml" />
 <item id="AllowSupportAccount" v="-1" />
 <item id="AutoStartAVS" v="-1" />
 <item id="AVSDependOfService" v="0" />
 <item id="AutoStartAVTasksMgr" v="-1" />
 <item id="AutoStartAVManager" v="0" />
 <item id="IsAVMRunning" v="-1" />
 <item id="IsUnicodeEncoding" v="0" />
 <item id="IsAccessLocked" v="0" />
 <item id="AllowKillJITDebugger" v="0" />
 <item id="ChartEngine" v="1" />
 <item id="SessionPresenceTimeOutInSecond" v="30" />
 <item id="SessionActivityTimeOutInSecond" v="900" />
 <item id="SessionMaxLifeInMinute" v="1440" />
 <item id="SessionMaxLoginAttemptsBeforeLock" v="5" />
 <item id="SessionLockTimeOutInMinute" v="10" />
 <item id="PortfolioCacheTimeOutInMinute" v="5" />
 <item id="EmlActivationLnkTimeOutInDay" v="-1" />
 <item id="IsCategories" v="0" />
 <item id="SmtpPort" v="25" />
 <item id="SmtpEnableSSL" v="0" />
 <item id="EncryptionKey" v="ca01370d-7fd3-4aee-Add7-5f5085282cd4" />
 <item id="SessionPort" v="952" />
 <item id="XSSAllowedElements" v="D:\AskiaVistaCtrl\AskiaCtrl\XSSAllowedElements.xml" />
 <item id="DefaultRemoteIp" v="127.0.0.1" />
 <item id="LogsDeletionTimeOutInDay" v="30" />
 <item id="LogsBackupDirectory" v="D:\AskiaCtrl\LogsBackup\" />
 <item id="InstallDir" v="D:\" />
 <item id="IsFreshInstall" v="0" />
 <item id="UseActiveDirectory" v="-1" />
 <item id="ActiveDirectoryPath" v="LDAP://127.0.0.1/dc=askiaparis,dc=local" />
 <item id="ActiveDirectoryAuthType" v="1" />
 </appSettings>
 <askiavista API portal keys>
 <item id="surveyId" v="2" />
 <item id="userId" v="5" />
 <item id="languageId" v="0" />
 <item id="defaultChartTemplateId" v="1" />
 <item id="defaultSettingsId" v="1" />
 <item id="defaultTabStyleId" v="6" />
 </askiavista API portal keys>
 <ajaxSettings>
 <item id="AllowedDomains" v="http://show.askia.com;https://show.askia.com;http://localhost" />
 <item id="SessionTimeout" v="-1" />
 <item id="HelpURL" v="http://help.askia.com/welcome_to_the_assistant_vista" />
 </ajaxSettings>
 <ssoSettings>
 <item id="AuthenticateMode" v="0" />
 <item id="IdentityEncryptionKey" v="my_secret_encryption_key" />
 <item id="AllowedIdentityFilePath" v="D:\AskiaCtrl\SSOTrustKeys.config" />
 <item id="SSOKeyTimeOutInMs" v="10000" />
 </ssoSettings>
</configuration>

AskiaVista Configurator

This component, also known as AVC, is a .NET 2.0 application. It is located in \AskiaCtrl\ and appears as AskiaVistaConfigurator.exe.

It uses AskiaVistaCmn.dll to create, read & update AskiaVista's askia.config file.

Here are the available settings:

Storage & Links: paths to \AskiaCtrl\, \AskiaQes\, ...
Databases: connection strings.
Email: SMTP settings.
Advanced options:

• Disable AVS in current server
• Generate surveys structure
• Dispatch survey (load balance)
• Change location of \AskiaQes\
• Update database(s) with various options (Fast, Skip, etc.)

Migrating the AskiaQes folder

The paths to all surveys are recorded into the AskiaVista database. If the locations of the surveys are ever changed the recorded file path will need to be updated as well.

Note: You'll need the former file path to the surveys and the new file path.

• Select the Advanced Options tab.
• Enter the path of the root directory where all surveys are stored, by default this is C:\Askia\AskiaQes\ , into the Text searching in actual location field and enter the path of the root directory to the location of where the surveys have been moved to in Text replacement input. Then click Replace.

Note: The find and replace function is case-sensitive and will make the best effort to update file paths.

• Once this is completed open SQL Management Studio and browse to the AV_Survey_Categories table.
• Verify that all paths are correct in the Path column and fix the paths for surveys that may have been skipped.

Custom SQL connection strings

Clustered SQL connection

There are instances where the SQL connection builder will be unable to assist you in creating the connection string settings for the askia.config file. This is where you are connecting to special types of clusters and load-balanced SQL servers.
Note: If you are using a single SQL server instance or network load-balancer then the SQL connection builder should still be used.

If you are using a failover cluster than the connection string will need additional parameters that the SQL connection builder will not be able to accept.
An example of a properly formatted failover connection string is displayed below:

AskiaVista database:

Provider=SQLOLEDB.1; Data Source=PRIMARYSERVERADDRESS;Failover Partner=MIRROREDSERVERADDRESS;Initial Catalog=AskiaVista; Persist Security Info=True; User ID=askiavista;Password=askiavista;

AskiaVistaReport database:

Provider=SQLOLEDB.1; Data Source=PRIMARYSERVERADDRESS;Failover Partner=MIRROREDSERVERADDRESS;Initial Catalog=AskiaVistaReport; Persist Security Info=True; User ID=askiavista;Password=askiavista;

These will need to be entered into the main database and reporting database, respectively, without using the connection builder.

CCA Servers

Go to \AskiaCtrl\ (located on the AskiaVista server) and run AskiaVistaConfigurator.exe
Select the CCA Servers tab and click New to add a new CCA Server to your AskiaVista environment.
Specify a caption for this new connection in the Server name field.
Click the ...(Browse) button to specify the SQL connection string to the CCA's Surveys DB.

• Select the appropriate database engine in the Type of database dropdown¹. 
• Specify the name of the server in the Server name field.
• Enter the appropriate authentication credentials (either for Windows Authentication or a dedicated SQL user name and password) in the User name & Password fields.
• Specify the name of the target database (that would generally be the Surveys database) in the Database name field.
• Review the information you provided and click OK.

The view now displays the connection string you just specified in the below format:

Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Data Source=SQLInstanceName;Initial Catalog=NameOfTheSurveysDB;Persist Security Info=true;User ID=myUID;Password=myPWD

Click Test to confirm that AskiaVista will be able to connect to the CCA's Surveys DB. If the test is a Success, click Apply and then Save.

AskiaVista Manager

This component, also known as AVM, is a Windows service that controls and monitors AskiaVista sessions. It is located in the \AskiaCtrl\ folder. With AskiaVista Manager it is capable of:

• Start/stop AVM service.
• Log events into Windows Server's Event logs.
• Terminate an active AskiaVista user session.
• Check the continued presence or activity of an AskiaVista user.
• Disconnect a connected user.

AskiaVista Manager is a critical component of AskiaVista. Without AVM running AskiaVista is unable to function properly, and will not be able to report or inform of an error such as a stopped service on the login page.

AskiaVista Server

This component, also known as AVS, loads and manages survey metadata in the server's memory; it also handles and optimises all calculation queries such as cross-tabbing, Calculated variables & Filters. AskiaVista Server thus loads the following information into RAM:

• Survey metadata, (QES, QEW)
• Case data of 10 variables² for each survey
• Level information³
• Case data for variables⁴ used in a TabDef when an AskiaVista user clicks on Results

It is located in the \AskiaCtrl\ folder. It runs as a service in AskiaVista, and can be restarted from Admin-view. When started manually on the server the component will display a minimalistic GUI.

AskiaVista Task Manager

This component, also known as AVTM, manages the following:

• Generates survey structure XML files
• Runs AskiaVista's Scheduled Tasks
• Sends AskiaVista's emails

It is located in the \AskiaCtrl\ folder. It runs as a service in AskiaVista, and can be restarted from Admin-view. When started manually on the server the component can be used via its GUI.

Data Inverter

AskiaVistaInverter is a modified version of AskiaAnalyse which enables AskiaVista to perform near real-time data analysis. It is located in the \AskiaCtrl\ folder. To learn how AskiaVista can perform near real-time analysis, please read the Invert & Reload Task article from the Knowledge Base.

¹ We strongly recommend using SQL Server rather than MS Access.
² AVS uses an algorithm to automatically load the case data for the top 10 variables most used by AskiaVista users - so as to even further accelerate the rendering time for tables & charts.
³ This is loaded upon the first use of a Level in a TabDef rendering; once loaded into RAM, this info remains loaded until AVS is restarted.
⁴ Once the table and/or chart is rendered, the data is unloaded from RAM.