Chromoscape troubleshooting

If the Chromoscape welcome page is displayed in your browser but Chromoscape doesn't appear in a pop-up window, Java might not be enabled. Enablement of Java can usually be done manually through the Preferences or Internet Options settings of the browser. For Internet Explorer (Windows OS), under the Tools menu, select Internet Options, then select the Advanced tab. Make sure that Enable Java is checked. For Internet Explorer on Macintosh, under the Explorer menu, select Preferences and then click on the selection labeled Java, under Web Browser. For Netscape, under the Netscape menu, select Preferences and then click on the tab labeled Advanced. Make sure that Java is enabled (checked on). For other browsers or older Internet Explorer or Netscape versions, Java enabling is usually found in a similar place, or consult the accompanying documentation (help) for the browser.

If your query has returned a display with a large number (hundreds or thousands) of map elements, Chromoscape will take a long time to read all the data. The dialog which flashes "Working" also shows the number of map elements that Chromoscape has read for each view, updating the count every 50 elements. If the number continues to increase, then Chromoscape is working properly, but you have probably retrieved too large a slice of map. If the number does not increase after a reasonable amount of time, then an unanticipated error has probably occurred. Selecting Java Messages under the View menu in Internet Explorer or Java Console under Web Development in the Netscape Tools menu, turn on the display of the Java console. With some operating systems, this may instead be found under the Tools menu in Advanced Internet Options. If it indicates that an error has occurred, cut and paste the text into a mail message, and send it to the eGenome help desk with a description of your query.

There are several possible pitfalls when retrieving the element record for an item from Chromoscape. The Chromoscape "Welcome" page must be displayed in order to retrieve a detail. It cannot be iconified, but it can be hidden behind another window. If you have followed a link (including going "back") in the browser window that contains the Welcome page, you will not be able to retrieve detail information. This is a Java restriction. If you have previously retrieved a detail and are having trouble getting subsequent details, make sure the window that was created for the original detail is open.

If you encounter the error Map too big while Chromoscape is creating the file to view or print, then you must decrease the amount of data. For example, for a display with large tiers, hide some of the tiers. Reducing the number of pages will not help: you must reduce the number of elements you wish to show. Another option is to print the graphic one tier at a time, then cut and paste the tiers together. This error occurs only with very large displays and probably will not be encountered if you limit the amount of data displayed to a manageable amount.

The size of the PostScript file for a large display can be quite substantial, and some printers may be unable to handle it. Unfortunately, you cannot specify individual pages to be printed within a PostScript viewer (see Printing help). The solution here is to reduce the amount of data.

The size of the PDF file for a large display can be substantial, and some printers may be unable to handle it. The solution here is to reduce the amount of data. One possibility is to print the file in sections by specifying a subset of pages to print for each print job. To do this using Adobe Acrobat, select Print under the File menu and specify a subset pages to print in the dialog box, repeating this process as necessary. Another alternative is to select a smaller section of the graphic to print.

Send a description of your problem to the eGenome help desk.

• Chromoscape overview
• Chromoscape features
• Menu controls
• Printing from Chromoscape
• Chromoscape troubleshooting