Instant Testing lets you quickly test each new version directly after conversion.

Instant Testing offers several time-saving services to developers:

• After you convert a wrap to a web page, it opens automatically in one or more of your web browsers.
• The wrap can be directly accessed from other devices on the same network, without uploading it to a web server.

Instant Testing helps you and other people visualize the wrap in a web browser. However, the wrap does not have any server functionality until it is uploaded to the server.

Introduction

Automatic preview in your web browser

Use the Browsers and Conversion Path Option in the Options menu in the Convert section of the ribbon to select what browsers to use for Instant Preview.

Select one or more web browsers by clicking on their icons – click once to activate a browser, click once again to deactivate. After each conversion, the converted wrap will open automatically in all the selected browsers.

Remember to use Refresh

If you are viewing a converted web page from a distance on another device, you only need the address to the Instant Testing device the first time you open the page. If you already have the converted wrap open in your web browser, just press the Reload button. It is usually a circular arrow (it looks like a “rotate clockwise” symbol) and it is often located near the website address field.

Default user settings

During Instant Testing of a wrap, you are not authenticated and so we use defaults for your ExcelWraps user settings. If the wrap wants to know your role, you will be authenticated as a User.

Testing in other computers

The Instant Testing web server in the development workstation attempts to provide the converted web page to any computer or another device on the same network. Copy the link and send it to other devices via e-mail or messaging.

We instruct the firewall to allow access to the Instant Testing server only from Private networks, and we don’t recommend that you open it on Public networks (like at your local coffee shop). If you want to open the firewall to enable Instant Testing also from other secure, in-house networks within your corporate domain, you should open the firewall settings for Inbound connections, and locate the entry for the WrapCreator Local server. On the Advanced tab, tick the checkbox for Domain, but not for Public.

Troubleshooting

During the installation of WrapCreator, we install a tiny web server in the development environment that serves the converted wraps to web browsers in the same PC, or to other devices on the same network.

You may be unable to connect to the development environment. In this case, you may get time-out error messages in your web browser saying

• the page can’t be reached or displayed
• the server is taking too long to respond
• the connection has timed out.

You should also check the Messages tab of the task pane for error messages like these from the conversion:

• Local web server error: The server failed to start.
• Localhost Error: the page could not preview from localhost.

All devices must be on the same network

If you are trying to access the web page in the development workstation from another device, you should double-check that you are indeed connected to the same network as the development workstation. Your device should typically be showing a wifi symbol for the local network – don’t try this with a phone that says it’s connected with 5G, 4G or any other “G” because it probably won’t be able to reach your local devices.

Good:       Bad: 

“Localhost” is, well, local

If the link you have contains the word localhost, it can only be used on the development workstation. To use the link from another computer on the local network, you must replace “localhost” with the local network address to the development workstation. Read more under Determine the local network address below.

Using more than one IP address in the development workstation

To access the preview web server in the development workstation, other devices need to know its network address. All computers on a network have more than one so-called IP address that can be used to refer to it. Sometimes it’s pretty easy to determine this address, but there are a number of more complex network configurations that we just cannot handle automatically.

• Multiple network adapters: Computer C1 is connected to networks A and B using two network adapters. Computer A1 on network A wants to use Instant Testing on C1, and it needs to use the A interface and address for C1. Computer B1 on network B wants to use Instant Testing on C1, and it needs to use the B interface and address for C1. B1 cannot use the A address since it isn’t even connected to network A and it has no way to communicate with any device on that network. And there have to be two or more QR codes to choose from as well, depending on whether the mobile device is connected to network A or B.
• Active VPN connection: If you are using a Virtual Private Network, it may have established several additional IP addresses for the advanced routing of packages across the VPN connection.
• Internet Connection Sharing: If you are sharing your Internet connection with other users on the same network, there will be special reserved IP addresses for this that cannot be used for Instant Testing or Live Preview.

In cases like these, we must hand the problem over to you, or someone with basic networking skills that can help you determine the correct IP address and firewall settings.

Determine the local network address

Here are the initial steps to identify the development workstation’s “true” IP address on the local network:

• Open a Command Prompt on the development workstation.
• Type route print.
• The output from route print contains all the different network Interfaces. One of these IP addresses can be used to access your computer from the local network.
• Move to the screen of any computer on the local network from which you want to connect to the development workstation.
• In the link, insert the IP addresses from the Interfaces column above, one by one, until you find one that works from that particular device.

Hint: the link should eventually look something like this:

For Instant Testing:
http://192.168.59.2:8888/l/weekly-time-card/weekly-time-card.htm

Antivirus issues

Some overly anxious antivirus and Internet security programs may incorrectly identify portions of our product as malware. We frequently see false alarms related to the node-ssc.exe or node.exe programs, in particular from Bitdefender. If you get such messages, you may have to whitelist the program or disable the antivirus program completely while using WrapCreator.

Read more on the help page for Internet security software.

Firewall issues

The only traffic going into your network should be things that you or someone else asked for, like web pages, downloaded files or e-mail. Your network has one or more “firewalls” that prevent unauthorized network connections to your devices. If someone on the outside attempts to connect to a suspicious program in your laptop, it’s probably a bad thing. One of the firewalls should detect and prevent this intrusion.

Most networks have a primary firewall in or near the network’s outermost router or gateway, the one that connects your network to the public Internet. Many network devices like computers and smartphones also have their own firewalls. The firewalls monitor the applications to see what network ports they open, and allow data to flow through authorized connections. Unauthorized connections are terminated.

When we install our small web server in the development workstation, we do attempt to register it properly in the Windows Firewall. In case it doesn’t work as expected, you must adjust the firewall to enable access to the built-in web server, or our preview functionality will be unavailable. Please follow the instructions below.

The built-in server automatically finds a free incoming port, so the port number may change. You must ensure that the firewall is open for all ports that are opened by node-ssc.exe, not only the port number it is currently using.

The instruction on how to change these settings in the Windows Firewall are below. Please follow the instructions relevant to the version of Windows that is used in the development environment. If you use a third-party firewall, please follow the corresponding instructions in the applicable documentation.

Windows 8 and Windows 10

These instructions apply to the development workstation, e.g. the PC where you have installed WrapCreator, if it’s running Windows 8 or Windows 10.

1. Open the Windows Firewall control panel.
2. In the left pane, click Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall.
3. Click Change settings at #1 on the screenshot below. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4. Select the check box next to the node-ssc.exe or node.exe program at #2 on the screenshot above.
5. Select the check box for Private at #3 on the screenshot below. Deselect the check box for Public so that the web server is not accessible for users of insecure public networks.
6. Click OK.
7. Close the Windows Firewall control panel.
8. Move to the cell phone, tablet or laptop that you were using to test the online calculator. Refresh the calculator web page in the web browser – the page that got the time-out error message – and it will probably load correctly now. If it doesn’t, don’t hesitate to contact our Help Desk.

Windows 7

These instructions apply to the development workstation, e.g. the PC where you have installed WrapCreator, if it’s running Windows 7.

1.  Open the Windows Firewall control panel.
2. In the left pane, click Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall.
3. Click Change settings at #1 on the screenshot below. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4. Select the check box next to the node-ssc.exe or node.exe program at #2 on the screenshot above.
5. Select the check box for Home/Work (Private) at #3 on the screenshot below. Deselect the check box for Public so that the web server is not accessible for users of insecure public networks.
6. Click OK.
7. Close the Windows Firewall control panel.
8. Move to the cell phone, tablet or laptop that you were using to test the online calculator. Refresh the calculator web page in the web browser – the page that got the time-out error message – and it will probably load correctly now. If it doesn’t, don’t hesitate to contact our Help Desk.