ASP.NET

10-Jan-10 14:42

I have a peculiar problem where I am getting mixed results in web browsers.

Internet Explorer in Vista and XP always works fine.

On Vista (Home Premium at least) Firefox and other browsers also work fine.

On XP Firefox, Opera, Sea Monkey and Google Chrome does not do what I expect.

The emphasis here is that ALL browsers work in Vista so I am pretty sure that my code is not the problem (I think).

I have a set of buttons on a page with the onclick pointing to javascript code, when the buttons are clicked an object var is concatenated with the value of the button pressed.

A submit button, an asp server control has an onclick and an onclientclick, this is wired to a callback function which sets a session object with the accumulated values of the buttons that were pressed a return var is set to load a response page with parameters indicating success or failure of the first operation.

On success, the response page sets the InnerHTML of a div with the values of the selected buttons. This is where the problem is, in vista all is ok, on XP the values are not present indicating that either the parameters have not been read or the session object does not contain values.

If I step through the code in Firefox on XP everything works fine, it is only when I upload to the web site that things go pear shaped.

Can some one tell me what is going on.

theLizard

Dinesh Mani10-Jan-10 18:16

10-Jan-10 18:16

I'm sure, you are accessing the same web site from both XP and Vista, so you are right that your code is not at fault.

The problem here might be the the browser version that is running on the machines and not the OS(s) themselves. Check for browser version mismatch, patches/updates that have been applied, java-script engine is running, etc.

HTH

theOzLizard10-Jan-10 23:20

10-Jan-10 23:20

Thanks Dinesh,

I am using pretty much the most updated versions of the browsers, google chrome was downloaded about 5 days ago and I also tried things out on other lap tops not my own with the same result.

I don't think it's the java script engine as the code I am using is so basic its not funny, but then it does not need to be very complex.

Could it be IIS 7?

Regards

theLizard

Dinesh Mani10-Jan-10 23:34

10-Jan-10 23:34

I'm really not sure if IIS 7 is the problem. Actually my only bet was on the browsers and their javascript engines. Apart from that I don't see any reason why your app should fail. Frown | :(

theOzLizard11-Jan-10 9:13

11-Jan-10 9:13

Thanks Dinesh,

I did not think it was the app either, this one is a mystery what I will do today is log every action to an text file and see if that shines a light on the problem,.

Regards.

theLizard

theOzLizard11-Jan-10 11:48

11-Jan-10 11:48

The mystery is (maybe) opening up. (On my PC with XP OS)

Seems that my session object in Fire Fox and Sea Monkey is having problems, what I have done is logged every action to a text file.

This has shown that when the response page was called the session object which should have been filled with the selected values was empty in both Fire Fox and Sea Monkey but not IE and oddly enough on this test Opera, where previously Opera showed the same nothingness.

In ALL cases the callback function is being called and shows that the session object IS being filled with the correct values.

So know we know it is not IIS, or the Java script engine or my code causing the problems.

Is this a security issue perculiar to mozila browsers? if so can some one direct me to where or what needs to be changed I cant see anything wrong in my settings (but that is not to say there is nothing wrong with my settings)

Is this to do with cross page scripting?

Any ideas anyone.

theLizard

Dinesh Mani11-Jan-10 18:36

11-Jan-10 18:36

I should have asked this in my first response, anyway, how are you maintaining the session object? Are you using encoded URL to store your session data?

If you are using InProc / State server then you should not have any problems. But, if you are using Cookieless state objects with encoded URL then may be browsers can pose problems.

theOzLizard11-Jan-10 21:37

11-Jan-10 21:37

Alas I am using InProc so maintaining session objects should not be at problem. But you have given me an idea, I have not put logging code in my global.asax, this is where the session objects are initialized in Session_Start I also set the session objects to null in Session_End, I will have to do that tomorrow however.

Will no doubt put something here after I have checked what goes on in global.

Thanks Dinesh.

theLizard

theOzLizard12-Jan-10 11:48

12-Jan-10 11:48

Getting closer to the culprit.

Seems like I am getting a double dose of Session_Start which instantiates new session objects , OK, this is not a real problem at start up because in the second attempt new session objects are not instantiated.

The problem is (Fire Fox) when I do the Response.Redirect to the results page at this point the session objects should still have the values but for some reason Fire Fox causes a new Session_Start to be fired which in turn generates new session objects, when the test is done in the page load event of the results page the session objects are empty.

Internet Explorer and Opera does NOT fire a new Session_Start event when Response.Redirect is called...

NameValueCollection nvc = Request.QueryString;

if(!IsPostBack)
   {
   if(SelectedButtons.selecteditems.Count > 0)
 {
 if(nvc.Get("response") == "OK")  //never gets in here...
   {
   setInnerHtml();
   }
     }
   }

Now we know what the problem is, has anyone seen this type of behavior, does any know how to stop Session_start being fired, could window.location be the source for firing a new Session_start

Why does IE and Opera behave and not Fire Fox or Sea Monkey?

theLizard

Dinesh Mani17-Jan-10 19:06

17-Jan-10 19:06

I have never come across anything like this! Glad that you zero'd in on the culprit!!

But I'm just curious now, how come FireFox [same version] behave differently on different OS(s)?! I don't think there are separate Firefox builds for Windows XP and Windows Vista. So, why does the same code behave differently on a different OS?

theOzLizard17-Jan-10 22:02

17-Jan-10 22:02

@ Dinesh,

I don't think it is the browsers, there are two common things (a) IIS 7 and (b).NET but I am just guessing on these however, if all browsers perform correctly after supplying the prefix www. then we can safely assume that these are now out of the equation, would you agree?

If firefox and the others are working in vista without the www. then could it be something to do with user agents through IIS 7!! Another guess, I don't know enough about user agents

BTW, I also downloaded MAC's Safari for windows and it did the same thing.

Actually we may be able to dismiss .NET since IIS serves up the pages (another BTW, I pre compile my site) so may be all roads lead to IIS but I cant test this theory, don't have the tools or know how...

I am just happy that the problem is solved and others may benefit by my discovery.

theLizard

Dinesh Mani18-Jan-10 19:35