I realize a number of you are very familiar with the Captaris Corporate site, and the services, and information provided there, however, I assume that some of you may not be familiar with some of the specific links that are related to the Developer Portal. 

These links serve the three Captaris products, but have overlap around typical API work and integrations.  Therefore the following are links to be aware of as you build your solution or need assistance:

Technical Support knowledgebase  -  This link is important in that it may not always be clear whether something is a product issue, or an API issue.  Therefore, after searching the Developer Portal, you can broaden your search via the Technical Support Knowledgebase

Technical Training  -  This link is to register for scheduled Instructor Led classes and to access on-demand training for Captaris customers.

Captaris Partners   -  Use this link to access our vast library of on demand training and learning resources.  (Requires a PartnerPath Login)

Product Updates   -  This link is important for our Developer Program Subscribers.  We provide Developer Editions of our products, but we do not include the updates or patches.  It is important that you check this link after installing, and activating your Captaris Product, to make sure you have the latest updates.

I have received a number of questions on this topic and thought it was time to go through the options available and the process.  First, in order for this to make sense, and help folks find their place in the process, we need to first discuss the User Roles. 

The Portal provides support in a "mixed" community, mixed in the sense that we have members with different levels of access based on their role.  The roles are:

1.) Readers (Folks simply viewing the material, no site interaction, referred to as "guests")

2.) Registered Users (This refers to those of you that have created a User account and login to the site.  Access to all areas with limited file down-load access)

3.) Developer Program Subscribers (This refers to those of you that have created a User account and also have a Developer Program Subscription (This refers to those of you who have purchased an annual subscription and have a current developer support contract number)

Now, how do we submit API questions to the site based on these roles?

Any Registered User or Developer Program Subscriber can submit a question to the Forum section of the site.  The Forum section is a no-fee, peer-to-peer section where developers can post and answer questions on the site.  This section does now include Captaris participation, but is provided on a time-permitting basis.  The key point here is that there is no guarantee of a question getting answered, or answered within a defined time period.

Developer Program Subscribers (only) have two options, the forum, as an option for submitting questions, and the Developer program email alias.  Items submitted to the email alias are added to the Captaris support tracking system, and will receive a incident number along with an escalation path that maps to the program SLA.  For those questions that need to be answered in a specific time frame, the email alias is the only option for ensuring that the incident is tracked. 

This option is only available to current subscription members, and the Captaris Team will answer these questions first, and then items in the forums second.  This process also includes requests for "scheduled" phone support, which is another option for Program Subscribers.

If you are interested in the Captaris Developer Program, you can find the program details in the General download area.  For pricing, contact Captaris Sales, or send an email to the site administrator.

With the new site I wanted to take a moment and point out a couple of areas that will improve your user experience.  First, make sure to click on your name after you have signed in, and fill out your profile.  This will allow you to tailor how you appear, and how you exchange information with the site.  We have a number of options provided in the profile area that you can personalize.

The other feature that I will recommend is the RSS feed option that you will find on most items in the site.  If you have a favorite RSS reader you can subscribe to Forums, to Threads within a forum, to Files and other areas within the site that you wish to track.  The new Outlook 2007 has this included in your Inbox view so you can automatically see when new items have been added or changes have been made.  A number of the new browsers also have RSS support.

The other area is our Help link.  You should be able to find answers to most of your questions.  If you can't find something, please let me know and we will collect these and add them to the help file.