Finder - help Message Box link fails

ScottThomas1

In Finder, I configured a link in the help message box while using the online interface. It works.
http://www.arcgis.com/apps/Solutions/s2.html?appid=c3f7ae6ee9f54761b87fd51b3db93da1

When I take the exact same code and drop it in the Finder app hosted locally, it fails.
I get this message: "Unable to access application's configuration"

My code for the link:
<b><a href="http://cayugacounty.us/realproperty" target='_blank'><font size= +1 color="FFBF00">Real Property Home Page</font></a></b><br><br>"

Any ideas on what's happening here?

Scott

MikeTschudi

Scott,

This message occurs when the app, during startup, cannot get access to or find the configuration information; without the information, it cannot build the user interface.

How are you running the app locally-hosted? There are two methods, and that will help to figure out what's happening:

1. http://<myserver>/<mysite>/s2.html?appid=c3f7ae6ee9f54761b87fd51b3db93da1
2. http://<myserver>/<mysite>/s2.html?app=apps2/Finder

In the first one, the app is seeking the configuration and user interface from ArcGIS Online using the app id; in the second one, the app is seeking the configuration and UI from the file Finder.json in the site's apps2 folder.

You can test your site setup by downloading Finder_try_it.json from GitHub (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Esri/local-government-online-apps/master/apps2/Finder_try_it.json), putting it in your site's apps2 folder, and running it using

http://<myserver>/<mysite>/s2.html?app=apps2/Finder_try_it

.

A next test can be to use Finder.json modified with your app's configuration values; you can download the one that I created for you from http://localgovtemplates2.esri.com/Support/CayugaCounty.json, put it in your site's apps2 folder, and run it using

http://<myserver>/<mysite>/s2.html?app=apps2/CayugaCounty

.

After making any changes to a JSON configuration + UI file, be sure to run the file through a lint check such as http://www.jslint.com/ or http://jsonlint.com/. Parsers of the JSON format can be tripped up by stray or missing punctuation. The parser will give a generic error to the app in this case, and the app will be unable to create its user interface or to run.

Regards,
Mike