Application: ID Investigator
     Version: 1.35
Release Date: October 22, 2003


1/ Description:
ID Investigator is a simple utility for Lotus Notes administrators to allow easy interrogation of ID files.  You can either assign it as an application to handle *.id files in Windows Explorer, or drag ID file icons onto the program icon, in order to load the utility.

Once loaded a window will appear showing the full name of the ID file as well as several properties of it. There is also the facility to verify the ID file password.  This allows an administrator to effectively handle stored IDs without the need to constantly switch between User IDs in the Notes client or having to start up the Administrator client.


2/ Requirements:
The ID Investigator is only available for use on x86 Windows based operating systems, and should run on any 32-bit version (Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP). Lotus Notes also needs to have been installed on the machine on which this utility is to be used (of course).  It has been used with both R5 and R6 releases.


3/ Installation:
The ID Investigator is a single executable file. If you do not have the Lotus Notes directory in your search path (by default this is C:\Lotus\Notes) then you will need to place the ID Investigator in the Lotus Notes directory, your notes.ini should also be either in this directory or specified in your search path.


4/ Usage:
4.1/ Setting up the Utility:
You can open an ID file in the ID Investigator in a number of ways.  

4.1.1/ Drag and Drop:
The easiest of which is to drag and drop an ID file onto the program icon.  You can also make a shortcut to the ID Investigator on your desktop and drag icons onto this.

4.1.2/ Send To:
Another way of using this utility is to add it to the Send To menu that appears when you right click on a file.  When you select an ID file, right click, select Send To, then select ID Investigator (or whatever name you choose) from the sub-menu.

To add an icon to the Send To menu you just need to create a shortcut icon in the appropriate directory as shown below.

In Windows 95, 98, ME:The shortcut icon should be placed in C:\Windows\SendTo , replacing C:\Windows with the path for your Windows directory if this is different.

In Windows NT: 
The shortcut icon should be placed in C:\Winnt\Profiles\<username>\SendTo , replacing C:\Winnt with the path for your Windows directory if this is different, and by replacing <username> with your Windows logon name.

In Windows 2000 and XP:
The shortcut icon should be placed in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\LocalSettings\SendTo , again replace C:\Windows with your Windows directory path if different and replacing <username> with your Windows logon name.  Please note that SendTo is hidden by default so you will need to manually enter this path.

4.1.3/ File Association
Finally, you can associate the ID Investigator with all files that have a .id file extension so that when you double click on them they will load the utility.

In Windows 95, 98, ME, NT and 2000:
To do this simply select an ID file and then right click and select the "Open With..." option from the menu.  If "Open With..." does not appear then you will need to try again but hold down Shift while you right click.  In the resulting dialogue box ensure "Always use the selected program to open this type of file" is selected then click "Other".  In the resulting File Selector window locate and select the ID Investigator then choose "Open" then click "OK" to close the dialogue box.

In Windows XP:
Select an ID file and right click, Select "Open With..." from the menu if available, otherwise select "Open".  A dialogue box will appear claiming that the file type has not been recognized, choose the option to select the program from a list and click "OK".  Another dialogue will now appear, ensure that "Always use the selected program to open this type of file" is selected then click "Browse", in the resulting File Selector window locate and select the ID Investigator then choose "Open" and then click "OK" to close the dialogue box.

4.2/ Using the Utility:
Using the ID Installer is as simple as opening an ID file in one of the ways described above (in the Setting up the Utility section).  A small window will appear showing the ID file name and the username stored in the ID file at the top of the window.  The middle section contains a set of check boxes that indicate which flags have been set for the ID file.  Finally the lower portion of the window allows for the password to be verified and changed.

If you enter a password in the Password field and click on "Check" you will be informed whether or not the password entered is correct for the ID file.  Once the right password has been entered the "Check" button will be replaced by a "Change" button so that you can change the ID file password.  Clicking this button will replace the box indicating the password is correct with two input boxes so that you can enter a new password, this must be entered twice to ensure accuracy.  Once the password has been entered you can change it by clicking "Update".  The new password is constrained by the ID file security level, chosen when the ID was created, if you enter a password that Lotus Notes considers to be below strength or invalid the password will not be changed.

4.3/ Closing the Utility:
It couldn't be simpler, as well as the usual Windows close window box on the window's Title bar and the "Close" option on the small menu which appears when you click the program icon (not to mention double clicking on the program icon), you can just press Escape.


5/ Revision History:

V1.35 - Fixed a bug which now saw a strength of zero being displayed as one - and verified that both work.
V1.31 - Changed the way password strength are displayed to stop a setting of one being displayed as zero.
V1.31 - Slight cosmetic improvement to align boxes in lefthand column.
V1.3 - You can now press Return when validating a password.
V1.3 - Allows blank passwords to be validated.
V1.3 - When a password is validated it will display the password strength.

No revision history is available - v1.22 is the first public release of ID Investigator.

All versions from 1.00 are stable (really), they just never got publicly released and so pre-date the start of this history log.


6/ Outstanding Issues, Bugs, and Future Features:
The following issues have been identified with the ID Investigator which should be rectified in later releases:
* Only Error codes are returned rather than meaningful messages,

And here is a little wish list of future features, which may or may not appear:
* Handle multiple ID files within one window.
* Rename filename of ID file.


7/ The Small Print:
The ID Investigator is provided free of charge, its use is at the user's risk and Aperantos Ltd. cannot be held responsible for any damage which may result.


Aperantos Ltd. © 2003