flakey IE6 IWP problem - javascript or java or?

[karlvonkries]

Hi All -

I have an odd browser-dependent problem which I hope you can help with. I have a simple database which I'm publishing using IWP. All clients are on Internet Explorer 6, SP2. For SOME clients, Internet Explorer loads the initial "list view" screen incorrectly - the status area is missing (and there's no arrow on the thick grey bar to allow them to open it). Futher, all the in-header or on body buttons don't work - a 'page error' message sometimes is displayed briefly, then the initial layout screen reappears. I DO have a default 'show status area' line in my default on-open script. The weird part is that other clients don't have this problem - everything works great!

So, I'm trying to recreate the 'broken browser' problem.

- I thought the problem might be that Javascript was off - no dice, as FM is smart enough to display a "Javascript is off" error message when I tested this.

- I thought the problem might be that Java JVM itself was out of date. Nope - one client with the problem has 1.4_2, which is more current than my own copy.

- I WAS able to make IWP fail when I set browser security to "High" - but the clients with the problem were seeing the failure even at "Medium" settings. Also, my broken browser at "High" setting still displayed the Status area - with nothing in it. That's not consistent with the failed clients, who don't see ANY status area.

So, my question to the community is, what things are critical for client IE6 to display and work with IWP correctly? I'd like to be able to break/fix the browser myself, so I can talk folks through making the necessary adjustments.

Any help is much appreciated. I need a bombproof browser setup so I can really use IWP heavily.

Thanks,

Karl

[karlvonkries]

I'm going to answer my own post, as this may be less documented than one might hope...

The problem was not related to Internet Explorer, Java, or Javascript.

Answer: Don't even try to load the Instant Web Publishing frameset in another frame! IWP needs to be the 'master' frameset, and encapsuling it in (say) another frameset (so you could keep a constant header frame at the top, for example) will not work.

My problem occured when I linked to the IWP page from a webpage which was 'stealth forwarded' by my DNS server. I had a page "http://forum.whatever.com" which linked to the IWP solution. The clean http://forum.whatever.com was ACTUALLY hosted by http://longuglyurl.com - and the way this kind of stealth forwarding is done is by the DNS host encapsulating the ugly 'real' page in a prettily named frameset. SO - links from that frameset to IWP were actually attempting to load my IPW solution into one of the interior frames of the frameset, rather than into the parent frame. So - if you're linking to a IPW solution, BE SURE you are loading that IWP solution into the parent / _TOP broswer window with the TARGET parameter. I hope that helps someone out of a jam.

- Karl

[BobWeaver]

Thanks for posting the info. Very useful to know.