When some users have been on campus making a direct connection on the campus network without use of EZproxy, search history was recorded and could be deleted. When these users were off campus, not only was search history not recorded, prior search history could not be deleted.
Another user reported that Retrosynthesis Plan history could not be deleted when working off campus via EZproxy.
The Cause
Search history is recorded (written) on the CAS SciFinder server system within each user profile:
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Retrosynthesis history recording is "decided" completely on the server side without input from the client running in the user's browser. Deleting retrosynthesis history is controlled by the client via sending an HTTPMethod Delete command back to the server. On EZproxy, HTTPMethod DELETE is a default allowed method; however, it is possible to block the method. If HTTPMethod DELETE is blocked on EZproxy, then retrosynthesis delete commands will fail.
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Other search history recording (write) and delete is controlled by the CAS SciFindernclient on the user's browser. For these functions, HTTPHeader x-cas* arguments are used to "writeHistory" and "deleteHistory". If the x-cas* headers are blocked on the EZproxy server, both functions will fail.
The Solution
The administrators of the EZproxy server will need to adjust server configuration to allow:
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Retrosynthesis - HTTPMethod DELETE must be allowed
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Search History - HTTPHeader x-cas* must be allowed
Both of the above may be configured within the CAS SciFinder / CAS SciFinder stanza so that they are allowed only for CAS SciFinder if so desired by the EZproxy administrator or security staff.
A PDF from the CAS Software Support Team is available for download below and provides several stanza options.