Due to the number of different processes and options available within ACEmessage it is useful to understand the process of ACE Client deciding to display a message.  Occasionally you may have sent a message and wondered why it did not display on the target desktop.  This article will detail that process in order for you to troubleshoot the issue and also discuss some of the common causes.

 

ACEmessage Successfully Sent the Message

This article assumes that the message has been successfully sent to the ACE Client.  You will often see a screenshot like the below to verify this (In the default Unicast Message Delivery Mode):

As you can see from the above, ACEmessage is reporting that the message was successfully sent to the computer COMP_1110.  It is important to understand that this success is reporting the Sending of the message, not the display of the message.

 

What Happens to ACE Client Once it has Received the Message?

As per the above example, the computer COMP_1110 has received the message over the network.  The process which occurs on the above ACE Client computer is:

1. The ACEmessage Network Client service on the target computer (ACEnwork.exe) receives the file and performs various MD5 hash checks and other formatting to ensure the message is valid.  This temporary message handling is dealt with under:  C:\Program Files\ACEmessage\Client\Temp\ 
2. ACEnwork.exe will then create the message in XML format in the location:  C:\Program Files\ACEmessage\Client\Messages\   (The Default Install Location)
3. ACEnwork.exe has then completed its task of receiving, validating and creating the message file ready for processing
4. ACEclnt.exe (The ACE Client Desktop Displaying Client - which is launched on User Login) spots a new message appeared in C:\Program Files\ACEmessage\Client\Messages\
5. ACEclnt.exe then runs through the below check process to see if the message is to be displayed to the current user:

 

 

Common Reasons Messages are Not Displayed

There are two common reasons why a message is successfully sent and not displayed (They are also identified in the above flow chart). 

1. The User or Computer does NOT MATCH any TARGETS listed in the original message
2. The Message is NOT from an Authorised Source
3. An error in MsgHistoryToKeep value in the ACEnwork.exe application (See here)

 

All of these reasons are easily rectified.  Double check your Target List in your original Sent Message.  Make sure that the User/Computer you are targeting would PASS one of the targets listed.  This is a simple cause of many 'not displayed' messages.  You will also need to check if you have an ACEmessage Authorised domain group in your Active Directory domain.  If this group exists then the ACEmessage sending User or Computer Account MUST be listed in this Group.  If it is not listed then your message will not be considered to be from an authorised source.

NOTE:  The ACEmessage Authorised domain group must either contain USER ACCOUNTS or COMPUTER ACCOUNTS.  It will not work if you 'nest' Groups into this group, as membership will not be enumerated correctly.  Please make sure you list your User Accounts or Computer Accounts which are Authorised to Send Messages with ACEmessage.

 

 

How to Track Down ACE Client Processing Flow

It is possible to see how ACE Client is processing a message once received.  If you follow the below article, it will explain how to enable ACE Client Error Logging.

Enable Error Logging on ACE Client

If you enable error logging on ACE Client as per the above article link, then send your message to the ACE Client.  You will be able to open the ACE Client Debug.log file (As per the article) and review the plain text english processing which ACE Client does when it receives a new message.  Simply look for the section:

************   MSG RECEIVED   ************

Below the MSG RECEIVED area you will see the message being loaded and the above flow chart being followed.  The Log File can often point to why your message is not being displayed, for example the above Common Reasons are listed in the ACE Client Debug.log file as:

• No Target Match Found in Message File
• Message Source is NOT AUTHORISED, message will not be processed or displayed

So reviewing the ACE Client Debug.log file can really help in tracking down why your message is not being displayed.

 

Update 13th August 2010 - Error in MsgHistoryToKeep value can cause failure to display messages.

On the above date a problem was identified which can cause a client computer not to display a message.  This is fully documented in the following article:  Error: The path is not of a legal form