Controlling #views/#prints and getting audit event notifications

[Former Community Member]

We have an evaluation of LiveCycle up and running, and we are negotiatons for purchase. In doing some quick proof-of-concept work, we ran across a couple issues we are looking to get help with.



Background: We are working in .Net using LiveCycle web services. We can successfully apply a policy to a PDF using web services, and we can successfully manipulate a PDF using reader extensions using web services.



1. We see where we can apply validity dates in the Policy, but where can we limit the number of views or prints allowed on the document? Is this even controlled by the policy, or somewhere else? We see where we can assign permissions to principles, but this is more of "Can print" or "Can view offline" but not a control on the Quantity of prints or views. Is this something we can setup via the web interface, or is it something we need to supply custom java extensions for? And if we need to supply extensions, is there any way to point us in the proper direction? (this seems like it would be fairly typical usage)



2. How do we setup livecycle so we can get notified of audit events like "# allowed views reached" or "# allowed prints reached" or just "someone viewed this PDF". We are a .net house, so is there any way to get notifications of this externally? Or do we have to supply some sort of extensions to LiveCycle? And if we have to supply an extension, can you point us in the proper direction?



Many thanks for any insights we can get on these issues.



Michael

[Former Community Member]

Hi

Can you call me 408-536-4628. will try to answer your queries. If calling is not possible emial me your number I will call you

thanks

girish

mergeandfuse@gmail.com

[Former Community Member]

Hi, If limiting the number of views and prints on a policy document is possible, please post how this can be achieved on the forum and I'd like to know it as well. Thanks.

[Former Community Member]

Hi!



I have the same issue as well. Would be great if anyone could give a hint on how one can control the number of prints a user is allowed.



Could one build a custom function that logs each print, and revokes the policy when the number of copies is reached?

[Former Community Member]

I was just made aware by Adobe that in LiveCycle ES 8.2 there's a print controller solving this problem. I does not log the number of copies entered in the print dialog, just that it is printed. But still...it's a start....

[Diego-Silva]

Stian, could you tell us where did you find the information? A link...

Thinking of number of copies is complicated because involves the printer driver, and Acrobat or Reader doesn't have this control level.

[Rob_Brooks-Bils]

Any update on this? We're in the middle of a POC where we're trying to limit the number of views and can't see where to set this in the Admin UI.  We were told by our Adobe sales rep that it is possible to do, so my question is where?

-Rob

[Former Community Member]

Rob

You could create a process that uses an event to detect when a "Print" has taken place.  Specifically you would use an "RMDocument" event with the behavior configured as "Receive".  You would then need to have your process keep track of the number of thimes the document was viewed and then revoke the document when the limit you set is reached.

Regards

Steve

[Rob_Brooks-Bils]

Thanks Steve. It looks like this is an avenue we'll have to explore.  I really wish it was just as simple as setting document expiry based on dates.  Perhaps the next version...

[Former Community Member]

Rob

If you want to revoke or expire a document based on user action (i.e. printing or viewing the document) then you can do this by capturing the print or view event in your process and then have your process perform the desired steps (i.e. revoke the document).

If you simply want to have the document revoked after a certain date or for it to only be valid for a specific period, you can do this as part of the policy definition itself.  When you create a policy, you can specifiy one of the following:

1)  Document will not be valid after x days

2)  Document will not be valid after this date: x

3)  Valid from "date 1" to "date 2"

or

4)  Document is always valid  (which means you would need to revoke\expire the document manually or via a process)

This functionality has always been a part of Rights management.

Regards

Steve

[Rob_Brooks-Bils]

Hi Steve,

I think you misunderstood my post.  I was saying that I wished that setting a document to expire after a certain number of views was as easy to do as it is to set the document expiry based on date.  The set by date is in the admin while the set by views/prints is not (but really should be).

Cheers!

-Rob