Known Issues for Syndicated Client Applications and Subscription Center

1. Some article items showing up as blank pages.

This is caused by a bug in the initial release version of the MSDN Reader that prevented feeds that applied certain compression technologies from being downloaded properly in some network environments. This has been fixed in the most recent versions of the MSDN Reader and Subscription Center.

To completely rectify the problem you need to do the following:

1. Install the latest versions of the MSDN Reader AND Subscription Center. Shutting down both the Msdn Reader and Subscription Center (check the task bar) is strongly recommended before the updates are installed. Uninstalls should not be necessary. The latest version can be downloaded at the original installation point on windowsclient.net. To see what versions are installed, check the version number in Add/Remove Programs. The "Msdn Desktop Add-ons" should be version 0.5.2.1, "Msdn Reader" should be version 0.5.1.4, and Subscription Center should be version 0.9.2.1.
2. Clean the feed cache. Delete "feeds.sdf" from the following location (dependent on OS):

   Vista:
   [OS Drive]:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\MSDN Reader\MsdnReader\Cache

   XP:
   [OS Drive]:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Application Data\MSDN Reader\MsdnReader\Cache

   In many cases it is necessary to do both of these steps because this will make certain that the feed is downloaded properly. Just installing the latest version of the app may not work because the current feed may have already been downloaded with an MSDN Reader or Subscription Center version that contains the compression bug. Since the MSDN feed contains fairly static data, the feed only updates occasionally. Thus if the feed has been downloaded with a bad application, the data in the cache is still bad until either the cache is deleted (step #2) or the feed is updated.

3. Re-sync from the either the MSDN Reader or Subscription Center application.

2. Occasional error page in Reader application after installation.

This condition can happen in the event that the reader application starts up and attempts to sync after the initial install while Subscription Center is already syncing the feed. The error page is shown because the reader application cannot load data from the cache (since it does not exist yet) and cannot sync the feed (because Subscription Center is currently syncing the feed).

Solution:
Manually sync or restart the reader application when Subscription Center is done syncing. You can determine if Subscription Center is done syncing by observing the progress bar on the reader application’s subscription button in the home view of Subscription Center. If there is no progress bar then a sync is not in progress.

3. Inter process communication between Subscription Center and the reader application expires after five minutes.

When expired, Subscription Center cannot communicate with the reader application. The major scenario that is broken by this is that the reader application will not automatically load data from the cache following a feed sync by Subscription Center. If you need to refresh the reader’s data, you can click on the reader’s sync button and this should do it.

Solution: We’re working on solving the communication issue so that Subscription Center is able to notify the application when it has updated data. There are IPC channels in place for this, but due to a bug this functionality is currently broken. We will post an update when a fix is ready.