Firewall May Block Windows Plugin?

[Jun Homma]

Hi there,

I am running a self-made content management system in my office, and having a problem with ScriptMaster plugin on Windows.

My solution utilizes ScriptMaster's "GetUrlAsText" function to fetch XML from our intranet system. It works on my MAC perfectly, but when it comes to WINDOWS, the plugin (360Works_ScriptMaster.fmx) always fails to establish network connection and shows time-out error.

I am wondering if our company's firewall is blocking communication. Does the plugin use any special ports other than 80? Any ideas???

I have tried to figure out what's wrong by trying these cases:

- On Showcase file (ScriptMaster.fp7) , GetUrlAsTest function fails to establish net connection. The plugin seems to be loaded correctly, and "basic example" on top of the modules list does work.

- Custom plugin generation of ScriptMaster Advanced also fails as showing network connection error, when used on Windows PCs in my office.

- The problem is reproduced on multiple Windows PCs in my office, with XP and Vista. No difference between Filemaker Pro 10 and 11 Advanced environment.

- Custom plugin ( Windows version which has produced on my Mac ) does not work also.

- IE, Firefox and other internet clients, including Filemaker's Web Viewer, works nicely on same machines.

- On a Windows PC in my home, the plugin does work. No problem.

- Using Sun Java 1.6.x. I checked firewall settings in Sun Java control panel, inputted same values as the browser but nothing changes.

- I've tried a freeware plugin which has similar networking function. It also stops at error 500.

FYI... currently Filemaker (master database) is running on Mac OS 10.6 Server and accessed by Windows PCs via IWP (browsers). Both Mac/Win machines in my office has Symantec installed. The mac plugin works well in this environment. However, IWP engine often become unstable and I want to switch to client-server system using FileMaker client applications.

I tried to use Filemaker's original GetObjectAttribute function instead, but having problem with getting content from Web Viewer because XML purser of IE browser engine - which is used in Web Viewer - generates dirty source. Any workaround ideas are welcomed.

Thanks.

[Jun Homma]

One thing.. the GetUrlAsTest function fails to connect any websites, like Filemaker.com or Google.com.

[dansmith65]

I just did a quick search for "Groovy URL", and found this link: http://groovy.codehaus.org/Simple+file+download+from+URL

It mentions proxy configuration; do you connect to the internet through a proxy?

I also found this link: http://groovy.codehaus.org/modules/http-builder/apidocs/groovyx/net/http/URIBuilder.html

maybe you could utilize this function instead, which allows you to set the port used.

[Jun Homma]

It mentions proxy configuration; do you connect to the internet through a proxy?

Yes, Dan. We have proxy in our intranet and it seems the plugin cannot go through it.

However, I cannot figure out why mac doesn't have the same problem.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Groovy or Java codes.

Those links you have mentioned is for making custom functions using ScriptMaster?

Thank you very much for your suggestion.

[dansmith65]

Yes, Dan. We have proxy in our intranet and it seems the plugin cannot go through it.

However, I cannot figure out why mac doesn't have the same problem.

I can't tell you why, but perhaps Mac's save the proxy settings differently than Windows computers do.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with Groovy or Java codes.

Those links you have mentioned is for making custom functions using ScriptMaster?

Yes, they are. Building custom functions is fairly straight-forward stuff. In this scenario, I think you should try puting the proxy settings in the ScriptMaster function and see if it works. I got this line of code from one of those links I posted...

System.properties.putAll( ["http.proxyHost":"proxy-host", "http.proxyPort":"proxy-port","http.proxyUserName":"user-name", "http.proxyPassword":"proxy-passwd"] )

[Smef]

I suspect that your issue is related to your particular computer, rather than the network. Your network (most likely) doesn't know what OS a computer is using, but your antivirus/firewall installed on your particular windows machines are quite likely to block filemaker and plugins from accessing the web.

[Jun Homma]

Thanks again.

The same proxy setting is applied for all machines in my office, including mac.

Both Mac and Windows have Symantec installed but Windows have newer version ( Endpoint Protection )

One possibility is that Symantec is doing some wrong thing.

I will tweak windows' proxy settings, try the code Dan gave me and report on this later.

[Tammo]

I will tweak windows' proxy settings, try the code Dan gave me and report on this later.

Try this modified version. I wrote this one for SM 3.33, think they've changed something in 4.123, so maybe you just take the upper four lines.

RegisterGroovy( "GetURLasText_Proxy( url ; proxyHost ; proxyPort )" ; "if (proxyHost != null && proxyPort != null )¶

{¶

	System.properties.putAll( [\"http.proxyHost\":proxyHost, \"http.proxyPort\":proxyPort] );¶

}¶

URL url = new URL(url);¶

InputStream input = url.openStream();¶

try {¶

	StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer( input.available() );¶

	Reader r = new InputStreamReader( input, \"utf-8\" );¶

	char[] buff = new char[2048];¶

	int charsRead;¶

	while( (charsRead=r.read( buff )) != -1 ) {¶

		sb.append( buff, 0, charsRead );¶

	}¶

	return sb.toString();¶

} finally {¶

	input.close();¶

}" )