Editing Scan Settings

To modify Project-level or Organization-level Scan Settings, select the Edit button at the bottom of the respective Scan Settings page.

You can modify the following scan settings:

File Types, URL Strings and Page Content

'Mime type settings' section of the Scan Project Settings page: Even though the axe Monitor user interface includes 'Mime' as if a word in multiple places, it actually refers to what is typically written as an all-uppercased acronym for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), which is a standard for formatting files of different types so they can be sent over the Internet and seen by a web browser or email application.

• Mime types to include: (optional) Select a checkbox for either HTML (text/html), PDF (application/pdf), both, or neither, as desired for the document types you want to include in the scanned content.

  Note: Checking either option does not cause anything to appear to the right of the field label above, so to avoid confusion, these (HTML and PDF) are meant to be the only two options (as if to be nested under the 'Mime types to include' field label despite being flush left aligned). Although neither is labeled as 'required', it would be unusual to deselect both, as most scans include at a minimum, one HTML page.

• Type extension to exclude: If you know the file extension you want to exclude, type it into this box and select the Add extension button (represented by a blue box with a white plus-sign) to add it to the box of selected extension types (the box on the right).

• Select extension(s) to exclude: When a category is selected above, a list of file extensions related to that category of content will appear in the box to the left. Select an extension and select the right-facing arrow to move it to the "selected" box on the right. Similarly, selecting an extension in the selected box (on the right) and selecting the left-facing arrow will return it to the box of unselected extension types (on the left).

Specify Page Inclusion or Exclusion Parameters

You can include or exclude pages from scans based on parameters that you set. For multiple inclusion/exclusion parameters, put each parameter on a new line. The inclusion/exclusion parameters can be set on the URL or on the page content.

• Inclusions/Exclusions Based on URLs: Specify each words or phrase on its own line (no quotes required).
• Inclusions/Exclusions Based on Page Content: Specify each words or phrase in double quotes on its own line.

Note 1: The inclusion/exclusion parameters are mutually exclusive. You can set parameters in ONLY ONE of the four categories for any given scan.

• Ignore case on values for the below excludes and includes: Check this checkbox to select this option, click in the checked box again to deselect it. When selected, all alpha character values will be treated as lower case letters.
• URLs to exclude: Enter specific URLs to exclude from the scan. It is important to note that not only will the listed page be ignored by the scanner, but all of the links on that page will also be ignored as well. Essentially, axe Monitor will behave as though the URLs you list here do not exist at all.
• Must not have: Enter a string that will exclude the page from being scanned if the string appears in the URL or page content. If the text string is entered with no quotes around it, the scanner will look in the URL for the string. If the string is entered with quotes around it, the scanner will look in the page content for the string.
• Must have all: Enter a string or strings that must ALL be present in the URL or page content in order for the page to be scanned. If the text string is entered with no quotes around it, the scanner will look in the URL for the string. If the string is entered with quotes around it, the scanner will look in the page content for the string. Example: Entering /products/ and /creditcards/ would scan a page with a URL such as http://www.deque.com/products/creditcards/overview.htm, but it would not scan http://www.deque.com/products/worldspace-enterprise.htm or http://www.deque.com/creditcards/visa.htm because neither of them contain BOTH /products/ AND /creditcards/ in the URL.
• Must have any: Enter a list of strings, any one of must be present in the URL or page content in order for the page to be scanned. If the text string is entered with no quotes around it, the scanner will look in the URL for the string. If the string is entered with quotes around it, the scanner will look in the page content for the string. Example: /products/ and /creditcards/ would scan both http://www.deque.com/products/worldspace-enterprise.htm and http://www.deque.com/creditcards/visa.htm because each of them contain /products/ OR /creditcards/.

How to identify unique pages

For many websites, each unique page has its own unique URL, and each unique URL has unique page content. However, websites with dynamically generated content may use URL parameters that would make the page URL appear unique while the page content is not actually unique. In other situations, the URL of a web application may not change at all while the content in the browser changes as the user interacts with the application. To handle these situations and others, you can configure axe Monitor to use the URL (or part of the URL) to determine unique page content or use the page content itself to determine unique page content. The available options change according to which method is selected.

Method 1: Use URL to determine unique page

This is the default setting. The the scanner will look at the entire URL and scan every page with a unique URL. Note: If any parameter changes in the URL, axe Monitor will treat it like a new URL. The settings below allow you to fine-tune the choices to determine uniqueness.

Discard fragment identifiers (also known as anchors or hashes) when determining unique URLs

Checking this box will cause the scanner to ignore fragment identifiers (characters added to the end of the URL after a "#" symbol) when determining whether two pages are unique or not.

With this option enabled, the following two URLs would be treated as identical (non-unique) and therefore only the first page encountered would be scanned.

• http://www.deque.com/products/foo#bar
• http://www.deque.com/products/foo#bim

Discard all URL parameters when determining unique URLs:

Checking this box will cause the scanner to ignore all of the parameters added to the end of the URL – such as things following "?". For example, http://www.deque.com/products/foo.aspx?id=1234 and http://www.deque.com/products/foo.aspx?id=1235 would be treated as one page. The first one encountered would be scanned and the next would not.

URL Parameters to use when determining unique URLs:

You can ensure that certain parameters are considered by the scanner in determining unique URLs. For example: If id is entered, http://www.deque.com/products/foo.aspx?id=1234 and http://www.deque.com/products/foo.aspx?id=1235 would be treated as different pages. All other parameters will not be considered; therefore, it is not necessary to enter any parameters in the box below if you enter parameters here.

URL Parameters to discard when determining unique URLs:

Enter a list of parameters to ignore when determining unique URLs. All other parameters will be considered; therefore, it is not necessary to enter any parameters in the box above if you enter parameters here.

Method 2: Use the page content to determine unique page

This option is used when:

1. You have a web application where page URL does not change but the content changes. Use this option to differentiate the content.
2. You have a web application where page URL changes but the content is not changing and you cannot determine the uniqueness using the combination of Use URL to determine unique page option and its sub options related to URL parameters. Use this option to get only those pages which are actually changing in the content.

When this option is selected you will be shown two mutually exclusive sub options:

Use the built-in hash function:

This will enable axe Monitor's built-in hash function to get all the text content on the page and generate a hash out of it. Pages with the same hash value would not be scanned again. Caution: Any change in a page's content, such as time stamp, will cause the page to be treated as a unique page and scanned again.

JavaScript to produce content hash:

A JavaScript function can be used to include areas (such as a content area) or exclude areas (such as a time stamp, date stamp, footer, header or navigation areas) of a page when determining if a page is unique. To do so, enter a JavaScript function that will include or exclude specific nodes in the DOM when determining unique content in the format below:

var getHash = function() { //Your JavaScript code to calculate hash goes here. }

Example: Say a site or application that we are trying to scan has a block of main content with a particular id (such as a div element with id="main-content") on every page, which determines the uniqueness and rest of the content on the page does not matter. In such case we can use a hash function like the one below. Note: When the code is added in Scan Settings, make sure there are no new line characters and it is all in one line.

var getHash = function() {debugOut("Getting hash..."); try {var wholeText = ""; var mainNode = Firebug.AxeModel.panel.context.window.document.getElementById("main-content"); if (mainNode) wholeText = mainNode.textContent;if ( wholeText.length) {return b64_md5( wholeText);}} catch( e) {} try {return Firebug.AxeModel.panel.context.window.document.documentURI;} catch( err) {return "";}};

General Settings

Javascript to produce unique title:

In cases where the URL and the title of a page do not change even though the content of a page changes, this option allows you to add a unique identifier to the page URL to help identify unique pages in the Pages report. This is often used in conjunction with the Use the page content to determine unique page option described above. Enter a JavaScript function in this text box that looks for specified information in the page used to create the title to append to the URL.

JavaScript that identifies and returns unique title should be provided in the below format and should follow the same rules as getHash() function.

var getReportingTitle = function() { //Your JavaScript code to return unique title goes here. }

Example: The function below looks at the title node and gets the text from it, if exists. Then it looks at h1 nodes and gets the text from first h1 node if present and adds that to the title text with a '-' in between, and returns it as a reporting title.

var getReportingTitle = function() {var ttl = "";try {var nodes = Firebug.AxeModel.panel.context.window.document.getElementsByTagName("title");if (nodes) {ttl = nodes[0].textContent;};nodes = Firebug.AxeModel.panel.context.window.document.getElementsByTagName("h1");if (nodes) {ttl = ttl + (ttl.length > 0 ? " - " : "") + nodes[0].textContent;}} catch( e) {ttl = ""} return ttl;}

Set referrer to parent URL or to the one specified in "Referrer" field below:

The "Referrer" is the page that sent you to the page you are now on. Sometimes, specifying a referrer is required for security purposes, and the scanning tool will need to include referrer information in the URLs it scans. Other times, the page content that displays may depend on the referrer page. After checking this box, you may enter an explicit URL in the Referrer field below.

Restrict scanned domains to:

By default this field is set to "Domains defined in the domains list". You can also choose "Domains defined in the domains list or the same IP address". Allowing the "same IP address" has the effect of broadening the scan.

Default pages:

A list of pages that are considered default pages for a directory or virtual directory in the server such as "index.html" or "default.aspx". You can delete items or add items to the list. This is useful for preventing duplication of scanned pages.

Maximum number of pages:

Default limit: The default value for this field is 1000. You can set a maximum number so that the scan will stop when that number of pages is reached.

Unlimited pages: To set the scan to an unlimited number of pages, type the word "unlimited" or "-1" (either value works).

Important: If the total number of pages to scan exceeds the value in this field, you must increase the maximum number of pages, or else you will never get consistent results. If the limit is set too low, the actual list of pages scanned will vary from scan to scan, due to varying page load times at any given moment. The accessibility report statistics in this situation will be meaningless, because each report will refer to a different set of pages.

Store Passes and Inapplicables: Check to set the scan to store data rules that passed or were inapplicable on the pages found during the scan. This setting is useful if you would also like the system to keep track of rules that either passed or were inapplicable for the pages scanned. It is required to have this setting checked if you would like to be able to filter on 'Pass' and 'N/A' Severities on the Issues screen

Important: Storing Passes and Inapplicables will slow the scans down, and may add storage requirements for your axe Monitor server

Save Settings

Select the Update button to save the scan settings.