It was announced that on September 30, NCBI will completely transition their web services from HTTP to HTTPS. NCBI had notified us that this deadline has been extended to November 9. The update must be installed by all eXtyles customers who use PubMed reference linking tools by November 9. After this date, NCBI will turn off HTTP access, and the existing eXtyles PubMed feature will cease to function unless this critical patch is installed, or unless you are using build 3500 or later.
The initial deadline for applying this patch was November 9, 2016. As of January 20, 2017, the grace period given to eXtyles users for HTTP-support for PubMed Reference Checking is ended.
To install this patch, please refer to the instructions and patch files available on the eXtyles website (direct link: http://www.inera.com/_blog/news/post/critical-extyles-patch-for-pubmed-linking-and-correction).
Trouble-shooting
"The eXtyles server has experienced a programmatic error"
After applying the HTTPS patch, you may encounter the following error message when running the PubMed Linking feature:
This is likely caused by the file XProcLib.dll from the HTTPS patch not being copied to the OMServer folder successfully. There are a few possible causes:
1. Word or eXtyles omnivm.exe were running while the DLL was being copied from the patch package.
Open the Task Manager and review the Processes tab. Confirm that winword.exe and omnivm.exe are NOT listed, and therefore not running, before copying the DLL and pasting it into OMServer.
2. You may not have enough permission for the OMServer directory to copy in a DLL.
DLL files are seen as code files (rather than data files like the other two patch files) by other programs. For this reason, you may need a greater level of Admin privileges to copy the DLL file to the Program Files directory. Try copying the DLL files to the Desktop, and then copy the Desktop version of the file to OMServer. You may also need to increase your Admin privileges for this move.
3. A virus scanner blocked the copy of the DLL.
You may have to temporarily disable any live virus scanner features while you copy the file.
"ERROR 12029: ERROR_INTERNET_CANNOT_CONNECT"
After applying the HTTPS patch, you may encounter the following error message when running the PubMed OR Crossref Linking features:
eXtyles is unable to connect to the Medline/CrossRef website. Please try again in a few minutes.
(Error 12029: ERROR_INTERNET_CANNOT_CONNECT)
You may see this message if you have customized network protocols or if you are using a proxy server.
Your IT department may have set up a network exception for the “User Agent” used by eXtyles. The old user agent was "OmniMark OMHTTP/1.1.3". If your IT department has set up an exception for this agent, the new code requires an additional user agent, "eXtyles WinINet 1.0". Your IT department should set up exceptions for both user agents, not just the newer one.
If you have a proxy server, you may also require an updated HTTPS patch that enables connections through the proxy server without relying on the proxy's ability to communicate internet connectivity. Please contact eXtyles support if you believe this is the problem.
"ERROR 12157: ERROR_WINHTTP_SECURE_CHANNEL_ERROR"
After applying the HTTPS patch, you may encounter the following error message when running the PubMed Linking feature:
eXtyles is unable to connect to the Medline website. Please try again in a few minutes.
(ERROR 12157: ERROR_WINHTTP_SECURE_CHANNEL_ERROR)
You will see this message if you are running Windows XP. The version of the component used by PubMed Linking (wininet) in Windows XP is not HTTPS compliant, and therefore, PubMed Linking is unable to connect to NCBI's HTTPS site in Windows XP. Microsoft ended support for Windows XP in 2014, and we have likewise ended support for this older version of Windows. While nothing previously precluded our “unofficial” support of Windows XP for eXtyles since then, this change by PubMed has now officially ended our support for Windows XP.