User manual for “Concurrent-User Online” subscriptions

General information

Introduction

Your organization has purchased concurrent user subscription terms of 1 or 5 years to publications in the CODES–GUIDES Online Library. This manual covers access to these publications through the CODES–GUIDES Online Library user interface.

The CODES–GUIDES publications are available as encrypted PDF files which are unlocked when users access the Online Library.

See the sections on minimum system requirements and set-up before proceeding.

Features

User-friendly

Concurrent user subscriptions allow a number of users to simultaneously access the Codes and Guides via the Internet from any computer (Mac or PC) connected to their organization's network at a registered location or through a VPN connection without having to log in. The number of concurrent users is limited to the number of licences purchased by your organization for a specified registered location (organizations may have more than one registered location).

The electronic format (PDF) of the Construction Codes and Guides presents a number of value-added features, such as hyperlinks and instant search capability, while preserving the same layout as the printed versions.

Hyperlinks

The Codes and Guides contain thousands of internal links to referenced Articles, Sentences, Clauses, Subclauses, Tables, Figures, Appendix Notes and defined terms. Clicking on these links takes you directly to the text of the stated reference.

Updates

With the CODES–GUIDES Online Library subscriptions, you always have access to up-to-date publications. The main Library page displays the most recent version of your publications as well as all the previous ones. A Revisions and Errata section at the beginning of each Code lists the changes that have been made since that document was first published. Updates include any approved revisions and errata to the National or Provincial Codes (Guides are seldom updated between editions).

Searching

You can search for terms and phrases within your publications using the built-in search functionality of Acrobat Reader. Consult the Acrobat Reader Help menu for detailed information on performing searches in PDF documents.

Printing

Printing is disabled for the Codes and Guides. You can copy and paste document excerpts (text, tables, figures, etc.) into a word-processing application, such as MS Word, and print them.

Copying

The publications to which your organization has subscribed are copyrighted by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and protected by Canadian Copyright Law and international treaty provisions. Your right to reproduce portions of the documents is limited by the Licence Agreement; please read it carefully before copying any excerpts. Such excerpts may only be incorporated into a single new document and must not be altered in any way that could affect their meaning. The source of an excerpt must be acknowledged.

You can copy and paste document excerpts (text, tables, figures, etc.) into a word-processing application, such as MS Word.

Technical support

Technical support information on the CODES–GUIDES Online Library is available on the web site under Client support. You can also contact your Concurrent User site Administrator (CUA).

Minimum system requirements

Internet access

You must have Internet access to view the online publications.

Hardware

Any recent PC or Mac desktop or laptop computer should be adequate for using the CODES–GUIDES Online Library: 1 GB RAM, 100 MB of free disk space, 2 GHz processor.

Software

• Supported operating systems and Web browsers:
  • Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista or Windows 7:
    • Internet Explorer Version 7.0 or greater
    • Firefox 4 or greater
  • Mac:
    • Safari 5.0.2 or greater.
• Javascript and cookies must be enabled.
• Adobe Acrobat or Reader must be installed.
• FileOpen plug-in for Adobe Acrobat or Reader must be installed.

Once Adobe Acrobat or Reader is installed, download and install the FileOpen plug-in. To confirm that the plug-in is successfully installed, open Acrobat or Reader and find the item for Acrobat Third-Party Plug-ins; you should see FileOpen WebPublisher listed there.

Viewing secured PDF files

Mac

1. Install FileOpen and Acrobat Reader (if not installed yet).
2. Verify FileOpen plug-in is properly installed:
   1. Open Acrobat/Reader > Preferences > 3d party plug-ins
   2. FileOpen WebPublisher should be listed there.
3. To ensure that PDF files open in Adobe Acrobat or Reader and NOT in PDF Viewer:
   1. Open Acrobat or Reader.
   2. Go to Preferences > Internet.
   3. Check off "Display PDF in browser using" and select "Adobe Reader XXX" from the drop-down menu. Make sure it is the app with the FileOpen installed, see item 2.
4. If using Mac 10.6 see instructions from Adobe:
   Acrobat PDF Plug-in Does Not Load in Safari 64-bit Web Browser on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6).

Accessing and viewing the publications

Once the subscriptions have been activated, your CUA will send you an email containing a link to the CODES–GUIDES Online Library Web page. Click on this link to get to the page entitled "Access my publications," which lists the active publications for your organization. Figure 1 shows an example.

To view an active publication, click on the link indicating the printing of the publication, under the document title (Figure 1). The document will load and open in a separate window.

If, at any given time, the number of users currently viewing the publication you are trying to access exceeds the number of licences purchased for that publication, the message shown in Figure 2 will appear.