This document will run you through the steps required to setup HowNow Server for API integration and/or Data Sync. Note that this process is quite long and can take some hours, recommend setting aside 3-4 hours at least, just in case as this setup can be very particular.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HowNow Server Setup
Obtain remote access to the firms HowNow server.
Open the browser on the firm’s server.
On your machine, navigate to Support Downloads and copy the link address of HowNow Server General.
Paste the link in the browser on the firm’s server to download.
Once downloaded, go to the Downloads folder, right-click on the HowNowServerGeneral ZIP and select Properties, click Unblock and click OK to apply the change.
Double-Click the folder and select all items, right-click and select Copy.
Go to the HowNow folder and paste the files.
Locate HowNowServer.exe, right-click and select Create Shortcut.
Right-click on the new Shortcut and select Properties.
Rename the Shortcut from “– Shortcut” to “– GUI” and add /GUI to the target path.
Open the HowNowServer.ini file in Notepad, update the details to match that of the HowNow.ini file.
If the HowNowServer.ini file is not present, obtain this from G drive.
The ConnectionString line should be [Servername]:[Alias from HowNow.ini file]Confirm that the HowNow.ini file contains a DAVServer line, if not, create this now.
The format of the line should be [ServerName]:[Port, the standard ports used are either 8080 or 8092.
Save the HowNowServer.ini file and double-click the GUI shortcut to open the interface for HowNow Server.
Confirm that the user list on the left side of the window does not list System Restore repeatedly.
If it says System Restore repeatedly in the user list, move to Troubleshooting.Navigate to the Log tab and check for any errors.
The most common error here is “Firm not enabled for API access”. If this is the error being received:
Close HowNow Server.
Open the Support Utility.
Run SELECT FirmID FROM Options.
If this is blank, obtain the Account ID from CRM for the firm and copy.
If this is not blank, speak to development for further assistance.Run UPDATE Options SET FirmID = ‘[AccountIDFromCRM]’
Rerun the select script above, confirm that the change was applied.
Minimise the Support Utility and reopen Server GUI.
Confirm that the error isn’t present in the Log tab.
If the error is still present, speak to development for further assistance.
The second most common is “Cannot perform this operation on a closed dataset”, this is usually caused by an old version of HowNow Server, if HowNow Server was already present when you got onto the server, download the latest version now. If you downloaded HowNow Server before this error message, speak to development for further assistance.
Any errors other than that above, speak to development for further assistance.
Go to the HowNow Support Utility, run:
SELECT UserId, Passcode FROM Members
WHERE IsAdministrator = ‘Y’ AND IsActive = ‘Y’Locate a user in the list, copy the UserID and Passcode, then open HowNow and login using these details.
Go to File > System Tools > Advanced > API Integration.
Enable the API relevant to the setup you are performing and copy the key to a notepad.
You can use one of the Custom API keys if the integration is not listed.
If you are setting up an integration, move to API Setup & Testing
If you are setting up Data Sync, move to HowNowServer installation
API Setup & Testing
Follow these steps for API setup for integrations only.
Obtain the HowNow.Server.Client from G drive, or Development, and copy to the Firm’s server.
Unpack the HowNow.Server.Client ZIP to the HowNow folder (put this in its own subfolder).
Open the config file and update the values to match that of the HowNow.ini and HowNowServer.ini files.
When entering the domain name and username, do not include .local in the domain name.Paste the API key you generated at the end of the last set of steps into the API section of the config.
Save the config and open HowNow.Server.Client.exe.
Go to the Support Utility and run: SELECT * FROM Clients WHERE EntityName like ‘%Test%’
Locate the ClientID of a test client. If there is not one here, check with the client if they have a test client.
Enter the test clients ClientID into the tool when prompted.
When asked for a location to save to, go to the Support Utility and run:
SELECT LocationID, Description FROM FileLocations Order By RowIDCheck if the Record Location is called either Contacts or Clients, type this into the Server Client.
In Support Utility locate the location to save to, the location must have a ColumnID of 1, and must not have a location under it with a ColumnID of 2. We generally use the Permanent location if it exists.
Copy over or create a test file that we can bring into HowNow, ensure that this file has contents or it will fail to import.
Copy the path to this file by selecting the file, hold shift, then right-click and select Copy as Path.
Paste the path into the Server Client and remove the quotes at either end of the path.
The Server Client should give you a result once this is complete, if this failed, move to Troubleshooting.
If this was successful, try opening the file in HowNow.If the file opens, move on to HowNowServer Installation, if not, move to Troubleshooting.
HowNowServer Installation
These steps will run you though installing the HowNow Server as a service.
Close the Server GUI.
Open Start and open CMD as Administrator.
CD to the HowNow folder.
Run HowNowServer.exe /install
Once installed, go to Services and start HowNow Server.
For Integration setup, perform steps 6 & 7.
For Data Sync, move to Data Sync Setup.
Retest the API using the Server Client.
If successful, setup is complete.
If failed, move to Troubleshooting.
Data Sync Setup
On your machine, navigate to Support Downloads and copy the link address of Data Sync General.
Paste the link to the browser of the firm machine and download the setup exe.
Once downloaded, run the installer and input the API key you generated.
For detailed Data Sync setup steps, go here for Xero, or go here for iFirm.
Troubleshooting
These steps are general in nature and may not include the actual fix required for the firm you are working on as each firm has a different environmental setup.
Further information on the HowNow Server parameters and configuration can be found in Freshdesk:
https://support.hownowhq.com/a/solutions/articles/5000780974?portalId=5000074921
If you identify another troubleshooting step, please add this below for future reference.
System Restore is displayed in the list of users | NOTE: I have yet to notice whether this causes any issues or not-RS, 24 Nov '22
Close Server GUI.
Right-Click on the GUI Shortcut and select Properties.
Edit the target path to include /NODOMAIN at the end of the path, after /GUI.
Test again.
If testing is successful, come back to step 6 when you are up to step 4 of HowNowServer Installation.
If testing was unsuccessful, confirm that the HowNowServer.ini file has the correct information, and matches the HowNow.ini file, then try again.Go to Regedit, navigate to Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\HowNowServer\
Edit the path to the HowNowServer.exe to include /NODOMAIN at the end of the path.
Continue from step 5 of HowNowServer installation.
Server Client failed to save the file to HowNow, or the file won’t open from HowNow
Close Server GUI and Server Client.
Go to the Server GUI shortcut and right-click, select Run as Administrator.
Go to HowNow.Server.Client.exe and right-click, select Run as Administrator.
Test again.
If successful, continue setup and come back to step 6 when you have completed HowNowServer Installation.
If this fails, check the path displayed in the server GUI, confirm that this is correct, make necessary adjustments to the HowNow Server ini file and test again. Otherwise, confirm that the user account has permissions to the storage location, or seek assistance from their IT.Once HowNow Server is installed, open Services, right-click on HowNow Server and select Properties.
Change the user account to the Administrator account, or a service account with administrator permissions.
Save the changes and start the service.
Server Client is crashing when trying to retrieve information
Close the Server Client and check the HowNow Server log tab.
If the requests to the server are stating unauthorised user, try changing the username in the Server Client config file.
Check that the Domain Name is correct in the HowNow Server log tab (this is displayed in the yellow settings at the top of the log pane), if this isn’t correct, specify the domain in the HowNow Server ini file as DomainName=[Domain]. Confirm that the Domain you changed this to matches the Server Client config file also.
Any changes to the Server ini file or Server Client config file will only be applied after closing and reopening.If changing domain and/or username is not yielding success, try the /NODOMAIN parameter detailed in the steps for System Restore, or remove this parameter if it was added previously and test again with a different username.
You can set the Server Client username to a local account by putting .\ before the username (replacing the domain) or try using WORKGROUP\ if .\ doesn’t work.
If these steps didn’t assist, recheck your work or start from scratch and try again.