Communication with the Essilor web services is done by means of a communication program in Rx-Universe called "ESSDIGITAL.EXE".
When communication problems are encountered in setting up connection between a lab and the VCApp at Essilor, launching ESSDIGITAL in "demo" mode can be very useful in determining the underlying problems.
To use, you will need an already-created LDS file.
From the command prompt, in the RxUniverse folder, type
essdigital.exe demo
The following screen will appear:
The top line is the URL of the Essilor server, used in Rx-Universe and assigned by Essilor. In this example, the QA site will be used (the URL for the lab WILL be different!).
The "VCA in file name" is the complete path to an LDS file already created for Essilor.
The "results file name" is where the results from the web service will be placed.
DEO GUID will be populated after a successful "Submit", and "Function result" will show the result of the particular option (Submit, Check, or Retrieve).
Here is an example of a successful communication, starting with the first submission:
Clicking submit gives the result:
The GUID is the "link" with Essilor's calculator. Clicking "Check" will give the following
The "Function result" of "false" means the calculation results are not yet available. When the results are available, the Check will return "good".
Once the function result of the "Check" is "good", the results can be obtained using the "Retrieve" option:
If communication does not work (for some reason), the "function result" could return different messages - in many cases, these will be Windows error messages, which (by googling) can be informative as to what is happening.
For example, in the following case, after a "Submit":
The Essilor web service has returned "false" in response to the submission, meaning the file has been rejected (hence no GUID ID). In this case, it is because the particular Lab ID (in the LDS file) does not exist on this server, so the Essilor web service rejects the job.
In this example, the error in the "function result" is not all visible, but you can click into the box and see the entire message, which is:
error:The remote name could not be resolved: 'dsq.essilorlink.com'
This indicates the server name couldn't be found on the internet - in this case, it is because it was mis-typed.
Other errors can include:
expectation failed 417 - this is a Windows error, and is generated when the correct response is not received back from the receiving server (in this case Essilor) after Rx-Universe sends the HTTP POST to submit the job. This indicates the communication on port 80 is being interrupted, which could be a firewall setting, a router setting, corporate policies, or even the ISP.