WebMIRS Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a list of general questions about WebMIRS. It certainly isn't an exhaustive set of possible questions (that would be impossible), so please feel free to ask others via our Feedback Page.

Q: Who can use WebMIRS?
A: Pretty much anybody is welcome to sign up for and use WebMIRS. The site is geared towards the medical research community, but many others find the site useful in their work. Please share who you are and your reasons for using WebMIRS either in your registration or via the Feedback Page. This will allow us to design the evolution of WebMIRS to better serve our users.

Q: I've followed all the installation procedures and I still can't get WebMIRS to install correctly. What should I do?
A: First, check the Install Problems Page and see if that helps. If you still have problems, please contact us using the Feedback Page.

Q: When I click on the "Start WebMIRS" button I either get the error message "The server has returned a wrong MIME type when accessing to the resource" or I get a dialog asking me if I want to download or open the file dynamicJnlp.php. What should I do?
A: The most likely problem is that you have not correctly installed Java Web Start. Check to see that is installed (most likely in "C:\Program Files\Java Web Start" on PCs). If it is there, try rebooting your machine. Next try uninstalling Java Web Start and go through the Installation procedures again. If this still doesn't work, please contact us using the Feedback Page.

Q: I'm getting the error message "Can't connect to server - there may be a firewall in the way. java.net.ConnectException:Operation time out". Is there anything I do?
A: We believe that this issue has been fixed and should no longer occur. Verify that you are running the latest version of WebMIRS by selecting the "Help->About" menu item. If you are not running version 1.1 or above, you need to upgrade. If you are running the most recent version, however, please contact us using the Feedback Page so we can verify that a firewall is indeed the problem.

Q: What is this "PSU/Strata" tab use for in the "Results" section? Why doesn't it work when " Quantitative Data" is selected?
A: PSU/Strata information was a feature added to provide researchers with information about the statistical validity of generalizing the result of a query to the general population. If you are trying to do this type of generalization you need to take this into account. Since the Quantitative Data is a subset based on the quality of the images and not based on statistical measures, no such generalization should be attempted and the PSU/Strata information isn't applicable.

Q: WebMIRS seems to be running differently than it did last week/month. What's going on?
A: Most likely this is because a new version has been delivered. WebMIRS is a work in progress and new version are constantly being created. You can see what the current version is by looking at "About" option under the "Help" menu. To see what is new in a particular release and to see the history of WebMIRS versions, take a look at our Versions section of the User Guide.

Q: Why isn't WebMIRS run as a Java applet anymore?
A: There are a number of advantages to delivering WebMIRS as an application using Java Web Start(JWS) instead of as an applet. First, requiring a specific version of the Java Runtime Environment is much easier under JWS. Second, the security constraints of using an applet were limiting the functionality of WebMIRS and making more difficult for users to install. Lastly, using JWS eliminates the many inconsistencies between the different web browser software making it easier to deploy, install, and run WebMIRS.

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URL: http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/webmirs/helpPage/faq.php
Updated February 14, 2006

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