Web browsers

PracticeBuilder 1-2-3 supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, 10 and 11, Firefox and Google Chrome browsers for all general user and administration functions.

Some features, such as importing from DICOM media and scanning/uploading attachments, require Java Runtime Environment. Java is available as a browser plug-in. Google Chrome version 42 and later does not support this plug-in module. To use java-enabled features, you must use one of the other supported web browsers.

The web viewer requires some additional browser features. These include HTML5, WebGL, websockets and other web protocols. Compliant browsers include Mozilla Firefox v12, Google Chrome v20, Apple Safari v6 in MAC OS X 10.6, and Opera Presto v2.11. Some might have WebGL or websockets disabled by default. These must be enabled before using the web viewer.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 and 10 are not WebGL compliant. Microsoft IE 11 includes some of the required features. When running the web viewer in Microsoft Internet Explorer, the software falls back to a software emulation to make up for the deficiencies.

When the browser does not support the required technology, the web viewer does its best to detect the missing component and display a notification.

Note that WebGL requires hardware compliance as well. The workstation’s display controller must support WebGL in order for the images to appear in the web viewer.

Initializing a Browser Session

Request the facility-dependent URL from your system administrator. The URL can be a hostname or an IP address. The following examples are indicative of URLs:

pacs.hospital.com

http://pacs.hospital.com

https://192.168.10.1

Launch the web browser and enter the URL of the PracticeBuilder 1-2-3 server into the address line.

When the browser connects to the PracticeBuilder 1-2-3 server, it displays the Main page. Regardless of which URL you entered, the system forces your connection to use secure HTTP (HTTPS) if the server is configured to provide secure communications to your workstation. If HTTPS is required, you may be prompted to verify the digital certificate.

Accepting Certificates

When using PracticeBuilder 1-2-3 across a wide area network (WAN), additional security is necessary to protect the data. A digital certificate verifies the server with which the browser communicates is actually a valid PracticeBuilder 1-2-3 server, and confirms the software and data have not been modified by an unapproved entity. You can accept the certificate each time you log onto the server, or you can save the certificate on your local workstation. The advantage to saving the certificate locally is you do not receive a warning notice each time you log into the server.